Trauma Loss and Grief Counselling
Overview
This unit provides students with the skills necessary to understand, assess, and support individuals, couples, and families suffering from difficulties related to trauma, loss, and grief. Students will be taught major theories of grief and loss, while also developing counselling skills in this specialised area. Students will be introduced to key evidence-based interventions for trauma symptoms and the importance of considering culture and intersectionality in trauma, loss and grief counselling. Finally, students will work with a community agency/industry partner to develop a workshop relevant to a client group (e.g., individual, couples or families) who has experienced single-incident or complex trauma.
Requisites
Rules
Pre-requisite
Admission into:
GC-COU Graduate Certificate of Counselling
OR
GD-COU Graduate Diploma of Counselling
OR
MA-COU Master of Counselling
01-November-2026
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Critically evaluate, summarise and present research literature on trauma, loss and grief in both oral and written formats.
- Apply prominent theoretical models of grief and trauma to case examples.
- Analyse how trauma loss and grief experiences are influenced by historical and contemporary intersectionality.
- Apply and critique counselling skills that are essential to working with clients who present with difficulties related to trauma, loss or grief.
- Explain the importance of self-care and supervision in the context of professional counselling practice.
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Activity Type | Activity | Total Hours | Number of Weeks | Hours Per Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On-campus | Class | 36 | 12 weeks | 3 |
| Specified Activities | Various | 15 | 12 weeks | 1.25 |
| Unspecified Activities | Independent Learning | 99 | 12 weeks | 8.25 |
| Total Hours: | 150 | Total Hours (per week): | 12.5 | |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analysis | Individual | 30% | 2,3,4,5 |
| Presentation | Group | 40% | 1,2,3 |
| Case Study Report | Individual | 30% | 2,3,4,5 |
Content
Content:
- Major theories and interventions relevant to trauma, loss and grief
- Uncomplicated and complicated mourning
- Disenfranchised grief (e.g., suicide, perinatal loss, anticipatory grief, disability)
- Trauma exposure (e.g., racial trauma, intergenerational trauma, trauma in school settings, family violence)
- Supervision and self-care
Graduate attributes:
- Graduate Attribute 1 (Communication 1 - Verbal Communication)
- Graduate Attribute 2 (Communication 2 - Communicating using different media)
- Graduate Attribute 3 (Teamwork 1 - Collaboration and negotiation)
- Graduate Attribute 4 (Teamwork 2 - Teamwork roles and processes)
- Graduate Attribute 5 (Digital Literacies 1 - Information literacy)
- Graduate Attribute 6 (Digital Literacies 2 - Technical literacy)
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.