Grief Literacy for Everyone, Grief Training for healthcare Professionals.
Become grief-informed today

"The point is not (and never will be) to stop the grief. That's like stopping the ocean. The point is to find ways to swim" - Unknown

Online Grief Training Programme introduction with Grief Specialist Liz Gleeson

Offer Compassionate & Effective Grief Support

Shapes Of Grief is an Award-Winning Podcast that explores the many facets of loss and how grief can profoundly impact us. 

Shapes Of Grief offers the Best Online Grief Training Programme for healthcare professionals & anyone with an interest in learning more about loss & grief. Earn 40+ CPD points!

Liz Gleeson is a Grief Specialist who can teach your organisation how to confidently & compassionately support bereaved people & ensure the best possible outcomes. 

About our award-winning Grief Training Programme

Grief is a normal, adaptive response to loss, but losing someone we love, for many of us, is a profoundly life-altering experience.

We can be impacted emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. For a time, it can feel as though the very ground beneath our feet is foreign and uncertain.

With the right support, most of us can find ways to allow our grief to be expressed, learn about the grieving process & slowly develop ways that help us to adapt to our changed life.

We make space for grief in our lives, and also learn that grieving does not have to reduce us to a life of sadness.

Sometimes we need support along the way, in fact about 40% of bereaved people will need a voluntary group, a counsellor or psychotherpist. It can be really difficult to find professionals who are comfortable alongside grief and who are grief-trained. This is why this training matters!

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  • Do you panic when faced with someone who is grieving?
  • Do you worry that you might say the wrong thing and end-up not saying anything at all?
  • Do you know a little bit about effective grief support but want to gain more tools and deepen your knowledge of grief theory
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→ Update your professional knowledge & skills in Grief & Loss to work comfortably, compassionately & effectively.

→ Expand your professional toolkit and learn the skills to work safely & ethically with bereaved people.

→ Gain deep insight into the many kinds of losses, several types of grief, cultural considerations & self-care practices.

"Everything is beautiful and I am so sad.
This is how the heart makes a duet of wonder and grief" - Mark Nepo

Sign up for our online Programme

Ensure the people you support have the best possible bereavement outcome

This Course is on offer at a much-reduced price of only €398 to make Grief Education accessible to as many people as possible. Please support our ongoing work by sharing our resources with your friends and colleagues.

About Liz Gleeson

Experienced Psychotherapist, Grief Specialist, Lecturer & Researcher

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My name is Liz Gleeson, I am the founder of Shapes Of Grief, welcome.

I have been supporting people who are bereaved for over a decade now. I meet people whose spouses, children or parents have died. People who have been living alongside life-limiting illness for years, people who are exhausted and feel broken, people who have been through change so enormous that they don't recognise their lives anymore.

To be effective in my support, I must be grief-trained, trauma-informed and exceptionally compassionate & human in my approach. Grief is, after all, a part of our common humanity, few of us escape it.

I have met countless people who are desperate to find the support that they need, but struggle because so few healthcare professionals are grief-trained.

It is my mission to train and educate healthcare professionals worldwide, so that those who need support at this most vulnerable time in their lives, can find the compassion, care and professionalism that grief demands.

Come and join me and colleagues from around the world, as we form a collective of healthcare professionals that provide effective and compassionate grief support to those who need it. View Liz's full bio here.

Course Contributors

Academics, Grief Theorists, Leading Grief Researchers & Clinicians from broad backgrounds

Dr Irvin Yalom

Irvin David Yalom is an American existential psychiatrist who is emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, as well as an author of both fiction and nonfiction.

Dr Pauline Boss

With her groundbreaking work as a scientist-practitioner, Dr. Boss is the principal theorist in the study of ambiguous loss, a term she coined in the 1970s.

Dr George Bonanno

George A. Bonanno is a professor of clinical psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University U.S.A. He is known as a pioneering researcher in the field of bereavement and trauma.

What topics are covered in this Training Programme?

Four modules offering 35+ hours of educational lectures, presentations & discussions

theories of grief

Level One - Foundation Certificate in Loss and Grief

Grief Literacy is particularly relevant and important for teachers, frontline staff, clinical and non-clinical healthcare workers, volunteers, any staff members and anyone who wants to become more grief literate.

types of grief

Level Two - Intermediate Certificate in Loss and Grief

This Award-Winning Training Programme addresses the Grief-Training needs of Healthcare Professionals, Educators, HR Managers and anyone who supports people who are grieving, (or the bereaved themselves!).

grief perspective

Level Three - Advanced Certificate in Loss and Grief

This Level (along with Levels One and Two) is for mental health practitioners who regularly offer clinical support to people who are grieving, such as counsellors, social workers, psychotherapists, psychologists, psychoanalysts, creative arts therapists, psychiatrists, nurses, doctors & consultants.

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Level Four - Prolonged Grief Disorder and it's Treatment

This level (along with Levels One, Two and Three) is for qualified and accredited Mental Health Practitioners who want to be able to identify Prolonged Grief Disorder (formerly complicated grief) along with an introduction to Prolonged Grief Disorder Therapy, an evidence-based treatment for Prolonged Grief Disorder.

What is Grief?

This beautiful animation will give you insight into some of the lesser known grief theories that explain common experiences in grief.

Understanding how grief can manifest goes a long way in helping people feel less lonely.

Latest News and Articles

Shapes Of Grief in the Media and Published Articles on Loss and Grief

Liz interviewed on RTE RADIO 2 by Jennifer Zamparelli


When a parent dies, listen to the whole interview here https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/22332039-liz-gleeson-loss-of-a-parent/


Read More...

Shapes Of Grief coming in Ukrainian!


Delighted to announce that soon we will launch Shapes Of Grief in the Ukrainian language!…


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Suicide in the Irish Farming Community


In November 2023, Liz was invited to be key note speaker for a webinar hosted…


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Participant Testimonials

I signed up to the Shapes Of Grief Training Programme last year and it is the best learning that I have come across, both personally and professionally, in the seven years since my daughter died. For us professionals working with grief and loss, it is crucial that we are grief-educated.!

Kathy Lapsley
Company Name

The Shapes of Grief course is honestly more than just a worthwhile CPD experience. The quality of the content, the depth of the topics covered, the wealth of material and the emotional integrity at the centre of all of the modules - it is a course that has deepened my knowledge of grief and the grieving process

Mary-Kate Kelly
Psychotherapist, Cancer Care West

This is the most comprehensive and thorough Grief Education Programme that’s out there, I know, because I’ve tried them all! The bereaved deserve our best support and this training will help you to provide that

Kathy,
Psychotherapy Student, UK

Become grief-literate today!

Shapes of Grief Training Programme

Don't know what to do or say when someone is grieving? Afraid you'll make it worse? Become Grief-Trained today & learn how to deliver effective grief support.

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