Who are grief counselors?

Grief counselors are most often associated with Hospice organizations in the US.  Hospice organizations are made up of a team of medical professionals who specialize in end-of-life care.  The team includes doctors, physicians assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, bereavement (or grief) counselors, chaplains, and home health assistants. 

Grief counselors usually have a master's degree in social work or counseling and ongoing training in death and dying, grief and loss.  They often work closely with patients and families in hospice prior to the patient dying and for up to thirteen months after the death of a patient.  This is most often because the grieving process usually intensifies at the first anniversary. Getting a family through the first year with bereavement support can often lead to better outcomes in moving through the grief process. 

Patients and families who have the support to acknowledge that death is imminent are often given a chance to have difficult conversations they might not have otherwise had and often feel more sense of closure when the death occurs.

Grief counselors can also work in hospitals and emergency rooms and often support people through more traumatic or sudden losses.  Grief counselors can also work in private practice or schools and often volunteer their support in times of crisis.  Many grief counselors volunteered after 9/11 to go to New York and provide free trauma therapy to survivors. 

Ultimately, grief counselors are usually very informed about and comfortable with talking about death and dying, which can sometimes be difficult depending on one’s culture.  They are usually very nonjudgmental and “start where the client is at” and can facilitate family meetings, make difficult conversations more tolerable, and help families with end-of-life planning.  The experience of grief is unique depending on the loss. Often, grief counselors have sub-specialties depending on where they work—neonatal grief counselors, crisis response grief counselors, hospice grief counselors, church grief counselors, etc.  One of the benefits of hospice is that grief counseling is often a free service provided to the patient and family as part of hospice care.