A504 If Buddha Grieved: Bringing Buddhist Practice to Grief Counseling

Even though grief and bereavement can help us evolve into more authentic, grown-up selves, counseling clients overwhelmed by raw suffering in the wake of a severe loss can be a tough, slow, frustrating process. In this course, we'll explore how bringing a Buddhist perspective and practice into therapy with bereaved clients not only enhances clinical work, but helps minimize compassion fatigue in practitioners. Participants will learn how specific aspects of Buddhist philosophy can provide a solid foundation for practitioners as they engage in bereavement work. We'll discuss specific healing tools that can be drawn from Buddhist practices, including mindfulness, "metta" (loving kindness), and the Eightfold Path (Buddhist guidelines for wisdom, ethics, and growth), and how they can be translated into specific interventions for helping grieving clients.

Meet The Instructor

Ashley Prend, L.C.S.W., A.C.S.W., is the author of Transcending Loss and Claim Your Inner Grown-up.

Course Contents

Session 1: The First Year of Grief • Shock, Disorganization, and Reconstruction • Mindfulness and Grief • Four Noble Truths

Session 2: Beyond the First Year of Grief • Synthesis and Transcendence • Karma and Rebirth • Meditation and Grief Counseling

Session 3: Compassion Fatigue – micro perspective • Metta – Loving Kindness • Anica – Impermanence • Karma and Rebirth

Session 4: Compassion Fatigue – macro perspective • Enlightenment • Mortality • The Eight-Fold Path to Right Living

Learning Objectives

1. List three specific Buddhist practices that can assist clients with the grieving process.
2. Learn how to implement Buddhist practice in grief counseling.
3. Identify three ways that Buddhist philosophy can minimize compassion fatigue.

Search all CE courses

Search all Audio courses