The Bereavement Support Certificate is designed to offer students a deeper and more broad level of service to those they serve or will serve in the vast number of fields working with the dying and the bereaved including but not limited to funeral directors, funeral home administrators, apprentices, and administrative assistants, organ procurement practitioners, nurses, physicians, doulas, hospital staff, death educators, and crisis team practitioners.
First Semester
Second Semester
Students holding the Bereavement Support certificate can differentiate from their colleagues with a specialized skill set and use their experience in bereavement support to serve in a vast number of fields.
Upon successful completion of the Bereavement Support Certificate, students are able to:
- Demonstrate an In-depth understanding of death, dying, trauma, and grief.
- Identify socio-cultural and ethical aspects of health, illness and health care including social and cultural dimensions of disease and the illness experience.
- Demonstrate improved and trusting human relationships through an understanding of the principles of effective interpersonal communication and crisis intervention through active listening, conflict resolution, assertiveness, nonverbal awareness, and consideration of the role of the self-concept.
- Explain the grief process as fundamental dimension of human experience including current theories, psychological, social, and cultural factors at the end of life, many ways loss is processed, factors that promote resilience in the face of loss, and factors contributing to serious psychological and medical outcomes.
- Understand the history and evolution of the art and science of funeral service in North America.
- Explain the role of the funerary ceremony in facilitating the early phase of acute grief.
- Define the relationship of social, religious, and spiritual beliefs, traditions, to funeral service practices and legal and ethical responsibilities of funeral service professionals.
Program Completion
Completion of a program is based on full time enrolment. Many of our students attend part time and may not complete within the one year timeline.
Additional Information
For information on course planning, information sessions, and housing, please refer to Funeral Service.