Grief counselors work as mental health professionals to help those patients who feel hopeless due to the loss of a family member, friend or pet. They help patients to cope up with different types of thoughts and emotions and accompany them in the loss of something or someone special. Many professionals become grief counselors with certification and practice. Here are the steps to pursue the profession of grief counseling: 1.Gain a bachelor’s degree: The first step of being a grief counselor is earning a relevant grief counseling degree.in fields like psychology, social services or counseling. In the coursework, the concepts like abnormal psychology, behavior, social psychology, family guidance, or human services are covered. Such programs also require internship experience. Tip to success For the employment of grief counselor, strong listening and speaking skills, empathy and compassion are the power tools. In this way, you can take communication courses in college in order to learn effective styles of communication. 2.Master’s Degree: Though it is not mandatory in all scenarios, certain states or employers require grief counselors with master’s degree. The master’s degree programs concentrate on thanatology or gerontology. The students can also gain master’s degree as broader programs like master’s degree in social health. 3.Licensure: Professionals are required to hold license issued by the state in the same field by some jurisdictions like California and Los Angeles. They require grief counselors to have the license of psychologist, nurse or counselor. The grief counselors are required to consult their regional government agencies because the licensing requirements are different according to the state. They have to learn the requirements from their local government bodies to fulfill. 4.Gain voluntary certification: In order to be identified as a grief counseling professional, you should take specialized certification training and certification program in the relevant field. Several grief counseling training programs are offered under the American Academy of Grief Counseling. Child and adolescent grief counseling and pet loss grief counseling are covered under specialized programs. Students get certification as grief counselors after completing any one of these certification programs. The voluntary certification programs are also offered under the Association for Death Education and Counseling. 5.Keep going with education: In order to intact the current status as a grief counselor, you should try to recertify yourself. You can continue your education with a certifying organization by logging in education hours. The education hours can come from different areas and ways such as attending seminars, writing or publishing regarding the subject, teaching others formally or serving committees. You can stay up-to-date and active with recertification in grief counseling. Conclusion Attend any fellowship program which is approved by American Academy of Grief Counseling, after passing three years as a grief counselor. The fellowship education has courses which involves typical topics like mourning children, multicultural mourning and catering the needs of hopeless people. You will get into the clear insight of the service with the more specialized form of counseling with the fellowship status. Visit breyerstate.com to know more about grief counseling.and grief counseling degree.
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