Befriending Death and Dying in Therapeutic Practices

This workshop is being hosted live online only and will not be recorded to maintain the privacy of all attendees. Instructions on how to join will be emailed to registrants shortly before the workshop start date.  
 
6 CE credits are available for an additional fee of $30. After you register for the workshop, your confirmation email from Eventbrite will contain a link to the site where you can purchase the CEs from our co-sponsor, Spiritual Competency Academy (SCA). CEs may be purchased at any time before the workshop, but only those who have purchased in advance will receive the credits. See below for details.
 
If you need to request accessibility accommodations, please email publicprograms@ciis.edu at least one week prior to the workshop start date. For more information, explore CIIS Public Programs Frequently Asked Questions page.

Perhaps nothing is more profoundly human than the awareness and experience of mortality and loss. Our understanding of death and dying, as well as our responses to grief and loss, are influenced by our community, our spiritual and religious beliefs, our culture, and our personal life history. While the awareness of impermanence can be disarming, it can be purposefully engaged to enhance our creativity, our psycho-spiritual development, and ultimately how we engage with life.

Join CIIS faculty and psychotherapist Dr. Helge Osterhold for a workshop designed to aid those in the therapeutic practices in developing a deeper understanding of death and dying, and through that exploration, develop an enhanced readiness to serve clients and patients.

Through lecture, reflection, conversation, multi-modal inquiry and group exercises, participants are guided through a gentle and safe process of self-inquiry that will allow them to explore their own, beliefs, attitudes, and practices about death and dying, as well as grief and loss. Additionally, the workshop provides participants with a primer of principles and practices to explore death and dying with clients and support them through their experiences around grief and loss.

These teachings are appropriate for healthcare professionals. Healthcare professionals will be able to incorporate the tools and practices offered in this program in ways beneficial to clients.

Dr. Helge Osterhold is a psychotherapist and integrative educator. Teaching graduate level psychology courses since 2006, he joined the East West Psychology (EWP) department as a core faculty member in 2017 and offers courses in Jungian Psychology, Archetypal Psychology, Dreamwork, Spiritual Counseling, and the Psychology of Death and Dying. His theoretical and clinical orientation includes transpersonal, depth and humanistic-existential psychologies with a special appreciation for systemic thinking, indigenous wisdom and multiculturalism. 

For 10 years, Dr. Osterhold served at the University of California San Francisco - in pediatric palliative care and as an educator on mindful caregiving and clinician resiliency at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital and UCSF School of Medicine. 

Originally from Germany, Dr. Osterhold received a BA in Human Relations, an MA. in Integral Counseling Psychology and a PhD in East West Psychology and is licensed as a psychotherapist in California. Dr. Osterhold maintains a private psychotherapy practice with a focus on life transitions. He is the author of The Body’s Code – Synchronicity and Meaning in Illness and Injury. Through a depth psychological lens, his book explores how viewing serious health crisis as synchronistic events can provide an understanding as to how such suffering may meaningfully impact and transform psychological, spiritual, relational and professional-creative levels of a person’s life.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to: 

1. Analyze personal and collective patterns and possibilities of relating to impermanence, grief and loss.  
2. Demonstrate an understanding of psychological and spiritual aspects of death and dying.  
3. Describe palliative care principles as related to supporting individuals and family members around death and dying 
4. Compare historic and current approaches to supporting grief and bereavement. 
5. Describe the complicating factors related to the grief process. 
6. Explain the concept of post-traumatic growth as an enhanced possibility of grief and loss. 

Information on Continuing Education Credit for Health Professionals 

6 CE credits are available for an additional fee of $30. After you register for the workshop, your confirmation email from Eventbrite will contain a link to the site where you can purchase the CEs from our co-sponsor, Spiritual Competency Academy (SCA). CEs may be purchased at any time before the workshop, but only those who have purchased in advance will receive credits. Unfortunately, we are unable to issue CEs retroactively. 

• CE credits for psychologists are provided by the Spiritual Competency Academy (SCA) which is co-sponsoring this program. The Spiritual Competency Academy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Spiritual Competency Academy maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
• The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts CE credits for LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and 
  LMFT license renewal for programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American 
  Psychological Association.
• LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFTs, and other mental health professionals from states other than 
  California need to check with their state licensing board as to whether or not they accept 
  programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.
• SCA is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN Provider CEP16887) for 
  licensed nurses in California. RNs must retain this document for 4 years after the course 
  concludes.
• SCA is an approved CE provider for National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coaches 
  (CEP Number 100196).
• For questions about enrolling in CE or receiving your Certificate of Attendance, or for any other questions about CE, contact David Lukoff, PhD at ce@spiritualcompetency.com. 

CIIS students, staff, and faculty receive discounts on all events. CIIS Public Programs Members receive a 20% discount on all events. Contact us for more information, publicprograms@ciis.edu.