Bereavement Support Training

The Brigitte Trust offers free, interactive training sessions, delivered online and in classroom settings, covering bereavement and grief.

These sessions are ideal for individuals, teams, and organisations looking to better understand and support those experiencing bereavement. Delivery formats include online sessions, classroom-based sessions, and bespoke packages tailored to your organisation or group.

Training sessions include:

• Theories of Bereavement: Understand key psychological frameworks that shape our experience of loss
• Different Types of Grief: From anticipatory grief to complicated loss, recognise the many forms grief can take
• Unconscious Bias in Grief: Explore how personal and cultural biases influence how we respond to others’ grief
• History of Grief & Societal Impact: How grief has been understood and shaped by society over time
• How society Impacts Grief Today: Examine modern grief in the workplace, media, and community
• How to Be a Good Listener: Practical, emotional and reflective listening skills to support others with empathy
• Top 5 Roles in Grief (Role Stripping): Learn about identity changes and loss of roles that accompany bereavement
• How Organisations Can Support Employees: Develop policies and culture that make space for grieving staff
• Bereavement First Aider Course: Grief is not a linear process; it affects people in unique and sometimes invisible ways. Yet most of us have never been taught how to support someone who is grieving. By becoming a Bereavement First Aider, you’ll help create more compassionate homes, workplaces, and communities where people feel seen, heard and supported (more information about this course can be found below).

Bereavement First Aider Course

Our Bereavement First Aider Course is a powerful, practical training course designed to equip individuals with the knowledge, confidence and skills to support someone experiencing grief, whether in the workplace, a community setting, or among friends and family. Much like a mental health first aider, a Bereavement First Aider acts as an approachable and empathetic point of contact for those who are grieving. This course helps you understand what grief really looks and feels like, and how to respond appropriately.

Course objectives:

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

• Recognise the different types and stages of grief
• Understand how grief manifests emotionally, physically and socially
• Respond to grieving individuals with empathy, not advice
• Provide a safe, non-judgemental space for people to talk
• Understand when and how to signpost to further support
• Handle conversations confidently while respecting boundaries
• Support within the context of cultural, social and workplace dynamics

This course is ideal for managers/ team leaders, health care professionals, HR professionals, community Leaders, teachers and youth workers, volunteers and charity workers, and anyone else who wants to support others through loss. No prior experience in counselling or bereavement work is needed, just a willingness to listen and learn.

“I thought your session was amazing. The way you managed to convey so much in relation to coping strategies for grief, with empathy and clarity, in the time you had was truly impactful. Thank you again for leading such an important and meaningful session.” – RX Global