Announcing a NEW Class on Grief

by Henry Fersko-Weiss

We are excited to announce a new class from INELDA on grief in partnership with the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition.

Grief is a river of sorrow that runs through the entire dying experience. It starts in the words of diagnosis and builds as it flows through the time of treatment, twisting and turning from moments of hope to moments of despair. The current pulls with it the dying person and loved ones around them. Its power and reach broadens out as the dying person declines. Following the death, it reaches the fullness of its power as it overflows its banks flooding across the lives of those who go on, devastating their sense of self, their idea of purpose, and collapsing their plans for the future.

As a doula, the grief of the dying person, and especially that of their loved ones, will call out to you over and over again. You don’t have to be a social worker or a chaplain to attend to the suffering that accompanies grief. But you do need to understand its nature, and more importantly, how people heal following a death. You will also need the tools to help them do that. That is what this new training will teach you.

Not only will the class make you a better doula as you serve the dying, but it will expand your involvement following the death, as you support and guide people in the early weeks and months of their bereavement. The instructors from the Portland Institute will help you gain the skills and confidence you need to do this vital work. They have decades of experience in direct counseling work with people who are grieving and they are at the forefront of developments in the understanding of grief and in new approaches to healing.

For particulars about this class and links to sign up for one of two sessions being offered, see our Grief and the Quest for Meaning class page here.