How do i become a grief counselor

The Grief Counselor is a specialty within the counseling field that is designed to help patients cope with grief associated with the loss of loved ones or in some instances other important life connections such as pets or careers. Whether a Grief Counselor is helping someone cope with the loss of a parent, child, spouse or friend, the Grief Counselor must create a safe environment for the client to express their grief. The key skills of the grief counselor are: communication, rapport, healthy boundaries, professionalism, empathy, compassion and cultural and generational sensitivity.

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Grief Counselor as a Service to Society
Impact on Society
Education to Become a Grief Counselor
Salary Potential for Grief Counselors
Undergraduate Education
Master's Degree in Counseling
State Licensure for Professional Counselors
Grief-Specific Certification for Counselors
Other Grief-Related Certifications and Credentials
Pursuing a Career as a Bereavement Counselor
What is grief course?
What is the role of bereavement Counsellors?
What qualifications do I need to be a bereavement Counsellor UK?
How much does a bereavement Counsellor earn UK?

The Grief Counselor must recognize that everyone expresses their grief in different ways. Some people will hide behind bleak humor, others will cry with great frequency and intensity. Others feel emotionally blocked and disassociated from their bodies, feelings and even their lives. Many will withdraw from their families and friends as the emotional weight of the grief seems to act like a vise. For many people, the loss of a loved one can bring up deep unresolved emotional issues from their childhood and even adult lives. These must all be seen as part of the grieving process and the client given room to feel their feelings while having the grief counselor facilitate their own recognition of their emotions and arising patterns of behavior to find healthy outcomes.

Grief Counselor as a Service to Society

The Grief Counselor provides and extremely valuable service to the individual. By helping them to feel safe to express the profound feelings associated with grief, the Grief Counselor is helping the client to move deeply into their feelings and eventually release them from their experience. The range of emotions that can arise in response to grief are as varied as those of human experience. Some may be unable to take life seriously and enter into a sort of comedic nihilism. Others may be gripped by an intense rage as unresolved anger and feelings of abandonment arise with the death of their loved one. When the process of grieving is interrupted by the practical aspects of life such as career and family the grief can go “underground” and remain unresolved. The job of the Grief Counselor is to help the individual to reach resolution and acceptance of the death of the love one and be allowed to fully express all of their emotional reactions in a safe, caring and compassionate space.

Impact on Society

The Grief Counselor’s impact on society is subtle, but is actually profound. Prior to the advent of grief counseling a certain percentage of people were never able to experience and resolve their feelings of grief. This could lead to a variety of psychological problems and greatly influence the well-being and effectiveness of the person whose grief was unresolved. By helping individuals cope with, express and resolve their feelings of grief, the Grief Counselor is helping to make a more mentally stable, healthy and productive society one individual at a time.

Education to Become a Grief Counselor

There are many routes to becoming a Grief Counselor. One could earn their Master’s or Doctorate in Psychology with a specialization in grief. Other’s might choose to become Licensed Clinical Social Workers with an emphasis on Grief Counseling. In both of those cases, appropriate licensure would be required to practice with the title Psychologist or Licensed Clinical Social Worker. The title of “Counselor” is usually not one that is protected and so a variety of different educational backgrounds could offer Grief Counseling. In most cases, a Master’s degree or even Doctorate in Social Work, Divinity, Psychology or Counseling would be seen as optimal for being a professional Grief Counselor.

Salary Potential for Grief Counselors

The earning potential for a grief counselor will vary significantly from state to state and also is dependent on the educational background and licensure of a given practitioner. According to the BLS, the median pay for a grief counselor with a master’s degree is $46,240.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2019. National median for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder and Mental Health Counselors. Salary based on national data not school specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed March 2021.

Next Steps

You will want to determine what educational path you will want to take in becoming a Grief Counselor. The training, skill set and outlook of a Psychology student is very different from that of a Social Work student or someone earning their Master of Divinity. If you want to take a behavioral approach Psychology is an excellent path. Conversely, if you wish to take a spiritual counseling approach to your Grief Counseling then you may wish to consider a Master’s of Divinity. Only you can know which path resonates with you.

Family & Relationships
Death & Dying
Ideas and Advice for Coping With Grief

Mary Gormandy White

As a communication expert, Mary shares options for communicating about loss and grief, as well as other aspects of life.

Learn about our Editorial Policy.

Communication Expert

Updated February 14, 2022

Grief counselors are licensed mental health professionals who specialize in helping people who are struggling with grief. Preparing to work in this field requires extensive higher education, followed by licensure and ongoing continuing education. If you want to pursue a career that involves providing mental health support to people who are mourning, start by discovering what it takes to become a grief counselor.

Undergraduate Education

You have to earn a bachelor's degree in order to qualify for a master's degree program in counseling, but you don't have to specialize in counseling in your undergraduate studies. Popular undergraduate degrees among people who plan to become counselors include areas of study such as psychology, sociology, social work, or human services.

Master's Degree in Counseling

A master's degree in counseling is mandatory in order to work as a counselor. Depending on your state's counselor licensure requirements, you may need to choose a program that's accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Even if your current state doesn't require counselors to graduate from a program with this credential, choosing one allows you maximum flexibility for where you can work and build your practice. Master's programs in counseling typically require:

Two to three years of full-time graduate study
60 credit hours beyond a bachelor's degree
Grade point average of at least 3.0 in graduate studies
700 hours of supervised clinical hours (via internships and/or practicums)

To boost your qualifications specific to grief counseling, choose electives related to bereavement, death, and/or dying. It's also a good idea to do your internship with a hospice provider or another bereavement-focused service.

State Licensure for Professional Counselors

State licensure is required to work as a professional counselor in the United States. Each state has a board that oversees the licensure process. The requirements vary somewhat from state to state, so you'll need to review the rules specific to your area. The website of the American Association of State Counseling Boards (AASCB) provides details on how to contact the appropriate agency in each state. Typical requirements include:

Completion of educational requirements listed above
Pass a specified comprehensive exam, such as the National Counselor Examination (NCE)
Pass an exam specific to state regulations for counselors (commonly referred to as a jurisprudence exam)
Earn pre-licensure certification so you can get experience working under the supervision of a licensed counselor
Accumulate 2,000 - 3,000 hours of additional supervised work experience (a year of full-time work is 2,080 hours)

Once you meet your state's licensure requirements, you will become a professional counselor and will be able to go to work using the specific license you earned. The most common credential is Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), though it's also possible to become a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC), Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor of Mental Health (LPCC), or Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC).

Grief-Specific Certification for Counselors

Once you have become a licensed counselor, you will be able to offer general counseling services, including grief counseling. However, if you want to specialize in grief counseling, it's a good idea to earn certification specific to that aspect of counseling. Doing so will not only better prepare you to help people navigate grief, but it will also help you earn the continuing education credits that are required to maintain your counseling license.

The American Academy of Grief Counseling (AAGC) offers a 100-hour continuing education program for licensed counselors who wish to earn a certification in grief counseling.
AAGC also offers specialty certifications such as child and adolescent grief counseling and Christian grief counseling.

While only licensed mental health professionals can work as professional counselors, many other occupations involve supporting people who are bereaved. For example, funeral directors, clergy, hospice caseworkers, social workers, and others are often involved in providing support to people who are bereaved. They need to know how to support people who are grieving, which means that they need grief counseling skills and training even though they're not professional grief counselors. Educational opportunities include:

The AAGC grief counseling certifications discussed above are open to people in occupations like these.
AAGC also offers support-focused (as opposed to counseling) certifications related to pet loss and general grief support.
The Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) offers a thanatology certification for those who work with any aspect of death, dying, or bereavement.
The Center for Loss and Life Transition offers a 150-hour death and grief studies certification program intended for caregivers.

These are just a few of the many options to consider. Explore a selection of online courses in grief support or reach out to the continuing education division of a local college, university, or community college to see what options they may have available.

Pursuing a Career as a Bereavement Counselor

Working as a grief counselor is a noble endeavor. Most professional counselors provide a full scope of counseling services, which includes (but is not limited to) grief counseling. If you're truly called to work with bereaved individuals, you may want to specialize in grief counseling. There are bereavement-focused job opportunities for professional counselors to work with hospice providers, hospitals, mental health service providers, and other agencies. Whether you pursue this path or incorporate grief counseling into your full-service counseling practice, the work you do will help people navigate extraordinarily painful and difficult circumstances.

What is grief course?

Course description This course provides an overview of the major theories, modern research, and current issues for understanding the phenomenon of grief.

What is the role of bereavement Counsellors?

Bereavement counsellors are trained and qualified to help you process the feelings you have as you go through the stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance - and adapt to your new life.