Perinatal Loss in Practice: What Therapists Need to Know

• Six hours of online learning

• Assessment at the end of each module to consolidate your learning

• Digital certificate of completion

• Accredited by COPE: Centre of Perinatal Excellence

$450 AUD (plus GST)

Note: Purchase of this course entitles course access and certification for one person only. Group discounts apply for organisations. To enquire, please contact training@cope.org.au

Course Overview

The loss of a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death or later death, is recognised as a traumatic event that can trigger not only grief and bereavement, but complicated grief, depression, anxiety, acute stress disorder and PTSD.

This course is designed to complement your training in mental health and provide you with the relevant additional information and skills to build your confidence in working with women and couples who have lost babies.

This course is based on empirical research into grief and loss in general, and on perinatal loss specifically. The content is underpinned by theories and models of grief, Attachment Theory, Psychodynamic Theory, Existential Psychology, Cognitive-vulnerability Stress Theories, Cognitive Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Mindfulness-based therapies and Interpersonal Psychotherapy.

This course covers general aspects of perinatal mental health and diagnostic issues in light of perinatal loss and grief. Dr Renée Miller shares over 20 years of clinical experience working in perinatal mental health and with bereaved parents.

Course learning outcomes

1. Understand the different types of losses, and the psychosocial consequences of perinatal loss, from pre-conception through to the postnatal period, and beyond.
2. Conceptualise childbearing as adult developmental stage (self narratives, meaning, social and cultural contexts).
3. Understand grief, loss, and adaptation to loss as a function of attachment.
4. Become informed about grief theories.
5. Discern the ‘typical’ grief trajectory from complicated grief.
6. Understand perinatal loss within the biopsychosocial model of perinatal mental health.
7. Use frameworks for assisting clients in adjusting to loss through fertility challenges.
8. Apply therapeutic approaches to counselling clients who have experienced perinatal loss.

Course timeline

Complete the course at your own pace.  We recommend completing within twelve (12) weeks to consolidate your learning.

*Please note: The timeframe of 12 weeks is purely a suggestion to consolidate your learning.  You will not lose access to the course after this time, rather the course remains available to complete at your own pace.

Conditions

Purchasing this course entitles access of content and certification by one person only. Sharing of content is in breach of the terms of sale.

To enquire about student fees, discounts for group bookings or arrange for an invoice to be prepared, contact us at training@cope.org.au.

About the Presenter

Dr Renée Miller is the Principal Clinical Psychologist of The Perinatal Loss Centre and the Antenatal & Postnatal Psychology Network in Melbourne, Australia. Renée established The Perinatal Loss Centre with Bereavement Midwife, Eliza Strauss to provide best-practice support and education to health practitioners, bereaved parents, and their families.

Renée has worked in the field of Perinatal Mental Health for over 20 years, exclusively seeing women and couples facing difficulties surrounding conception, pregnancy, birth, postnatal adjustment, and reproductive loss.

Renée is a passionate advocate for the recognition of Perinatal Mental Health, as an area of specialty.

Informed by her research in the area of postnatal depression, anxiety and stress in first-time mothers, and as a trained couples’ therapist, Renée has a particular interest in the impact of perinatal loss on relationships and ongoing perinatal mental health.In her course “Perinatal Loss in Practice: What Therapists Need to Know”, Renée distills both the research, and the practicalities of working with loss. She emphasises the importance of seeing the individual as a unique participant in their grief experience, whilst being informed by the grief and loss literature to understand the client’s responses to grief.

The course covers the impact of attachment and attachment styles on a developing pregnancy, on the experience of loss and on subsequent pregnancies. The course also highlights diagnostic considerations for therapists working with bereaved parents; a framework for addressing loss in the broader context of perinatal mental health; and an integration of a number of therapeutic approaches helpful in working with loss.

Course Overview