Professional Certification Programs in Grief and Bereavement

[Reviewed and updated June 1, 2025]

A license authorizes a person to practice in a particular specialty in healthcare. Certification through a national board affirms advanced knowledge, skill, and practice to meet the challenges of that specialty, and it contributes to better patient outcomes. Certification is a voluntary process, and is sought by those who care enough to earn and maintain the highest credentials in their specialty, thereby demonstrating a commitment to excellence in practice. Certification requires coursework, experience in the field, successful completion of a standardized exam, and ongoing continuing education and professional development. (Note that certification differs from programs offering only a certificate upon completion of course work, in that certificate programs do not offer standardized testing of knowledge and do not require ongoing continuing education.) ~ Marty Tousley

Caregiving and Hospice, January 22 - January 28, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Realities of long-distance caregiving, http://on.msnbc.com/zS7dGPMT @AFATEENS
  
  
• What is a Will, and Why Does Every Senior Need One? http://bit.ly/xtzVTT by@AgingCare via @AgingAbundantly
  
  
• "I wish we'd let hospice in sooner" -- A Little About The End, http://ht.ly/8IOJT  by @Freshwidow
  
  
• Circle of Care chart depicts holistic continuum of care in hospice, http://bit.ly/xxqBD8 by @SeasonsHospice via @SolariHospice
  
  
• Physician traces value, history of hospice movement | The Catholic Key, http://bit.ly/zgrMpe via @SoalriHospice

Understanding and Managing Grief, January 22 - January 28, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Lessons Learned: After Son's Sudden Death, Shock, Grief And Coping http://n.pr/wGcVC0 from @IDidNotKnow via@TheGriefToolbox
  
  
• Supporting the bereaved by having the courage to listen, http://j.mp/zeQDDV
  
  
• Beautiful! Parents of stillborns struggle with grief, http://bit.ly/yJxgRv from @JenMarsh2 via @dcexaminer
  
  
• How Long Should Grief Last? http://j.mp/x7yjWA
  
  
• Film Review: The Descendants | SevenPonds Blog, http://j.mp/zyfFgj

Coping with Pet Loss, January 22 - January 28, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• A Time To Weep, A Time To Mourn ~ A Time To Be Disorganized, http://ow.ly/8jQto by @ElvieLook
  
  
• An Old Friend Passes: Eulogy for an old faithful friend, http://wp.me/p241Ig-7D  by @DavidRothbauer
  
  
• IAAHPC Conference 11/2012 – CALL FOR PROPOSALS, http://j.mp/xvFC0n via @GeorgiasLegacy
  
  
• Lessons learned from a beloved cat, http://bit.ly/yV89GH  by @PeggyHaymes
  
  
• 10 Colleges With Successful PetTherapy Programs, http://j.mp/y1gLgB

We Bought a Zoo: A Movie Recommendation

I love to read, and I suppose because of the work I do, I am drawn to stories that teach me about grief, most especially those that describe the myriad ways people survive it, as they manage to transcend the most tragic of losses and find meaning in them. I also love to watch and to go to the movies, and once again, my favorite films are those about overcoming loss.

In an earlier article, Grief Observed: Using Movies to Move through Grief, I shared my belief that movies can serve as a valuable tool, because—when selected carefully and intentionally— they can help us get in touch with painful, blocked or pent-up emotions, and help us see our own grief issues from a different perspective.

Before I see a first-run movie, I like to read the reviews to help me decide if it’s worth my time (and money), but occasionally I take a chance and go see a film despite what I’ve read about it, and sometimes I am pleasantly surprised. Here is one of those pleasant surprises:

Caregiving and Hospice, January 15 - January 21, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Hospice volunteers call for new generation to help http://bit.ly/x9WtZs via @hospicepharmacy

• 'Alzheimer’s patients don’t come back to our world. We have to help them in theirs,' http://bit.ly/w8gThT via @dlkyorkeditor

• Caregiving: A Dance Between Guilt and Resentment, ow.ly/8AG9n via@eldercarelink1

• Palliative Care's Healing Powers in Caregiving, aarp.us/zgFhYR from @hospicepharmacy via @RedefineHospice

• Ambiguous Loss in Caregiving, caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/… from @YourOCTherapist via @caregiverally

Understanding and Managing Grief, January 15 - January 21, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Creative Healing: using the arts in dealing with grief of at-risk youth, http://j.mp/wHTRjT
  
  
• Darcie Sims: You know you're making progress through griefwhen..., http://j.mp/wgIC5o
  
  
• Disenfranchised grief and infertility, http://huff.to/yu8oHO by@savvyauntie via @sBaffone
  
  
• When the pain of grief starts to subside, http://bit.ly/zDMYCp via @AliveHospice
  
  
• Tools to help others in grief, http://j.mp/wMpSQb by @TheGriefToolbox

Coping with Pet Loss, January 15 - January 21, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Helping Children Cope with A Pet's Euthanasia, http://j.mp/iPJoT9  

• Helping Kids Cope with PetLoss, http://bit.ly/xafOeB from @Kidlutions via @411Voices
  
  
• Life lessons learned from pet loss, http://bit.ly/zqszzg by @Precious_Mettle
  
  
• Helping children with pet loss, http://bit.ly/zkRgvd by @sBaffone
  
  
• Animal Communication: What is It and How Does it Work? http://j.mp/yZT79v

Is Anger One of The Stages of Grief?

Find the updated version of this post here:

In Grief: Is Anger One of The Stages?

Although anger is commonly identified as one of the so-called Stages of Grief, we now recognize that grief does not occur in easily defined stages, and anger is not always a part of everyone’s experience. Better to think of anger as a state (the circumstances or condition in which you may find yourself at any given time) rather than a stage (one of several sequential phases you may be in, as you work your way toward an end).

What is more, many mourners report not feeling angry at all. Nevertheless, there are times in your grief journey when you’re frustrated and hurting, and it’s only natural to lash out and look for someone to blame. Being angry is a way of channeling energy, of making some sense of the pain. When you are protesting an unjust loss, you may have every right to be angry. Even if you know your anger isn’t logical or justified, you can’t always help how you feel. Emotions aren’t always rational and logical. Feelings are neither right or wrong, good or bad. They just are. And for some of us, being angry may be preferable to feeling the underlying hurt and pain of loss.

Caregiving and Hospice, January 8 - January 14, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Saying no to your oncologist is sometimes the right thing to do, http://bit.ly/rEBuYY RT @AlithiaCarol
  
  
• On what is really important in life, http://awe.sm/5dR2O by@LiaLondon1RT via @ShelleyWebbRN
  
  
• Helping employees with caregiving, http://bit.ly/AysrIm
  
  
• Some companies are doing it right! via @ShelleyWebbRN
  
  
• Preparing Your Home For Alzheimers Caregiving, http://bit.ly/AFaiVD via @ClickForFitness

Understanding and Managing Grief, January 8 - January 14, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Effects of unresolved grief can be devastating, http://j.mp/Av3Qug

• How faith changes through grief « Memoirs from Widow Island, http://j.mp/x5V0Nh

• Gloria Horsley: 4R’s of Recovery For Those Who've Experienced #Loss http://j.mp/xHngHA
  
  
• Teen loses step-dad, now making a documentary, http://j.mp/Aa8ZTL by @jetlifefilm via @LosingParents
  
  
• How Twitter can act as a social support group in mourning and grief, http://j.mp/xsZqPz by @mysendoff

Coping with Pet Loss, January 8 - January 14, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• What really happens inside a pet crematorium? http://j.mp/x9cRp7
  
  
• After-death pet care: What really happens to your animal companion? http://j.mp/xmdSVo
  

Tips for Coping with Sleeplessness in Grief

[Reviewed and updated: December 29, 2024] 

The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep. ~ E. Joseph Lossman

A reader writes, “I  can't seem to get to sleep until after 3:00. I am tired all day, but I don't seem to be tired enough when everyone else is going to bed. I was having problems before my husband died, but now it is a LOT worse. Benedryl makes me sleepy but it has not helped at all. How long should I let this go on before being concerned?”

My response: Disruptions in normal sleep patterns are very common in the first weeks and months of grief. If you're having trouble sleeping, you might try some of the simple methods recommended by experts in accredited sleep centers:

Caregiving and Hospice, January 1 - January 7, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Joseph Nowinski, Ph.D.: Tips for Talking to Children About Terminal Illness, http://j.mp/z68RR7
  
  
• Accepting Death As an Inevitability, http://j.mp/wdluU8
  
  
• Should for-profit hospices be banned? Or are they victims of a witch hunt? http://j.mp/A6dpia
  
  
• Hospice of the Valley pets featured in calendar j.mp/xCjC28
  
  
• Guidelines: when hospice and palliative care may be appropriate for CHF, heart disease, http://j.mp/zJ2wIr

Understanding and Managing Grief, January 1 - January 7, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Powerful story about teen grief and loss in adoption, http://j.mp/wOf4qu
  
  
• What Is Complicated Grief? http://j.mp/wqrhif via @TheGriefToolbox
  
  
• What Does Letting Go Mean? http://wp.me/p7Gtm-1Hc by @FaithLotus
  
  
• Journalist Roger Rosenblatt struggles to accept daughter's death, http://yhoo.it/wG3xwK | @GlobalTwitizen via @YahooNews
  
  
• Jan Warner's New Year's Gratitude not Resolution List, http://j.mp/xyNWLQ

Coping with Pet Loss, January 1 - January 7, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Pet cemeteries gaining popularity, http://ow.ly/8jZtn via @VillageMemorial
  
  
• New England Pet Hospice: More Lessons from Human Hospice, http://j.mp/v9vXkJ
  
  
• Helping Another with Pet Loss, http://j.mp/flN3Js
  
  

Helping Another with Pet Loss

[Reviewed and updated August 14, 2022]

When someone we love loses a special companion animal, we may not be sure what we can do to help. If anything, we feel helpless, since we know there's nothing we can do to bring the pet back. We can't take away the pain of the loss. We have no answer to the question, "Why?"

Sometimes another person's loss reminds us of our own past losses -- or of ones we ourselves eventually must face. If we've never been as strongly attached to a pet as our friend or family member was, we may not consider the loss as significant as it really was to them. If we've yet to experience the loss of a special friend or loved one, human or otherwise, we may not be familiar with how painful such grief can be. And some of us were raised in families that didn't express feelings openly, so we never learned how to comfort others.

Sadly, for fear of saying or doing the wrong thing, many of us shy away from the person who is grieving, or we never go beyond saying "I'm sorry."

What else can we do to help a friend who's hurting when a cherished pet is lost?

Caregiving and Hospice, December 25 - 31, 2011

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Open the discussion on dying, http://shar.es/WuCPz RT @_lizzy_
  
  
• Lovely! On the work of hospice and palliative care: "Short Week," http://j.mp/vsX9Gc by @hospice_doctor
  
  
• German shepherd dog offers comfort, companionship to hospice patients, http://bit.ly/rEGbZ6 via @hospice_news
  
  
• Most popular elder care articles of 2011, http://owl.li/8cexK by@EasyLivingFL via @CaringPeopleInc and @agingwisely
  
  
• Palliative care gaining popularity, credibility, http://j.mp/vn31GF via @_lizzy_

Understanding and Managing Grief, December 25 - 31, 2011

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• The Power of Grief, http://j.mp/umawDY by @PatBertram
  
  
• Coping with the death of your Mum or Dad, http://bit.ly/sSXPxq by@SueAtkins
  
  
• In the film, The Descendants, George Clooney's character knows how to say goodbye, http://bit.ly/shQOiY by @authordhallman
  
  
• After-Christmas Break: A Lesson from the Animals, http://j.mp/vWxLmN
  
  
• Post-Holiday Blues: Why do I feel SO Sad? http://j.mp/t0DL7A
  
  
• A Christmas Message, from My Heart to Yours, http://j.mp/vihE5t
  
  

Coping with Pet Loss, December 25 - December 31, 2011

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Animal hospice helps owners say goodbye, http://ow.ly/8dpsd via @MVIsystems
  
  
• Animal hospice care lets owners say goodbye to pets at home, http://tnne.ws/tTshAB via @MarthaRaymondRN