End of Life Therapy Course

Course overview

This course is designed to prepare counsellors, psychotherapists, coaches and other professional care givers to respond sensitively and creatively to the psychological processes that people face at the end of life. It will provide the counsellor with helpful frameworks relative to the various stages people go through as they approach the final chapter of their lives.

Specific issues will be identified concerning the client’s emotional, physical, social, ethical and spiritual beings. These will enable both counsellor and client alike to address anxieties and difficulties which are likely to be raised. Students will explore professional ethics and boundary issues relating to end of life and bereavement and gain increased confidence in their ability to support people through the process of dying. An important and rewarding therapy which can be of great benefit to those supporting this crucial time at the close of life.

Syllabus

Lesson One

Preparation for Working with the Dying
- What is End of Life Therapy?
- Assessing your Core Competencies
- Recognition of Death Anxiety
- Stages of Death and Dying

Lesson Two

Understanding the Theoretical and Philosophical Bases for the Practice of End of Life Therapy
- Widening Horizons
- Evidence-Based Practice
- Working with Symbolic Reality
- The Near Death Experience
- Reflecting on Your Own Life Experience
- Reconstructing Belief Systems about Death and Dying

Lesson Three

Stanislav Grof and the Psychology of Death and Dying
- The Basic Perinatal Matrices

Lesson Four

Primal Regression Therapy
- Introduction
- Time and Space
- Induction – Stage One
- Induction – Stage Two
- An Example in Practice
- Integration Work

Lesson Five

Primal Integration and Process Work
- Change and Resistance to Change
- Primary and Secondary Processes
- Working at the Edge
- Polarity
- Channels of Awareness and Communication

Lesson Six

Living Family – Dying Member
- Involving the Family
- Celebrating the Dying Person’s Life
- Being Creative
- Seeking Equilibrium
- Working with the Couple
- Practical Guidance for Leading a Family Meeting

Lesson Seven

Finding Where We Belong
- Client, Counsellor and Community
- Mythology and Belonging
- Motivation and Belonging
- Philosophical Ethics v Professional Ethics
- Ethics v Law
- The Role of the Wider Community

Lesson Eight

Practical Preparations For Death
- Making a Will
- Family and Community Meetings
- A Living Will
- Money, Property and Possessions
- Organ Donation
- Creative Expression for the End of Life

Lesson Nine

Arranging the Funeral
- An Appraisal of Funeral Culture
- Working With a Partner or Executor
- A Death Plan
- Care of the Dead Body
- Disposal of Body and Memorial
- The Celebrant
- Decisions the Counsellor Can Facilitate
- Everything In Order

Lesson Ten

Creative Work with People in Comas and Near to Death
- Tuning in to Your Own Awareness
- Tuning in to Your Client’s Awareness
- Working at the Edge
- Living and Dying – Meta-Theory
- Working With the Soul Beyond Physical Death
- Next Steps

Practical training

No practical training is required to complete this course.

Prerequisites

You do not need to have any previous qualifications to study this course.

Level

On successful completion of this course you will have received professional training at level 3. This is ideal if you wish to start a practice, or expand a career. Graduates of this course wishing to start their own practice can also obtain professional liability insurance. It has also been endorsed by the Quality Licence Scheme and graduates will receive the QLS Certificate of Achievement as above. This course has been designed by BSY to meet specific learners’ and/or employers’ requirements which cannot be satisfied through current regulated qualifications. The Quality Licence Scheme, endorses high-quality, non-regulated provision and training programmes.

Certification

On successful completion students will receive dual awards: Award 1- The professional End of Life Therapy Diploma and will become a Registered BSY End of Life Therapist.

Award 2- Certificate of achievement at QLS Level 3 from Quality Licence Scheme. Registration through BSY is essential with this course.

How the course works

Upon enrolment you receive your first course lessons.

You can study in your own time, at your own pace and from the comfort of your own home. If you have any questions, or would like feedback or encouragement about your course or your studies then you can contact our friendly tutors by phone, email or post.

At the end of each lesson are a set of questions. Completing these can aid your learning and help you master each step before moving on to the next. Your next lesson will then arrive for you to continue when it suits you. This allows us to continually assess understanding and competence of the subject.

Having progressed through each lesson you can take your final examination at home, and at a date and time that suits you. Then, on successful completion you will be awarded your BSY certificate.

Support

Your tutor will mark your lessons, giving valuable, constructive feedback - helping you to master each step before moving on to the next. You can contact them for support or advice throughout your studies.

You can also contact the support team who are here to help you Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

We are proud of our friendly, caring ethos and aim to do all we can to help you succeed.