Grief literacy refers to understanding the diverse experiences of grief and loss and having the skills to recognise and respond effectively to them in clinical practice. It is essential for competent ethical care because grief is a universal human experience woven through many mental health and healthcare presentations.

Many practitioners feel unprepared to address grief due to a lack of training in their degrees, leading to consequences like misdiagnosis (e.g., labelling grief as anxiety or depression), invalidation of client experiences, and missed opportunities for targeted support. Improving grief literacy allows practitioners to provide more validating and effective care by identifying and addressing the underlying grief contributing to a client's difficulties

Research has highlighted significant gaps in formal education regarding grief and loss for mental health professionals. University degrees often provide minimal coverage of the topic, sometimes limited to brief introductions to outdated models. This lack of foundational training means that many practitioners enter the field without a solid understanding of contemporary grief theory, assessment methods, or practical intervention strategies. This forces practitioners to rely on fragmented learning from webinars, personal experience, or generalist skills, often leaving them feeling under-confident and without a clear framework for effectively supporting clients experiencing diverse forms of grief. Grief Practice Institute programs have been specifically developed to bridge these knowledge gaps.

Our courses recognise that building confidence in grief-informed practice stems from having a strong theoretical framework, knowing how to apply it practically, and developing comfort in discussing death, dying, and complex loss experiences. Our programs offer contemporary learning and training that covers diverse grief presentations, evidence-based assessment tools, and practical intervention strategies, alongside self-assessment and reflections on one's own experiences with loss and death to enhance self-awareness and capacity to hold space for clients' grief. And weekly live Q& A sessions provide opportunities to explore complex cases and integrate theoretical knowledge with real-world application.

Grief encompasses a wide range of losses and transitions throughout life. This can include the loss of identity, opportunities, relationships (such as estrangement), functionality, or even future expectations. Practitioners need to be attuned to how grief can show up "disguised" as other presenting issues like anxiety, anger, depression, burnout, or a feeling of being "stuck." Recognising these "invisible griefs" involves adopting a curious and compassionate mindset, using language to explore the client's experiences of change and loss, and moving beyond solely focusing on diagnostic labels to understand the unique personal conceptualisation of what is happening in their life.

Models like the 5 stages of grief are widely known but are often unhelpful and misleading when applied to general grief experiences. Originally based on work with the dying, these models have been extrapolated to bereavement and other losses in ways that oversimplify the complex nature of grief.

They promote ongoing myths like grief being linear, timebound, or having a clear endpoint (closure), neglecting the physical, cognitive, spiritual, and practical dimensions of loss, as well as the concept of ongoing adjustment rather than resolution. Reliance on these outdated models can invalidate clients' unique experiences and lead to practitioners feeling ill-equipped when grief presents in ways that don't fit these frameworks.