Course Overview: This course is part of the   Doctorate Degree Program in Thanatology at the School of Grief Education at AITU.

It is a 6-hour semester course that must be completed within 6 weeks.

This course focuses on the aspects of grief and loss related to all known age groups:

Perinatal

Infancy, Toddler, and Preschool

Elementary School-Aged Children

Tweens and Teens

Emerging Adults

Young Adulthood

Middle Adulthood

Retirement and Reinvention

Older Adults

Course Assignments: There are 23 assignments for which the student has one mandatory book as material.

Course Objectives:

Review biological impacts, psychological experiences, and social contexts of grief.

Trace the evolution of classical grief theory to the task- and stage-based grief theories of the modern era.

Describe postmodern grief theories including the dual process model (DPM), meaning-making, continuing bonds, disenfranchised loss, ambiguous and non-finite loss.

Explore cultural impacts and the role of ritual in coping with loss.

Provide social and historical context for grief therapeutics.

Discuss concepts of mindfulness, attachment, and cultural humility and their intersection with grief work.

Utilize the perspective that loss is a normal and necessary part of life.