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Certification

Level 1 Certification in Grief Therapy

Level 2 Certification

Meaning-Focused Grief Therapy (MFGT)

Family-Focused Grief Therapy (FFGT)

Grief Therapy for Non-Death Losses (NDL)

Art-Assisted Grief Therapy (AAGT)

Grief Therapy for Traumatic Loss (GTTL)

Training

In-Person Training

Working with Continuing Bonds in Grief Therapy: A Clinician’s Toolbox

When Dying Is Well Accompanied: A Quest for Meaning in Terminal Illness

Grief Therapy Learning Retreat

Live Online Training

Grief and the Expressive Arts: Activating the Creative Imagination

Navigating Ambiguous Loss and the Maze of Dementia

Good Divorces & Writing Autoethnographies of Loss & Transition

Aging, Ageism, and Care: Exploring the Needs of Families and Elders

Recorded Training

Speakers Bureau

Contact

Contact Us

Have questions?

You may find the answers you are looking for in the Frequently Asked Questions below!

frequently asked questions

Do I need to travel to Portland, Oregon, to take training with the Portland Institute?

By no means.  Although PI organizes major training events in its home city, it also sponsors training in every major world region, and you can choose workshops in the location or locations that work for you.  And of course online training modules are available anywhere, at any time.

Absolutely.  You can participate in any component of PI training simply as a professional continuing education experience, without pursuing certification.

Yes.  Payment of the Enrollment Fee is required to establish you as a Certification learner, and to set up a personal Progress Tracker to help you monitor completed requirements toward certification. If you decide to pursue multiple Certification tracks sequentially or simultaneously, Enrollment is required separately for each.

No.  You can take nearly any course or module you wish, in any order, with the exception of a few Practicum Studio modules that presume completion of a specified Techniques Module as a prerequisite.  Although many learners find the Core Courses a logical and helpful place to begin regardless of the Certification Track they are pursuing, others prefer a different path through the curriculum.

That depends on your preferences and priorities. Because Onsite courses are offered at numerous locations throughout the world annually, and online components can be completed at your own pace, in most cases, certification can be completed in as little as one year. Onsite training series offer multi-day workshops that deliver all the necessary components over a series of 6-8 days, which may be offered in close succession, or in blocks of 2- to 4-day workshops at different times of the year, depending on the agreement with PI’s partner organizations.
Certainly. Many learners find it valuable to add more modules of training to consolidate their skills. PI welcomes your registration for as many workshops and online modules as you like. Similarly, the timing of the completion of each set of online modules is flexible, and can be negotiated with your assigned Faculty, if any.
No. Meaning Reconstruction is seminal to adaptation following all sorts of loss, be it death or non-death related, visible or invisible, evident or ambiguous. The Mentoring, Practicum Studio, and Session Evaluation components can focus on therapy for any loss or unwelcome transition, not only on bereavement per se.
No problem. A spontaneous role play with another learner could be substituted, as it still allows you to demonstrate your skills in conducting grief therapy.
No, there is currently no legal recognition of grief therapy as a profession in the USA or abroad. Practitioners must be appropriately trained and credentialed in their relevant disciplines (e.g. psychology, counseling, social work, nursing, medicine) for the services they provide. However, the respective Certification Programs can enhance the provider’s skill base and specialization, just as certification does in other areas (e.g. trauma work, family systems).
Yes. You can participate in any form of Onsite and online training you wish, and also be certified even before completing your degree. But you must be an appropriately credentialed (licensed or registered) healthcare provider in your discipline to be listed in the Portland Institute’s Global Provider Network.

Continuing Education Questions

Does PI Onsite training meet CE requirements for my professional board or discipline?

That depends on the specific training event of interest, as well as your professional discipline.  Just see pages devoted to the specific events on the PI site for the relevant details.

Not at the present time.  All of our Onsite events routinely carry APA CE approval, but APA does not directly certify programs that it does not own or co-own.  So, you would need to check with your state board about its CE status, as many states have Category 2 credits or a similar designation that readily confer credit for high quality training even when it does not carry the APA imprimatur.

Can't find the answer you need in the Frequently Asked Questions?

Reach out to us and tell us what additional information you need from us. Please note that, due to travel and schedule constraints, it may take us some time to get back to you.

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GRIEVANCE POLICY

One of our priorities at the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition (PI) is to provide high-level professional education in grief counseling and therapy to all our learners and we aim at achieving 100% satisfaction for our learners. We will also comply with all legal and ethical responsibilities to be non-discriminatory in our promotional activities, program content and in the treatment of our learners.

To this end, should any learners file a grievance with any aspect of our programs, either orally or in written format, that requires intervention on our part, the following procedural description serves as a guideline for responding to such grievances:  

Learners may file their grievances to either of the directors below:

  1. The Director, Robert Neimeyer, PhD, and/or the Associate Director, Carolyn Ng, PsyD, will promptly attend to the affected learner(s) and look into the identified problems accordingly.  
  2. If the grievance concerns a member of the training faculty, the content presented by the faculty, or the style of presentation, the concerned faculty will be informed about the relevant comments, assuring the confidentiality of the grieved learner.  In cases where either of the directors is the concerned training faculty, the other director and/or the CE Director, Sheila Henderson, PhD, will step in to resolve the learner’s complaints.
  3. If the grievance concerns a training offering, its content, level of presentation, or the facilities (for Onsite events), we will attempt to offer another workshop / module as an alternative.  Should we be unable to resolve the issues to the affected learner’s satisfaction, and if a payment is involved, we will grant a full refund without question.  
Contact Name:
Email:
Telephone Number:
Robert A. Neimeyer
neimeyer@portlandinstitute.org
901-494-1806
Carolyn Ng
carolyn@portlandinstitute.org
971-506-9314
Address:
9006 SW 72nd Ave, Portland, OR 97223

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