Northern Michigan University will offer an eight-week, online grief support specialist program, beginning in February. The interactive, noncredit program focuses on practical tools applicable to adults, children and families that can be used personaly—or professionally by earning a certificate and continuing education hours.
"Grief is an experience we all have to carry with us," said Instructor Douglas C. Smith, who has written eight books on dying, grief and counseling, and has conducted hundreds of holistic workshops. "Our task is to figure out how to carry that grief as survivors rather than as victims. The goal of this course is to help all of us, and those who look to us for assistance, become such survivors. We will never cure that terrible wound of grief, but we can find some healing in the midst of it, and that is what makes us survivors."
Topics to be covered include: grief counseling theories and strategies; assessments; COVID and grief; recovery tools and intervention; attachment styles and grief; different age coping skills; dealing with dying, legal issues and end-of-life decisions; spiritual, ethical and cultural issues; group therapy; self-care; and career enhancement. Brief meditation and relaxation exercises are included during the synchronous instructions.
This program being offered through NMU Continuing Education and Workforce Development evolved from the grief specialist program at UW-Madison. For more information, visit nmu.edu/ce/grief-support-specialist-program.