Certification Course: The Ultimate Grief Treatment Toolbox – Free Training with Erica Sirrine
Grief touches every life, which means loss can be part of a client’s story regardless of what first brings them into care.
Certification Course: The Ultimate Grief Treatment Toolbox brings together more than 60 practical interventions for clinicians supporting grieving children, adolescents, and adults. Dr. Erica Sirrine shares tools and strategies for helping clients mourn, make meaning, and move toward hope while honoring the complexity of each loss.
The training explores grief assessment, anticipatory grief, therapeutic games, art, writing and music, remembrance rituals, family activities, and support groups. Step-by-step instruction is designed to help clinicians understand how these approaches can be used across the lifespan in individual and group work.
You’ll also examine the differences between grief and mourning, factors that influence the mourning process, secondary and non-death losses, continuing bonds, and important considerations when working with grieving children and adolescents.
Why Attend “Certification Course: The Ultimate Grief Treatment Toolbox”
Loss can affect a client’s sense of identity, relationships, expectations, and understanding of the world. Supporting that experience requires more than a single technique or a rigid idea of what grief should look like.
Dr. Erica Sirrine presents more than 60 interventions drawn from approaches that include narrative work, remembrance rituals, meaning-making activities, therapeutic games, creative expression, and family-based strategies. The training addresses losses connected with loved ones, relationships, employment, health, and hoped-for futures.
The emphasis is on practical clinical education. You’ll explore assessment considerations alongside concrete interventions that can help you respond more thoughtfully to grief across different ages, circumstances, and treatment settings.
Who Should Attend
This training is designed for helping professionals who work with grief, bereavement, illness, death, and other forms of loss. The material addresses children, adolescents, adults, families, individual clients, and groups.
It may be especially useful for professionals who want a broader range of assessment considerations and practical interventions for supporting clients when grief is difficult to express in words.
- Social workers
- Counselors
- Psychologists
- Chaplains and clergy
- Marriage and family therapists
- Nurses
- Thanatologists
- Case managers
- Physicians
- Other mental health professionals
- Child life specialists
What You’ll Learn
You’ll begin by examining foundational distinctions in grief care, including grief versus mourning, depression and bereavement, secondary losses, non-death losses, and common misconceptions about the mourning process.
The training then explores assessment considerations such as grief and coping models, continuing bonds, the loss line assessment tool, factors that influence mourning, and distinctions among normal, complicated, and prolonged grief.
You’ll also explore practical ways to support clients when talking is difficult, with interventions using games, art, writing, music, memorialization, family activities, and group-based approaches.
- How grief and mourning differ, and why the distinction matters in clinical work
- Assessment considerations for secondary losses, non-death losses, continuing bonds, and coping
- How children, adolescents, and adults may experience and express grief differently
- Ways to recognize signs of concern and better understand grief-related behaviors in younger clients
- Strategies for supporting anticipatory grief and preparing children and adults for death-related experiences
- Therapeutic games and activities for preschoolers, youth, adults, and groups
- Art-based interventions including memory projects, support circles, photography, clay, and other creative approaches
- Writing, poetry, music, journaling, letter writing, and remembrance-based interventions
- Memorialization rituals and interactive activities for families experiencing loss
- Considerations for grief support groups, family involvement, and session topics across age groups
Event Schedule
The course progresses from foundational grief concepts and assessment considerations into a broad collection of creative and practical interventions for clients across the lifespan.
Topics include both death and non-death losses, anticipatory grief, age-specific considerations, family work, memorialization, and approaches for individual and group settings.
The training is organized to connect clinical understanding with concrete techniques that can be adapted to the needs of grieving clients.
Foundations & Assessment
- Types of Grief & Their Implications for TreatmentGrief and mourning, depression and bereavement, secondary losses, non-death losses, misconceptions, and research considerations
- Assessment Considerations for Grieving ClientsGrief and coping models, influences on mourning, continuing bonds, the loss line, and grief-related diagnostic considerations
- Grief & Loss in Children and AdolescentsDevelopmental differences, behavior meanings, common questions after a death, and signs of concern
- Anticipatory GriefSupporting the dying process, healthy mourning, memorialization, death education, and practical preparation
Interventions & Strategies
- Therapeutic GamesPlay-based, discussion-based, physical, and group-sharing activities for different ages
- Art InterventionsCreative approaches including memory projects, support circles, clay, photography, and visual expression
- Poetry, Writing & MusicBibliotherapy, journaling, poetry, letter writing, remembrance music, and related activities
- Memorialization RitualsActivities designed to support remembrance and continuing bonds
- Family & Group ApproachesInteractive family activities, grief groups, family involvement, and curriculum considerations
About Dr. Erica Sirrine
Dr. Erica Sirrine is a licensed clinical social worker with more than 25 years of experience in death, dying, and bereavement. She earned a PhD in social work and holds the distinction of Fellow in Thanatology through the Association for Death Education and Counseling.
Her work includes research on grief and bereavement as well as extensive experience providing individual and group therapy to children, adolescents, adults, and families experiencing illness and loss. She has developed interventions and programs focused on the emotional health of people navigating these experiences.
Dr. Sirrine serves as director of social work at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and frequently presents educational seminars on bereavement and loss. She is also the author of Sammy’s Story, an anticipatory grief counseling book for young children experiencing the serious illness of a parent.
Free Gifts for Attendees
Complete Course Materials
- The complete set of course materials is included with free registration
- Materials support the grief concepts, assessments, and interventions covered in the training
- Resources address clinical work with children, adolescents, adults, families, and groups
Interactive Learning Opportunities
- Interactive question-and-answer opportunities are included
- Participants have opportunities to connect with professional colleagues
- The training combines expert instruction with practical clinical applications
Frequently Asked Questions
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Join Dr. Erica Sirrine for practical education on grief assessment and more than 60 interventions for supporting children, adolescents, adults, families, and groups.
- Dec 14 2026
- 7:00 am - 3:00 pm
Local Time
- Timezone: Asia/Shanghai
- Date: Dec 14 - 15 2026
- Time: 11:00 pm - 7:00 am
More Info
- Worldwide
