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Digital Seminar
2-Day Certification Course on Grief Counseling for Children & Adolescents

2-Day Certification Course on Grief Counseling for Children & Adolescents

Standard - $459.99 $243.79 Anniversary Sale 2026 - 47% off!
Also Available: DVD

Grief looks different in a child.

When a child loses someone, it’s a lifelong loss. Not only have they lost someone important, they often become isolated in their pain, confusion, and self-blame. Safety and security have been replaced by trauma and anxiety.

Their understanding of death, and responses to the grief that follows, are largely influenced by their developmental level, making their treatment much different from that of an adult.

Many clinicians are unprepared…a child’s unique grief leaving them struggling in session.

This live webinar featuring grief expert, author, and speaker Erica H. Sirrine, Ph.D., LCSW, FT provides you with the assessment and treatment strategies you need to help your most vulnerable clients.

Watch Dr. Sirrine and discover how you can:

  • Better evaluate for developmentally appropriate grief symptomology
  • Provide anticipatory grief support to children facing the death of a parent
  • Talk to kids about death and tough topics like suicide
  • Match strategies and interventions to developmental level for improved outcomes
  • Use therapeutic games, arts and activities to promote healing when talking is too difficult

Best of all, upon completion of this live training, you’ll be eligible to become a Certified Child & Adolescent Grief Counseling Specialist (CGCS-CA) through Evergreen Certifications.  Certification lets colleagues, employers, and caregivers know that you’ve invested the extra time and effort necessary to understand the complexities of grief counseling with today’s youth. Professional standards apply. Visit www.evergreencertifications.com/cgcsca for details.

Don’t miss this opportunity to get the skills you need to make a difference for your young clients.

Purchase today!

*We partner with Evergreen Certifications to include certification with some of our products. When you purchase such a product we may disclose your information to Evergreen Certifications for purposes of providing services directly to you or to contact you regarding relevant offers.

Here's What You'll Learn


Critical Concepts for Treating Grieving Children & Adolescents
  • Grief vs. mourning: A distinction
  • Primary and secondary losses
  • Parental and sibling loss
  • Non-death losses experienced by kids
  • Traditional grief models & kids
  • Cognitive components of understanding grief in childhood
  • Grief concepts & loss responses by developmental age and stage (using case examples)
  • Distinctions between adult and youth responses to loss
  • Explaining sensitive topics like suicide or homicide death to kids
  • Magical thinking, guilt, and regret in childhood loss
Assessment of Grief & Loss in Children & Adolescents
  • How children and adolescents understand and cope with death
  • Six common questions following a death
  • “Things we want adults to know about our grief”
  • “De-code” the meanings of behaviors
  • Factors that influence mourning and healing in kids
  • Red flag behaviors
  • Ethical considerations for working with kids
Normal vs. Abnormal Responses to Loss in Children and Adolescents
  • Depression vs. bereavement: A DSM-5 distinction
  • Differentiating between normal, complicated, prolonged, and traumatic grief in children
Traumatic Grief in Children & Adolescents
  • Trauma exposure and traumatic loss
  • Assessing traumatic grief
  • Differentiating from normal bereavement
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Evidence-based interventions for treating traumatic grief
The Role of Attachment in Childhood Grief
  • The role of the pre-death relationship
  • Factors that influence continuing bonds
  • Assessment and expression of child and adolescent continuing bonds after death
  • Adaptive vs. maladaptive continuing bonds
  • Grief Cave Intervention
Anticipatory Grief Counseling
  • Talking to kids about terminal illness and death: Do’s and Don’ts
  • Anticipatory grief interventions
  • Explaining cancer to kids
  • Explaining the dying process to kids
  • Strategies to prepare kids for funerals & memorial services
  • Strategies to prepare children to return to school after a death
Individual Interventions to Help Children Reconcile Losses & Discover Hope
  • Bibliotherapy and journaling
  • Therapeutic games and play
  • Expressive arts interventions
  • Poetry, writing, and music interventions
  • Memorialization Rituals- Holidays and Significant Dates
School-Based and Group Interventions
  • Factors for assessing and counseling kids and teens at schools
  • Strategies for building rapport
  • 6-week support group session outline
  • Grief Camps
  • Family Camps
  • “Pamper Days”

Everything You're Getting


  • More than 12 hours of video content
  • CE information to come
  • Handouts and resources
  • Certification through Evergreen Certification

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2-Day Certification Course on Grief Counseling for Children & Adolescents
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2-Day Certification Course on Grief Counseling for Children & Adolescents
Digital Seminar
$243.79
$459.99

Meet Your Experts


Erica H Sirrine, PhD, LCSW, FT

Toggle speaker biography

Dr. Erica Sirrine is a licensed clinical social worker with over 25 years of experience in the field of death, dying, and bereavement. She earned a PhD in social work and has been awarded the distinction of Fellow in Thanatology by the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Dr. Sirrine has conducted and published research on grief and bereavement, including a study on college student experiences of loss amid the COVID-19 pandemic that was published in OMEGA: Journal of Death and Dying and featured in TIME magazine. She maintains a blog on grief and is the author of Sammy’s Story, an anticipatory grief counseling book for young children experiencing the serious illness of a parent.

Dr. Sirrine has extensive expertise providing individual and group therapy to children, adolescents, adults, and families experiencing illness and loss. She has implemented numerous interventions and programs aimed at improving the emotional health of clients and currently serves as the director of social work at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Dr. Sirrine frequently presents seminars on bereavement and loss throughout the United States and is known for her interactive and engaging workshops.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Erica Sirrine has employment relationships with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. She receives royalties as a self-published author and a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Erica Sirrine is a member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, the Association of Pediatric Oncology Social Workers, the National Alliance for Children’s Grief, and the National Association of Social Workers.

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Media Type:
Digital Seminar
Also Available:
DVD
Product Code:
POS057385
Duration:
12 hours, 7 minutes
Copyright:
Jan 27, 2021
Format:
Audio and Video

ADA Needs


We would be happy to accommodate your ADA needs; please call our Customer Service Department for more information at 1-800-844-8260.

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