Compassionate Bereavement Care® Certification

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Compassionate Bereavement Care® Certification

Compassionate Bereavement Care Certification® is brought to you by the Center for Loss and Trauma in partnership with the MISS Foundation and the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Family Trust.

Join us for a four-day, intensive training program approved for 30 continuing education hours in Sedona, Arizona.

The Art of Grief Counseling Informed by Science

Are you a mental health provider, social worker, psychologist, nurse, physician, spiritual leader/counselor, school counselor, or other licensed professional who wishes to learn how to truly help those suffering from the traumatic death of a loved one? Do you work with bereaved parents or grieving family members after suicide, homicide, accidents, or other losses?

You can help in your community. The MISS Foundation, an international nonprofit group which aids parents whose children die, and the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Family Trust receive calls and emails from around the world every day looking for competent clinicians who can help guide them through the dark abyss of traumatic grief. Unfortunately, there are few clinicians who specialize in this very unique and painful type of loss. Our foundations are partnering to bring this important, timely INTENSIVE four-day training in traumatic grief to providers around the world. It’s a RARE opportunity to become a Certified Provider in Compassionate Bereavement Care (R), a mindfulness-based non-medicalized approach to traumatic grief, with trainings held in stunning Sedona, Arizona (30 CEUs offered).

What is traumatic grief?

Current literature recognizes traumatic grief as the death of a baby or child, violent death, suicide, homicide, and untimely deaths.

How does this certification help?

We believe that counseling those affected by traumatic grief is an art that is informed by science.

The Compassionate Bereavement Care Certification® is AN INTENSIVE FOUR-DAY training program. You will feel better prepared to help clients and patients suffering these losses. In addition, preliminary evidence suggests this model helps prevent vicarious trauma and improve psychosocial outcomes for providers.

Offering 30 continuing education credits, this ONE-OF-A-KIND, SPECIALIZED program, prepares you for an in-demand field of training often overlooked in graduate and post-graduate training. Once approved, you will be added to our database of certified providers. You can expect to learn the biological/brain, psychological/emotional, social/interpersonal, and spiritual/existential effects of traumatic grief on individuals, families, communities, and generations. You will be better prepared to work with a highly specialized and vulnerable population. In addition, you will also have an opportunity to explore the latest empirical research on mindfulness, grief, self-care and compassion and the short and long-term benefits to self and other.

One grieving mother, treated by a provider trained in our approach said, “I’d been to four different counselors… and felt hopeless. She gave me back my life and cannot be more grateful to have learned to live in both grief and love.”

What is the pedagogical model of the training? The model we use is actually more of a framework based in the art of full presence. ATTEND (attunement, trust, therapeutic touch, egalitarianism, nuance, and death education) is a mindful and evidence-based, culturally sensitive paradigm for compassionate care to the traumatically bereaved which does not pathologize grief (Thieleman & Cacciatore, 2013; Cacciatore, 2010; Cacciatore & Flint, 2011; Cacciatore & Thieleman, 2012; Thieleman & Cacciatore, 2014). This model has been shown to reduce depressive, anxious, and trauma symptomatology in both clients and clinicians.

30 continuing education credits provided. This training is being held in Sedona, Arizona, one of the most beautiful and sought after vacation cities in the world. Come a day or two early and enjoy the majesty of Sedona! Alliant International University is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Alliant maintains responsibility for the program and its content. Alliant is approved by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences to provide continuing education for MFTs and LCSWs (provider # PCE234). Please allow approximately 8-10 weeks for CEU’s to be processed following the course.

Downloadable CBC Flyer

Compassionate Bereavement Care® Certification

Compassionate Bereavement Care Certification® is brought to you by the Center for Loss and Trauma in partnership with the MISS Foundation and the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Family Trust.

Join us for a four-day, intensive training program approved for 30 continuing education hours in Sedona, Arizona.

The Art of Grief Counseling Informed by Science

Are you a mental health provider, social worker, psychologist, nurse, physician, spiritual leader/counselor, school counselor, or other licensed professional who wishes to learn how to truly help those suffering from the traumatic death of a loved one? Do you work with bereaved parents or grieving family members after suicide, homicide, accidents, or other losses?

You can help in your community. The MISS Foundation, an international nonprofit group which aids parents whose children die, and the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Family Trust receive calls and emails from around the world every day looking for competent clinicians who can help guide them through the dark abyss of traumatic grief. Unfortunately, there are few clinicians who specialize in this very unique and painful type of loss. Our foundations are partnering to bring this important, timely INTENSIVE four-day training in traumatic grief to providers around the world. It’s a RARE opportunity to become a Certified Provider in Compassionate Bereavement Care (R), a mindfulness-based non-medicalized approach to traumatic grief, with trainings held in stunning Sedona, Arizona (30 CEUs offered).

What is traumatic grief?

Current literature recognizes traumatic grief as the death of a baby or child, violent death, suicide, homicide, and untimely deaths.

How does this certification help?

We believe that counseling those affected by traumatic grief is an art that is informed by science.

The Compassionate Bereavement Care Certification® is AN INTENSIVE FOUR-DAY training program. You will feel better prepared to help clients and patients suffering these losses. In addition, preliminary evidence suggests this model helps prevent vicarious trauma and improve psychosocial outcomes for providers.

Offering 30 continuing education credits, this ONE-OF-A-KIND, SPECIALIZED program, prepares you for an in-demand field of training often overlooked in graduate and post-graduate training. Once approved, you will be added to our database of certified providers. You can expect to learn the biological/brain, psychological/emotional, social/interpersonal, and spiritual/existential effects of traumatic grief on individuals, families, communities, and generations. You will be better prepared to work with a highly specialized and vulnerable population. In addition, you will also have an opportunity to explore the latest empirical research on mindfulness, grief, self-care and compassion and the short and long-term benefits to self and other.

One grieving mother, treated by a provider trained in our approach said, “I’d been to four different counselors… and felt hopeless. She gave me back my life and cannot be more grateful to have learned to live in both grief and love.”

What is the pedagogical model of the training? The model we use is actually more of a framework based in the art of full presence. ATTEND (attunement, trust, therapeutic touch, egalitarianism, nuance, and death education) is a mindful and evidence-based, culturally sensitive paradigm for compassionate care to the traumatically bereaved which does not pathologize grief (Thieleman & Cacciatore, 2013; Cacciatore, 2010; Cacciatore & Flint, 2011; Cacciatore & Thieleman, 2012; Thieleman & Cacciatore, 2014). This model has been shown to reduce depressive, anxious, and trauma symptomatology in both clients and clinicians.

30 continuing education credits provided. This training is being held in Sedona, Arizona, one of the most beautiful and sought after vacation cities in the world. Come a day or two early and enjoy the majesty of Sedona! Alliant International University is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Alliant maintains responsibility for the program and its content. Alliant is approved by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences to provide continuing education for MFTs and LCSWs (provider # PCE234). Please allow approximately 8-10 weeks for CEU’s to be processed following the course.

Downloadable CBC Flyer

About the Course

The Art of Traumatic Grief Counseling: Compassionate Bereavement Care Certification®

The Compassionate Bereavement Care Certification® program explores and extends current evidence based practices in traumatic grief for clinicians and is based in a non-medicalized, non-pathologizing, mindfulness- approach. We teach the art of full presence and compassionate counseling informed by recent science.

Specifically, the training is based on a novel, empirically tested mindfulness-based intervention for those suffering traumatic deaths through:

  1. attunement skills
  2. building trust and safety in trauma
  3. therapeutic and culturally appropriate touch
  4. egalitarian and client-trauma centered practice
  5. nuanced intervention that focuses on trauma and culture
  6. traumatic death education which includes neurophysiological changes in clients enduring traumatic stress.

You will also explore, through a phenomenological perspective and using creativity, art, literature, poetry, indigenous wisdom, and evidence-based research, the various experiences of grief, trauma, and bereavement, practice techniques, and psychosocial care to the traumatically bereaved.

The ATTEND Model

During this course, we will integrate the ATTEND model into an examination of the micro, mezzo, and macro aspects of death and grief in contemporary society. This course will better prepare clinicians working with traumatic grief through theory, philosophy, and direct practice with individuals, families, and groups.

  1. Define and explore the concepts of vicarious, traumatic, disenfranchised, and ‘normal’ grief;
  2. Describe the immediate and long-term psychological, social, physiological, cognitive, behavioral, and spiritual/existential effects of grief on individuals, families, and on providers based on the most current review of empirical literature;
  3. Learn the economic impact of such losses on individuals, families, and society;
  4. Review the history of the DSM and bereavement; Recognize and understand pharmacologic trends in treating acutely bereaved based on empirical outcomes;
  5. Describe the immediate and long-term psychological effects of infant/child/adult child/suicide/homicide death on families;
  6. Learn and understand the implementation of the ATTEND paradigm of psychosocial care for the bereaved and for self-as-clinician;
  7. Discover and practice effective psychosocial communication skills;
  8. Discuss evidence based practices around ritual and practice culturally competent care of the bereaved;
  9. Identify and co-create mindfulness and existentially based crisis and long-term interventions for bereaved clients that are culturally appropriate and reflexive;
  10. Increase understanding of grief and emotional tolerance in the process of human suffering and mourning as a normal response to the death of a beloved one;
  11. Using multiple modalities including poetry, art, and music, participants will expand their knowledge of self-care strategies to reduce vicarious trauma risk.

$995.00 for the four-day training. An optional 30 continuing education credits provided for a fee.*

This training is being held at the Selah Carefarm and Respite Center near Sedona, Arizona, one of the most beautiful and sought after vacation cities in the world. Come a day or two early and enjoy the majesty of Sedona!

TESTIMONIALS

Robert D. Stolorow, PhD

“(This) course on the understanding of and therapeutic approach to traumatic grief is sorely needed in the context of the pathologizing, get-over-it-and move-on attitude that pervades our culture… It will provide a thorough, systematic, and eminently practical exploration of the phenomenology of and evidence-based approaches to grief trauma that will be invaluable to practicing clinicians at all levels.”
Author, Trauma and Human Existence Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine

Karla Helbert, LPC

“It’s hard to articulate how this training impacted me. Having already done this work for a while, I recognize I have only barely scratched the surface of how deep is the well. I’ve learned so much about turning toward my own pain, turning toward someone else’s pain and seeing how deep we can truly go–humans joining together in pain, in life, in love, in beauty. I’ve learned so much about being with someone else in the places no one else wants to see.”
Richmond, Virginia

Shannon Norberg

“I want to thank you for the past four days…Thank you for putting this training together, for bringing such a group of precious hearts together, for creating and holding the space for such immense opening and transformation to occur. (The) teaching is outstanding. Dr Joanne Cacciatore is a captivating speaker and clearly has so much inner, outer, all around, intuitive and research based knowledge – the transmission of everything was just so direct and heartfelt. I enjoyed listening to stories and the miracle of how she somehow has every relevant paper filed away in her mind, accessible at a moment’s notice, it was truly awe-inspiring to grasp just how much she knows and contributes and completely lives out this work. I have never experienced instruction that was so balanced between the academic world and the world of the heart, both were woven together so that there was really no division – each complimented and reinforced and built upon the other and made learning – and absorbing – effortless… I could go on and on and on.. I thought I was broken open before, walking around with a very bare heart and little skin. I now feel as though my heart and nervous system are the ones rolling ahead of me as I go, picking up every nuance and every story of every person I pass, forget skin, forget barriers, and yet I am somehow able to hold it all. I can’t wait to put the tools into practice, I can’t wait to re-read my notes and all the slides and all of the incredible resources you provided. I can’t wait for bibliotherapy. I can’t wait to sit. Thank you for an incredible experience, life altering without a doubt, world changing.”
Vancouver B.C., Canada Registered Midwife

Paul Wyant Kahn, LCSW, DCSW

“(This) is a rare program in our field…implemented for nearly fifteen years and has helped hundreds of families and individuals through traumatic grief. The model has been subjected to a number of experiments and in published papers shown empirically to have dramatic healing validity and reliability. I have personally met and interviewed those (treated with) this program, (including) men and women who have lost children suddenly and through disease, accidents and violence. I was astonished at their ability to discuss with both deep emotion and equanimity their loss, their process through grief, and their gradual reconnection with the flow of their lives. I served as a lead clinician treating a Cambodian population who survived Pot Pol and were moved from refugee camps in Thailand to the South Bronx. I also worked in the South Bronx when a large portion was burned down in riots and street violence was rampant during the addiction madness of the “crack” epidemic. I know intimately how difficult it is to help traumatized people. As a seasoned clinician, I want (this training) brought forward as a “best practice” and to see treatment professionals educated and using it as a primary intervention. I can share with you my unequivocal recommendation of the Compassionate Bereavement Care Certification.”
Certified Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist The Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis of New Jersey

Lynn Farrales MD MSc CCFP

“I found this course to be of exceptional value to enhance my practice as a family physician who provides care for those who have experienced traumatic grief. The course provides students with the basics of understanding trauma. But, what sets the Compassionate Bereavement Care Certification apart from other courses is that it invites practitioners to make a shift toward being more human in practice through a rich curriculum that includes lectures, actual/simulated patient encounters, role play and selected video showings. I have found more satisfaction in my work through making this shift in practice.”
University of British Columbia, Department of Family Practice

Certification Course Schedule

Day 1

  • Etiology and epidemiology of traumatic grief
  • Definitions
  • Individual psychological, familial, spiritual, and social outcomes
  • Neurophysiology of traumatic grief
  • Economic/societal impact
  • Current care model/History of DSMs MDD and Bereavement Exclusion
  • Relevant diagnoses (MDD, AD, PTSD)
  • Pharmacologic trends in treating traumatic grief
  • Introduction of ATTEND Model: empirical studies to date

Day 2

  • Trust and safety in the therapeutic relationship
  • The history and evidence around  therapeutic trust
  • Prudence in practice
  • Cultural considerations
  • Egalitarianism and strengths based perspective
  • Understanding partnerships and alliances in clinical practice
  • Trust and power through traumatic processing
  • Culturally sensitive trauma treatment: an empirical and anthropologic exploration
  • Death education and mortality salience
  • Acute and postvention clinical care
  • Crisis intervention
  • Selah and long-term client coping
  • Clinical skills practice

Day 3

  • Individual therapeutic practice
  • Emotional dwelling (Stolorow)
  • Vignette/practice lab
  • Family and group therapeutic practice
  • Community-based interventions
  • Vignette/practice lab
CBC-Training-Cert-Day-3-Miss-Foundation

Day 4

  • Case studies/file review
  • Clinical skills practice
  • Supervision
  • Empirical evidence on self-care/compassion
  • Vicarious trauma/secondary post-traumatic stress
  • Affect tolerance and acceptance
  • Clinical practice
  • Supervision feedback
  • Course evaluation
CBC-Training-Cert-Day-4-Miss-Foundation

Compassionate Bereavement Care Certification® FAQs

When should I arrive?

We will begin at 8am on Thursday morning. Please arrive by Wednesday evening. Remember that Sedona is easily one of the world’s most beautiful and popular travel destinations. If you can schedule your extended vacation around the certification program, we highly recommend it. Things to see and do in Sedona include hiking, mountain biking, Palatki and Honanki ruins, jeep tours, helicopter tours, cave exploring, camping, Slide Rock, hiking in creeks and mountains, and so much more!

Where should I arrive?

Our Compassionate Bereavement Care training program will take place for the first time in our newly built, state-of-the-art meeting room at the MISS Foundation’s Selah House near Sedona, Arizona. Address will be provided to attendees. Attendees may find nearby hotel accommodations in areas close to Selah House (zip code 86325) in Old town Cottonwood, the Village of Oak Creek, and Sedona.

How much is it and what is included in the Compassionate Bereavement Care Certification® program fee?

The cost is $995.00 for the four-day program. You will pay your own hotel fees and any other costs of travel. You may become certified with or without continuing education credits. There is an additional $200 fee for 30 CE hours and the certificate for those. Registration and CEU fees are the same whether you are taking the course in person or through video conferencing.

What about phones and electronic devices?

Please turn off all electronic devices and phones during the program out of respect for fellow attendees. We ask that you do not use computers during the session, and audio/visual recording is not permitted.

Do I have to apply to be accepted into the program?

Yes, application is mandatory for certified providers.

What if I am not accepted into the certification program?

This training may be unsuitable for you at this time. You may reapply no sooner than 24 months from the first application date.

Can I attend only a day?

Because of the nature of this event, please plan to attend the entire program.

Are scholarships available?

This training raises funds for the MISS Foundation, an international nonprofit organization that aids parents enduring the death (or impending death) of a child. Scholarships are not available. Consider that your fee for the program will help many families in crisis.

What time does the training start and end?

Registration commences at 7:30 am on Thursday morning. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will commence at 8am, and all four days will last until 5pm with a 60-minute lunch break. Lunch on-site is provided complimentary. See our Course Schedule for more detailed information.

What is the nearest airport?

The nearest airport is Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport which is approximately 2 hours away. Shuttle service is limited due to Covid so we recommend renting a car. Please refer to our Travel Info page for more details.

What is the weather like?

The meeting location is near breathtaking Sedona, Arizona and is located in the high desert at 4,500-feet altitude. Typical high desert weather in summer is warm in the day cooling off at night.

Do I need to have a graduate degree?

In most all cases, yes. This is a post-graduate certification program. Exceptions are for nursing, hospice, and on a case-by-case basis. If you do not have a graduate degree, please email your vita to info@missfoundation.org and reference your application for the certification program.

How are the accommodations?

The meeting space is located at the MISS Foundation’s Selah House at the Carefarm near Sedona. The location is beautiful.

What should I bring?

The climate is changeable, so bring a variety of loose, comfortable, casual, layered clothing. Bring outdoor walking shoes as well as slip-on shoes. Bring hat and sunscreen in the spring/summer and/or rain gear in the fall/winter for outdoor walking. Please bring tissues, a few pens or pencils, notebook or journal, and photos of your loved one if you are also bereaved.

Who should attend?

Clinicians with a graduate degree who are interested in this burgeoning field including nurses, physicians, social workers, sociologists, mortuary scientists, first responders, counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, graduate students, and others working with those who are traumatically bereaved. If you do not have a graduate degree, you will need to send a vita to info@missfoundation.org for consideration.

Can I pay by credit card?

Yes you can either through online registration or when sending in the registration forms.

What do I do if I need to cancel?***

Send an email as soon as you know you’ll have to cancel. There is a non-refundable cancellation fee of $100 by March 14, 2024. There are no refunds for cancellations after March 14, 2024. Please save your email and if you do not receive a cancellation notice back within 48 hours, please call us with your intent to cancel at 602-279-MISS (6477).

*The MISS Foundation does not provide a refund for any reason after the stated cancellation date nor do we offer a refund for cancellation or withdrawal once a program has begun.

How do I maintain my certification?

In order to remain provider certified, we ask that you focus a minimum of 6 continuing education hours every two years on grief, death, or trauma. We will offer opportunities to our providers at deeply discounted prices, both online and in person.

Can the Compassionate Bereavement Care Certification® program be brought to us?

Yes, however, attendees at your hospital, agency, counseling center, hospice facility, or other organization may still need to complete the application process depending on desired trainings. Please contact us if you are interested in bringing Dr. Joanne Cacciatore or this training to your location.

Our Upcoming Compassionate Bereavement Care® Events

Travel Info

Our Compassionate Bereavement Care training program will take place in our newly built, state-of-the-art meeting room at the MISS Foundation’s Selah House near Sedona, Arizona. Address will be provided to attendees. Attendees may find nearby hotel accommodations in areas close to Selah House (zip code 86325) in Old town Cottonwood, the Village of Oak Creek, and Sedona.

Events

Certified Provider Application

You are required to apply for this certification program. If accepted, your notice of acceptance will include instructions for payment and registration for your training.

Register Now

Resources

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