These programs aim to provide best practice grief and palliative care counselling education. They are designed for practitioners with appropriate educational, experiential and personal attributes who wish to enhance their knowledge and expertise in the area of counselling within a grief, bereavement and palliative care context.

The programs are primarily aimed at graduate health and welfare professionals who are responsible for supporting others in times of transition, crisis or difficulty and who wish to offer effective counselling in their clinical and therapeutic work.

The programs offer a unique combination of up-to-date knowledge of grief, palliative care and bereavement issues, and a practical approach to the skilful handling of grief. Theoretical perspectives taught in the program are balanced by application of techniques, so that experiential and integrated learning results.

The programs are offered at three levels, and may be studied on campus or by distance. Courses are designed to accommodate individuals who have regular work commitments.

The Master of Grief and Palliative Care Counselling builds on the knowledge and experience of the graduate diploma and requires the successful completion of a research project, in a relevant grief area of the student's choice.

A candidate shall satisfactorily complete a number of core courses: Nature of Grief; Supervised Field Education; Grief Counselling I; Grief Counselling II; Grief Counselling III; Advanced Grief Counselling IA; Advanced Grief Counselling II; Advanced Grief Counselling III; Advanced Grief Counselling IB; and, either: Loss & Grief or Issues in Death & Dying. Further to this, candidates must complete courses chosen from the following electives: Loss & Grief; Issues in Death & Dying; Grief & Spirituality; Grief Studies; Research Design & Methodology. A dissertation (full- or part-time) is the final requirement and should therefore reflect what the student has learned from the core and elective course work in the program.

• Graduate Certificate in Grief and Palliative Care Counselling
• Graduate Diploma in Grief and Palliative Care Counselling

The Grief and Palliative Care Counselling Program encourages the following attributes in its graduates:

• Specialised up-to-date knowledge and understanding of grief and its associated issues, together with effective skills for appropriate interventions with grieving people.
• The ability to evaluate and synthesise grief-related information from a wide variety of sources.
• The ability to apply knowledge and skills to their own relevant professional situations.
• A high level of interpersonal skills, essential in communication with grieving individuals and families, as well as in the workplace.
• Proficient use of technology appropriate to learning at a post-graduate level.
• Commitment to lifelong learning. Graduates are encouraged to build on their experience and previous learning in order to maximise their personal and professional effectiveness.
• The ability to take leadership and to share their learning in their own communities and workplaces.
• Appropriate practice and awareness of ethical, social and cultural issues relevant to the areas, of grief, loss bereavement and palliative care.

Faculty of Health Sciences

• Health Sciences Program Information Leaflet
• Discipline of General Practice
• Faculty of Health Sciences
• Postgraduate Scholarships
• Student Centre enquiry form