Exploring Trauma & Sudden Death

The Exploring Trauma & Sudden Death* course is for anyone who has wondered about how to be with intense emotions surrounding various forms of traumatic and intense grief. While there will be educational opportunities, this course is not designed to be a lecture or "teaching."  It will be experiential and supportive in nurturing ourselves while we explore our desires to hold space for intense grief and traumatic death. We will spend five weeks working through topics around sudden death, suicide, abuse, and collective grief. 

*The facilitator(s) of this course are not therapist(s). This is not a therapeutic offering nor is it to be confused with therapy services. Due to the difficult and triggering nature of this content, we encourage students to do what they need to care for themselves, reach out at anytime, have their own therapist available to talk with, and/or a find conscious space to to decompress while working in this course.

MORE ABOUT THE COURSE:

This course will delve into various intense and complex topics, including the differences between expected death and sudden death grief, the impact of suicide on families, sexual assault trauma, and domestic violence. It will also cover collective trauma, PTSD, cultural trauma, and the importance of self-care. While there will be educational elements, the primary aim is to process these experiences together to better prepare for handling intense emotions. Participants will explore their own grief, history, trauma awareness, biases, and self-care rituals. The goal is to create a supportive space for open dialogue and collective processing, addressing questions, hesitations, and concerns about meeting people in these vulnerable states.

The course is designed to offer real-world experiences and personal stories from your instructor, Melissa Seligman, who has extensive experience with traumatic grief, assault, abuse, and PTSD. Communication will be of the utmost importance during this course, and we urge participants to maintain their balance and seek support when needed. We acknowledge the challenging nature of these topics and aim to ensure participants are emotionally, physically, and mentally prepared to engage with the material, while focusing on healing and navigating trauma, both personally and professionally, as end-of-life coaches and doulas.

• Week One: Introduction and intention. Sudden/tragic death and the differences between expected loss and sudden loss. This will include trauma awareness and understanding discussion.
• Week Two: Suicide as it pertains to working with the grief and trauma left behind, as well as biases, social stigma, and the role we can play in language around this topic.
• Week Three: Abuse trauma. Sexual assault and domestic violence. What to explore around domestic violence grief and sexual assault grief as it relates to end-of-life work.
• Week Four: Collective trauma. We will explore cultural, racial, ancestral, collective, eco, and Covid trauma. We will also explore our own aspects of grief we are working with and self-care as a necessity.
• Week Five: Sacred space of grief holding, discussion, and closing as a group.

Educational content will be released weekly, one module at a time, building on the previous week's discussions and immersions to foster growth. Each 120-minute online session will include 90 minutes of rituals, discussions, exercises, breakout rooms, and Q&A, with an additional 30 minutes for decompression based on participants' needs. Weekly follow-up emails will provide additional resources and thoughts, and your facilitator will be fully available for questions and support. 

WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?

This course is for CDI/CDC alumni (Conscious Dying Coaches & Sacred Passage Doulas) and doulas of the Center for Conscious Living and Dying program.

REQUIREMENTS FOR GRADUATION / CERTIFICATE:

• Familiarize yourself with the online learning platform
• Attend 5 weekly live video conferencing calls on Zoom - for a total of 10 hours (recordings will be made available)
• Move through course modules together, in order, between live video conferencing calls
• Participate in discussion and experientials 
• Commit to completing weekly assignments - reading articles, watching interviews and videos, and submitting written reflections
• Have access to a computer, internet, and technical fluency sufficient to satisfy course requirements
• A certificate of completion in trauma-awareness will be awarded if all criteria above are met, in addition to submitting an additional assessment and evaluation at the end of the course. 

DISCLAIMER:

This course is meant to be a trauma-aware experience. This means we will take the first step into exploring and recognizing the prevalence of trauma, begin to understand its impact as well as make room for the understanding that random responses may be connected to traumatic experiences rather than 'bad behavior' or 'negative thinking,' and explore our histories for ways to be with our own grief and experiences while tending to others. This experience is not a trauma-informed training.  End-of-life professionals are eligible for a certificate of completion upon meeting the requirements listed in the course syllabus.