ACT for Grief and Loss
This four-week practical course shows you how to apply ACT to all aspects of grief and loss. Learn with guidance from Dr. Russ Harris in an exclusive forum.
About the course
Start date
Starts 18 August 2026Length
4 weeks | 8 hrs total (12 months access)Who this course is for
For Mental Health & Health Professionals Organization Enquiries
Find out moreWhether it’s the loss of a loved one or a job, the end of a relationship, a serious illness, or a global pandemic —nothing really prepares us for those moments when life knocks us around and turns our world upside down. Our pain may seem unbearable at these times. But there is hope. ACT offers a compassionate, wise and practical model to help people recover from these major life blows, effectively handle the suffering that goes with them, and even grow through the experience. On top of that, ACT gives us all the skills we need to address complicated grief, ambiguous grief, disenfranchised grief, and any other type of grieving difficulty.
This four-week online training, which includes a host of therapy sessions, offers a wealth of ACT strategies for coping well with any type of loss from bereavement or miscarriage, to loss of physical health or an important relationship.
You’ll learn how to help your clients open up and make room for all those difficult thoughts, feelings, emotions and memories - without getting swept away by them, and how to:
be there for themselves in a kind and supportive way
take a courageous stand in the face of their losses
rebuild their lives, one small step at a time.
$450
Starts 18 August
ACT for Grief and LossEnroll now
$450
Late enrollments
Course trainer
What You'll Learn
In this journey through grief and loss, you’ll discover how to use ACT to:
Help in each stage of normative grieving
Work flexibly with all forms of grieving difficulty: complicated grief, ambiguous grief, disenfranchised grief, etc.
Create hope and optimism in the face of devastating loss
Help clients cope with intense emotional pain, through grounding, acceptance and self-compassion
Sensitively to facilitate grieving, without turning it into a clinical issue
Understand complicated grief primarily in terms of cognitive fusion and experiential avoidance
Develop self-compassion step-by-step in just about anyone
Overcome guilt and shame, and practice self-forgiveness
Develop and use healing imagery
Cope with the aftermath of suicide
Create grief rituals
Handle suicidality in complicated grief
Apply mindfulness and defusion as antidotes to worrying, rumination, hopelessness and catastrophising
Rebuild life after loss, and experience growth, using values and self-compassion
Help people move forward after loss, without conflict or invalidation
Revitalize and appreciate life after loss
Each week, Russ will take you step-by-step through the core principles of ACT, supported by instructional videos, engaging animations, videos of therapy sessions, written materials, audio recordings, client handouts and worksheets, and interactive quizzes to test your learnings as you go.
To complete your interactive experience, the course also includes a fully supported forum where you can ask questions daily, and share your experiences with Russ and your peers from around the world.
This course is an eight-hour course, delivered over four weeks, with two hours of new material released each week. There is also an extra two hours of bonus material including demonstrations of therapy sessions.
Who this course is for
ACT for Grief and Loss is open to any professional who works with physical or psychological health. This includes therapists, coaches, counselors, physicians, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, physios, dietitians, occupational therapists, youth workers, BCBAs, speech therapists, and any other type of health professional - as well as students and researchers in these fields.
This course assumes at least a beginners-level knowledge of ACT. Before enrolling, we recommend you do at least one of the following:
Attend an introductory level 2-day ACT workshop (with any trainer).
Complete the online ACT for Beginners course.
Thoroughly work through a beginners-level ACT textbook from start to end, such as ACT Made Simple, 2nd edition or Learning ACT.
Enrollments
We're happy to help if you can't attend the current intake. Once your purchase is complete, contact our customer service team and we can enrol you in a future intake.
If you need an invoice, please fill out the form here.
Course Overview
Course Modules
Week 1: Hold yourself kindly
Module one
We begin by introducing the course material and ways approach the course.
Module two
Key beginning concepts and definitions about ACT for Grief and Loss are explored in this module.
Module three
We delve into self-compassion, focusing on kind self talk, touch, deeds and imagery.
Module four
We focus on bereavement in this module, with therapy demonstrations by Russ Harris to guide your learning.
Module five
A bonus module packed with extra therapy demonstrations to enrich your learning experience.
Module six
Quiz questions
Week 2: Drop anchor
Module one
We begin week two by exploring dropping anchor with grief and loss.
Module two
We delve into acceptance and defusion, with practical strategies and analogies to help you in sessions
Module three
This module explores grief rituals and gives keys to help clients create their own.
Module four
We investigate barriers to self-compassion in this module.
Module five
This highly demonstrative module delves into the loss of relationships.
Module six
A bonus module packed with further therapy demonstrations to enrich your learning.
Module seven
Quiz questions
Week 3: Take a stand
Module one
We begin week three by introducing taking a stand, translating values into action.
Module two
We explore how to guide your clients to find the treasure, with practical mindful exercises to utilize.
Module three
A highly practical module that demonstrates key learning concepts when dealing with loss.
Module four
A bonus module packed with extra therapy demonstrations to enrich your learning.
Module five
Quiz questions
Week 4: Resolving complicated grief
Module one
We begin week four by investigating the conceptualisation of complicated grief.
Module two
We delve into interventions for complicated grief in this module.
Module three
Disrupting rumination is the focus of this module, with therapy demonstrations to illustrate key points.
Module four
We tackle hard conversations in session, with therapy demonstrations modelling practical strategies.
Module five
Some concluding thoughts and parting comments are included in this module.
Module six
A bonus module packed with extra therapy demonstrations.
Module seven
Quiz questions and conclusion
Course excerpts
What People Say About This Course
Kevin ChavesRegistered Psychotherapist - Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaI really like the way the information is presented and have especially found the session videos to be very helpful. It's a flexible way to do some training and it is a great combination of practical materials and observing things in action.
Anette BrechtelPsychologist - Speyer, GermanyI personally have gained a lot from this course and the combination of short theoretical input and the client videos with clients demonstrating how to bring the theory into practice really helps me.
Cait WotherspoonPsychotherapist - Penrith NSW, AustraliaRuss is super generous with the information, they're short videos that can be done every day, downloads are easy from the library. It's a fun and effective course to do. Russ has examples of therapy sessions and explains why he's used certain techniques. I love that it's broken down into bite-sized pieces with lots of videos that I can watch between my sessions with my clients. I can use the information straight away with my clients and it's doable. It works with the way I like to study and learn new things.
David C. StonePsychologist - San Francisco, California, USAThis course is a well-thought-out map for treating clients who are in the process of grieving a loss. The genuine therapy clients make the therapeutic interventions much more salient and powerful.
Damini GroverPsychologist - IndiaI learned a lot about the difference between normal grief and complicated grief and how to support oneself and others through this difficult process. This is a much-needed course. A lot of people do not know how to handle grief & moreover complicated grief. It's a wonderful learning experience.
Josephine RemziPsychologist - Essex, England, UKI have found the course extremely helpful in working with grief and loss. It has prompted me to use the 'kind hand' more with clients and indeed with myself. The sessions offered and particularly the sessions with Inez.
Accredited Continuing Education Credits
ACT for Grief and Loss is designed for mental health professionals, health professionals and coaches worldwide. On completion you'll receive an official certificate of completion, which can be submitted to registration bodies for CPD.
This course is accredited for 8 CE/CME credit hours for US licensed professionals:
Psychologists - 8 CE hours, APA - co-sponsored with Amedco, an APA-approved sponsor
Social workers - 8 general CE credits, ASWB ACE
Physicians - 8 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™, ACCME
Nurses - 8 contact hours, ANCC
Counselors, MFTs & addiction professionals - 8 hours, accepted by most US state boards via APA and ASWB ACE credit - see the state-by-state list
Approved CE activity with the New York State boards for Psychology, Social Work, Mental Health Counseling, and Marriage & Family Therapy.
View the full learner notification for this course (PDF) - includes complete accreditation statements, state board acceptance lists, learning objectives and faculty disclosures.
