Details for SSC212 Grief and Loss

Supporting those experiencing grief and loss is crucial for effective counselling. This unit equips students with specialised skills to support individuals navigating these challenging experiences. Students will learn to distinguish between different types of grief and develop tailored intervention strategies, enhancing their ability to empathise and provide essential support within a self-care framework.

Quick Stats

• Currently offered by Alphacrucis: Yes
• Course code: SSC212
• Credit points: 10

Subject Coordinator

Prerequisite

The following courses are prerequisites:

• SSC113 Interpersonal Communication Skills 

Unit Content

Outcomes

1. Explain the way our understanding of the dynamics of attachment grief and loss have changed over time; the different situations in which they may occur and the impact of culture on grief and its resolution;
2. Identify one’s own emotions in relation to death and dying and one’s capacity to express them to develop a personal theology of life and death and a self-care plan;
3. Distinguish between uncomplicated and complicated grief processes and the behaviours individuals may use to resolve grief;
4. Empathise with and appropriately support those who grieve within a framework of self-care.

Subject Content

• Match potential interventions to need in unresolved grief
• Cultural patterns of grief and mourning
• Attachment theory & loss
• The nature of phases and tasks of grief – spiritual, emotional, physical and interpersonal aspects
• The causes of grief reactions e.g. loss of a child, loss of a spouse, suicide and murder, divorce, abortion, loss of employment/ vocation, loss of health
• The nature and meaning of death – medical, cultural and Biblical perspectives, the process of dying, relating to and meeting the needs of the dying and those caring for them, reasons for a funeral
• Recognise the dimensions of the normal uncomplicated grief process and facilitating grieving
• Counselling in relation to the grief process and its various consequences
• The needs of the dying, and the needs of those experiencing grief from various losses
• Helpful and unhelpful support
• Complicated grief reactions and their appropriate management
• Strategies to prevent the counsellor becoming over-involved
• Appraise the counsellor’s personal grief by examining grief theories and designing a presentation for a learning journal
• Case studies examining uncomplicated and complicated grief responses, and grief responses in different settings as well as grief responses due to different sorts of significant losses
• Resilience, abuse and trauma
• Grief into change, loss into gain – hope in grief and loss

This course may be offered in the following formats

• Onsite (face-to-face)
• Online (eLearning)
• Intensives
• Extensives

Please consult your course prospectus or enquire about how and when this course will be offered next at Alphacrucis University College.

Assessment Methods

• Case Studies (20%)
• Critical Reflection (40%)
• Research Essay (40%)

Prescribed Text

• Worden, J. (2018). Grief Counselling and Grief Therapy: A handbook for the mental health practitioner (5th ed.). New York, NY: Springer.

Please consult your instructor prior to purchasing any textbooks.