Help Your Clients Confront Loss Without Becoming Lost
Grief is a universal experience. Whether it's from the loss of a life through death or departure, or even losing anything that was once important to us, everyone has a point in their life where it affects them. Death and other influential loss affects not only the person, but everyone that person is connected to—and not everyone knows how to deal with it. If you are a clinician who sometimes feels as if you aren't well-versed in the subject of loss, or if you just want to learn new techniques in the field, then this seminar is perfect for you.

This seminar explores the spectrum of grief, from a normal reaction through complicated/traumatic grief. Learn how to use the DSM-5® to differentiate complicated grief from other mental health disorders. Delve deeper into the grief reactions surrounding suicide, PTSD, and the tragic loss of children. Employ an outcomes-based approach in assisting your clients to achieve measurable results in their recovery from loss. Ms. Blackburn offers a breadth of strategies and treatment approaches to allow you to meet your clients where they are in their grief journeys.

DSM®, DSM-IV-TR®, and DSM-5® are registered trademarks of the American Psychiatric Association. The American Psychiatric Association is not affiliated with nor endorses this seminar.

Course Content

UNDERSTANDING THE GRIEF REACTION – DEATH OR NON-DEATH RELATED  

• Definition of Grief

• What constitutes a non-death related loss
• The signs and symptoms of a grief reaction
• Factors that impact a grief reaction

GRIEF REACTION VS. MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS

• Defining “normal bereavement”
• Identifying intensity and duration of symptoms associated with complicated grief
• Differentiating the signs and symptoms of complicated grief and other mental health disorders
• Grief and suicide
• Complicated grief as a qualifier for a PTSD diagnosis

The DSM-5^® & GRIEF COUNSELING

• Defining the bereavement exclusion from the DSM-IV-TR^®
• Differentiating grief and mental health disorders according to the DSM-5^®
• The value of the assessment in grief counseling
• The impact of DSM-5® changes to grief on the clinician and client
• Medication management of grief reactions

MYTHS ABOUT GRIEF & BEREAVEMENT

• Commonly held myths associated with grief and bereavement
• The impact of myths on client outcomes in grief and bereavement counseling
• Strategies to counteract these myths

THE ROLE OF THE CLINICIAN IN GRIEF COUNSELING

• Identifying the role of the grief clinician
• Avoiding the “parallel process” in grief counseling
• Effective strategies for “taking care of the caretaker”

ACHIEVING DESIRED OUTCOMES IN GRIEF & BEREAVEMENT COUNELING

• Matching the treatment plan to the client’s individual needs

• Effective use of writing assignments, journaling, and psycho-education techniques in grief counseling
• Tracking progress towards desired outcomes in grief and bereavement counseling

ACTION STEPS FOR ONGOING RECOVERY

• Reinforcing the “Process” in grief recovery
• Assisting client(s) with trigger emotions of anniversaries, special events, etc.
• Strategies to reinforce ongoing adaptation to the loss and redefining one’s self