Professional Grief Support
using the CIRCLE method
Specialisation: Children
How to find the right tone, techniques and skills to effectively support children during their periods of grief.
You have a passion for children and young people, are specialised in working with different age groups, and know how to connect with them. And yet, when it comes to a major loss, uncertainty creeps in.
Facing up to the pain of loss
As a health care professional, you’ve learned how a child develops, what this means for how they communicate, which tools you can offer, and how to teach them the skills to cope with problems. Yet time and again, when it comes to loss, this isn’t enough.
Children and young people can sometimes feel and show deep sorrow, yet the next moment carry on as if nothing happened. Both parents and children want to protect each other, which can lead to ‘burying’ the loss and expressing the pain in distorted, unrecognisable ways. These survival mechanisms change and blur the signals for needing support. If everything seems to be going well, is it really? When do you give them the space to grieve at their own pace, and when do you encourage them to face up to the pain of their loss?
Supporting children and young people through grief is a delicate matter, and it’s not unusual for you as a health care professional to wonder if you’re doing it right.
Make an appointment for a no-obligation consultation with Leoniek to discuss your bespoke training package
Learn how to talk about grief with children
Connecting with young people of various ages who have experienced a major loss requires specific skills, targeted questions, and working metaphorically. The power of silence is often underestimated because we always feel the need to add something in order to be of value. But it is in the silence that healing happens – if you can endure that silence.
In the training Professional Grief Support Training for Children, you will learn to speak the language that grieving children can relate to.
To walk the fine line of supporting young people through loss, you need specialized knowledge and skills that are not offered in standard psychological training. That’s why we offer this post-graduate training. Not a multi-year program, but a focused training of 10 to 12 weeks, during which you receive one-on-one bespoke coaching from Leoniek van der Maarel. Afterwards you will know how to support children from age four up to around 21 years old.
Knowing that you know how to help – that builds confidence.
The CIRCLE method
The model that brings theory and practice together!
The CIRCLE method is a practical model that helps children and young people reshape their lives after loss by circling back to their own strengths, values, and identity. It provides guidance for creating a lasting connection with the loss and a new connection with life, enabling them to gradually gain control over a changed reality and look ahead with renewed strength.
Grief is not a linear process, and the CIRCLE method reflects this. As a caregiver, you learn how to analyze which part of the CIRCLE method the client is in, making clear what needs to happen and the kind of support that is required. Children are largely dependent on the adults around them. Through the CIRCLE method, these adults gain insight into the process and, in turn, are better equipped to support the child.
Results you will achieve with the Grief Training Centre
With the knowledge and tools from the Grief Training Centre, you see immediate results. You see how children and young people are genuinely enjoying life again, engaging more at an age-appropriate level, reconnecting with friends, standing up for themselves better, sharing more with their parent(s), showing less anger, becoming calmer, and doing better in their education. You also learn how to help the parent(s) support their child, so the entire family can enter into an upward spiral.
Helping children in a way that truly matters
Knowing, seeing, and feeling that things are getting better – that’s what it’s all about, and gives you drive! You can trust yourself, you have a rich toolbox of interventions and knowledge, and you know you’re helping the child in a way that truly matters. You can confidently send your invoice and the child’s parent(s) will enthusiastically recommend you to others.
Your client-base will grow, and you’re ready for it!
You will become the specialist
Over 25 years of practical experience, combined with current (and past) theories is at the basis of this training. Depending on your choice, you will combine this with the grief methodology and a mentorship program, where Leoniek will personally guide you for six months with your own clients. This way, you become the specialist who ensures that the child can carry their loss without it standing in the way of their further development.
That’s exactly what parents are looking for in support for their children!
Are you unsure whether this training is right for you?
Then make an appointment for a no-obligation consultation with Leoniek
Why choose this Professional Grief Support training?
Young people who experience a loss often find it hard to express themselves properly. This involves both the child and their environment. Helping children cope with loss is a vulnerable process and you want to support them in the best way, without making the trauma any bigger than it already is.
That’s why having real expertise is so important – truly understanding how children and young people deal with loss, what it entails, and how to help them adapt to their new life without avoiding the pain.
Professional Grief Support for Children means knowing how to reach the deeper layers of their pain and how to go along with their need to stay briefly in that pain. It’s crucial that you can handle the pain the child is feeling at that moment (without rushing to comfort them) and that you know, at the right time and in the right way, how to help them move forward. That is true expertise.
The Professional Grief Support for Children is practice-oriented. The theoretical knowledge is combined with many examples drawn from over 25 years of hands-on experience. This ensures you truly understand what it’s about and where to take your client.
You may have looked into or completed other trainings. The Grief Training Centre is unique in its personal guidance, helping you as an experienced professional find exactly what you need.
This training is strong! It offers many insights, a solid structure, and connects a variety of theories and methodologies. And the loving way Leoniek delivers it is wonderful. Beautifully prepared with great videos, effective exercises, her wisdom and expertise balanced with lived experience and examples from her own clinic.
I now feel even more confident in my work with children, especially with this wonderful addition to my therapeutic (knowledge) toolbox.
Bianca van de Ven | jongerenbegeleidingesta.nl
Professional Grief Support for Children
In this training, we cover the following themes:
- Why death, divorce, and serious illness require a loss-focused approach
- The impact of loss on children and young people’s cognition, behaviour, emotions, and the body
- How age and developmental stages influence how children and young people experience, express, and communicate pain related to loss
- Key grief theories and how they help us in daily practice
- How to provide support in exceptionally complex situations
- How to recognize and manage complicated grief
- How to build trust and guide children and young people so they feel heard, understood, and supported
Children in divorce situations
Children confronted with parental divorce enter an extremely complex grieving process, influenced by many factors – loyalty often being the most significant. Supporting children in situations where their parents frequently fall short is a challenge.
Therefore, divorce is discussed extensively alongside losses due to death and illness, including how to guide young people through these experiences. This sometimes means having tough conversations with parents, which is also covered in the training.
Case studies and reflection
Together we are stronger; you don’t have to do it alone. During group sessions, we discuss case studies and reflect on your own experience as a caregiver, exploring what this work can bring up for you personally and how to manage that. Leoniek facilitates these conversations, drawing on over 25 years of experience as a renowned therapist specialising in loss and grief with young people.
- Do you want practical tools to use when supporting children and young people, so you can effectively help them carry their loss? To develop skills and learn creative ways to guide them through grief so that you truly make an impact on the life of the grieving child, contributing to their ongoing development?
- Do you have the ambition to grow your grief counseling client-base and establish yourself as the specialist in loss with children?
- Do you feel the need to gain more confidence in your knowledge and skills, so you can go home at the end of the day with a real sense of fulfillment?
- Do you think it’s valuable to encourage young people to actively work on their grief outside of sessions, in ways that resonate with them? For example, by learning about and sharing the impact of meditation?
- Do you want deep insight into how children uniquely process loss and how to connect with each child’s individuality, combined with understanding the social dynamics of grief?
- Does it appeal to you to learn how to take care of yourself in this challenging profession? And to have the opportunity to network and learn from other professionals who share your passion?
If so, join the training and let’s grow, learn, and make an impact together. Together, we make the difference.
Our money back guarantee
We are so convinced of the quality of this program that we are happy to give a guarantee. If you are not convinced of the content quality after 14 days, you will get your money back minus €125 administration costs (excluding 21% tax).
Why work with Leoniek?
The Grief Training Centre offers practical, hands-on training for coaches, social workers, general mental health care assistants, psychologists, and other mental health care professionals.
The centre is led by Leoniek van der Maarel, who has helped thousands of people cope with loss for over 25 years.
At the Grief Training Centre, you’ll find the practical training and personal guidance that was missing from your formal education.
In addition to working with young people who have experienced or are about to experience a loss, you may also be asked to support adults who are going through grief. This requires a different approach than the one you would use with children.
Discover how the Grief Training Centre can support you in this area through the training Professional Grief Support for Adults.
Appointment for an interview
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