Introduction to supporting clients presenting with grief & loss
This 2-day CPD will cover:
- Exploring how person-centred approaches and attachment theory integrate with theories of grief.
- Understanding the grieving process and how to hold this space, including transpersonal space.
- Exploring grief presentation – feelings, thoughts and behaviours (and how this can present within neurodiversity)
- Exploring the context of grief within different cultures.
- Recognising the signs and symptoms of prolonged grief disorder (complex grief) and how this may present as a mental health crisis.
- Exploring grief feelings using experiential therapeutic creative interventions, including the bereavement story and creating memory jars.
- Self-care coping strategies for both bereaved clients and counsellors supporting bereaved clients.
Why would someone want to do this course/workshop?
In the UK, an estimated 3.3 million people experience a bereavement each year, so whether you’re a trainee or qualified counsellor, it is probable that your clients will have a bereavement story to share.
This course aims to increase confidence and competency with supporting and holding clients presenting with grief after the death of loved ones or loss attached to transitional life events.
Participants will be invited to connect with their own grief/loss stories during discussions and experiential exercises. We will consider the idea that, as counsellors, we can only hold space for our clients to the depth that we have explored our own journeys with loss and grief.
Who is this event for?
- Trainee counsellors, qualified counsellors, and helping professionals.
Additional information for participants:
This course invites participants to connect to their own grief/loss stories during the course of the 2-day workshop, so please be mindful of the potential impact of exploring unresolved grief and consider the importance of self-care/personal therapy during and after the course.
Meet the Tutor: Emma Pritchard
Emma Pritchard (MBACP) has supported bereaved adults, young people and families since 2013. She has worked with two bereavement charities over a 7-year period, Dorset Cruse and Mosaic (a Dorset charity that supports bereaved young people and families), and continues to support bereaved clients within her private practice, outdoor therapy practice and her current role as a Relate school and young people counsellor.
Emma also has experience of supporting university students (a third of whom will experience a bereavement during their university studies). She herself experienced the death of her Grandma whilst at university. Further bereavements and losses during her young adult life led to her being curious about grief and how best to support bereaved young people and their families.