ONLINE 2 Part WEBINAR - CFT for Non-Death Loss and Grief (November 2025)

Registration

We will host this webinar via Zoom Meetings. This workshop will be recorded and recordings will be available for up to three months after the live broadcast for you to watch in your own time. This webinar awards delegates 4 hours toward CPD.

Level: Intermediate

Timings

All timings are according to UK Time

Session 1, 06th November 2025 18.00 to 20.00

Session 2, 13th November 2025 18.00 to 20.00

Pricing

This workshop is priced at a flat rate of £69.00 . For those in difficult financial circumstances, who may struggle to afford this price, please contact hello@compassionatemind.co.uk

About this Workshop

Many non-death losses are either ongoing in nature, leading to significant anxiety and exhaustion, or they are ambiguous in their orientation, making it difficult to identify what has been lost and how to support people in these unique loss experiences.

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) is especially useful for these types of loss experiences, especially in providing a sustainable foundation of support when these loss experiences (and the grief that accompanies them) have a protracted course. CFT is also very helpful in addressing grief that is accompanied by shame, disenfranchisement, and exhaustion, which is a common presence in grief that occurs as a result of non-death loss experiences.

This workshop will identify and describe specific types of non-death loss and the unique grief that accompanies them. The attention will then turn to the application of the principles of CFT to suggest sustainable ways to support individuals with these types of losses.

First Session: Non-Death Loss and Grief

· Definitions and descriptions of different types of non-death losses

· Unique features of the grief that accompanies non-death losses

· Social context of non-death loss and grief

· The assumptive world and grief

· How attachment mediates grief

· Areas of difficulty in non-death losses

Week Two: Application of CFT to Non-Death Loss and Grief

· Compassionate Mind Training and sustainability

· Practice of presence

· Reorienting outcome expectations

· Challenges in grief therapy practice that can be readily addressed with CFT

Key Learning Objectives

1. Define nonfinite loss, ambiguous loss, tangible and intangible loss, chronic sorrow, and disenfranchised grief.

2. Identify unique features of non-death loss and grief

3. Explore specific compassion-based practices that can be helpful to clients experiencing grief after non-death losses.

4. Describe how a compassionate stance can enhance sustainability in situations where grief is chronic, intense, and/or exceptionally difficult.

5. Recognize the impact of the social context on loss and grief, as well as on the application of CFT to specific scenarios of non-death loss and grief.

Training Modalities

The sessions will utilize power point slides, case studies, interactive work with participants, and reflective practice to create a combined didactic and experientially-based training for participants. Handouts with information from slides, examples, and further resources will also be provided to attendees.

Key References

Harris, D.L. (2021). Compassion-focused grief therapy. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 49(6), 780-790.

Harris, D.L., & Ho, A.Y. (Eds.) (2023) Compassion-based approaches to loss and grief. Routledge.

Harris, D., & Milman, J. (in press). Principles and practice of grief counseling (4th Ed). Springer.

Harris, D. (2020). Non-death loss and grief: Context and clinical implications. Routledge.

Workshop Leader

Darcy L. Harris, R.N., R.S.W., M.Ed. (Couns.), Ph.D., FT, is a Professor of Thanatology at King’s University College in London, Canada, where she has also maintained a private clinical practice for over 25 years specializing in issues related to change, loss, and transition. In addition, she is a faculty member of the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition, dedicated to training in grief therapy leading toward Certification in Meaning Reconstruction in Loss.

She has served on the board of directors of the Association for Death Education and Counseling and is a current member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement.

She is co-editor for Routledge Publishing Company’s Death, Dying, and Bereavement Series and she is an internationally recognized speaker and author.

Her publications include Counting our Losses: Reflecting on Change, Loss, and Transition in Everyday Life (Routledge), Grief and Bereavement in Contemporary Society: Bridging Research and Practice (Routledge), Principles and Practice of Grief Counseling (Springer), The Handbook of Social Justice in Loss and Grief: Exploring Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (Routledge) and Non-Death Loss and Grief: Context and Clinical Implications (Routledge), and Compassion-Based Approaches to Loss and Grief (Routledge).7