Blooming Life Institute

Reconceptualizing Grief: Developmental Considerations for Counselors

Deepen your understanding of how grief can look different across developmental stages—and strengthen your ability to provide responsive, individualized grief counseling.

What you'll get:

3 hours of NBCC-approved continuing education focused on developmental considerations in grief counseling
A research-informed framework for understanding and conceptualizing grief
Practical strategies for applying developmental perspectives to assessment and counseling practice
Handouts and tools you can use right away

About This Program

Counselors consistently report feeling unprepared and uncomfortable with grief work, not because they lack skill, but because the models that many people were trained in do not fit the grief that actually walks in the door. Those models tend to center death loss, expect recovery, and move through fixed steps. Most caseloads do not.

This home-study program presents the Transcending Model of Grief and Loss (TMGL), a non-stage-based framework for conceptualizing any loss, death or non-death. Across five modules you will move from foundational definitions through the history and limits of grief models, into the Transcending Model of Grief and Loss, the Loss Template as a conceptualization and assessment tool, and concrete, space-responsive strategies counselors. The program is built for generalist licensed counselors or counselors-in-training, not only grief specialists. By the end you will have a way to recognize loss operating underneath a wide range of presenting concerns, and specific things to do in session.

What the program covers:

The four constructs (grief, mourning, bereavement, loss) as distinct, and the shift from ranked "primary and secondary" losses to cascading losses
Ten common misconceptions about grief and their clinical cost
The evolution of diagnostic grief language and grief theory, and where inherited models fall short for contemporary caseloads
The four spaces of the Transcending Model of Grief and Loss (TMGL)
The Loss Template and its four elements (Context, Grief Expectations, Identity, Process)
Practical, non-prescriptive strategies for joining a client in each space

Learning Objectives

By the end of this program, participants will be able to:
Differentiate between grief, loss, and bereavement
Unpack common misconceptions
Identify at least 3 grief models they can implement and use in practice
Identify and define various types of grief and loss
Identify similarities and differences between grief theories
Diagnose PGD in clients experiencing death-related grief
Identify limitations of previous grief models
Recognize how a developmental lens can inform grief work
Identify spaces of grief that clients may find themselves in
List at least two tools/interventions that can be used to assist clients struggling with grief and loss

Who Should Enroll and Prerequisites

This program is designed for graduate-level, licensed or license-eligible mental health professionals seeking continuing education in grief and loss. Content is relevant to generalist practitioners across settings; no prior grief-specialty training is assumed.

Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this program.

Your Presenters

Sonya Lorelle, PhD

Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC), Illinois
National Certified Counselor (NCC)
Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor (RPT-S)
Clinical Professor
Co-author, Reconceptualizing Grief (Cognella) and Griefly Speaking

Katherine M. Atkins, PhD

Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Wisconsin
National Certified Counselor (NCC)
Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS)
Associate Professor
Co-author, Reconceptualizing Grief (Cognella) and Griefly Speaking

How to Earn Your Certificate of Completion

To qualify for a NBCC 3 Credit hours and certificate of completion, participants must:

Watch every lesson in all five modules and review all handouts
Pass the end-of-course post-test with a score of 80% or higher.
Complete the course evaluation form.

Upon meeting all three requirements, your certificate will be emailed. Certificates are not released before the program is completed.

Registration

Fee: $99
What is included: Full access to all five video modules, downloadable handouts, the end-of-course post-test, and the certificate of completion upon successful completion.
Access: Participant retains access after enrollment.
Technical requirements: Internet connection and a current web browser; and audio required.
Payment: Electronic payments are processed through a secure, encrypted checkout.

Policies

Refund and cancellation: Refunds are not granted for home study courses. Please read all the material carefully before purchasing a home study course. Once a course has been purchased, a refund cannot be granted.

Participant complaints and grievances: Email dr.sonya.bloominglife@gmail.com if you have a complaint or grievance.

Accommodations. Blooming Life Institute provides reasonable accommodations for participants with disabilities. To request an accommodation, contact us at dr.sonya.bloominglife@gmail.com

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