"ASSOCIATION FOR DEATH EDUCATION AND COUNSELING"
Program Description
"The Association for Death Education and Counseling, The Thanatology Association, is one of the oldest interdisciplinary organizations in the field of dying, death and bereavement. Its nearly 2,000 members include a wide array of mental and medical health personnel, educators, clergy, funeral directors and volunteers."
source:adec.org
The Association for Death Education and Counseling provides end of life training based on it’s Body of Knowledge Matrix which incorporates the aspects of Cultural, Social, Religious, Spiritual, and Professional Issues, along with contemporary and historical perspectives on Dying in each of the following categories:
Dying -perspectives on dying, health care interactions, family roles, facing death, rituals, meaning, suffering, impact on treatment decisions, afterlife, legacies, self care, boundaries, compassion fatigue, burnout, attitudes toward dying, hospice, causes and patterns of death in Western societies, influential theories, global causes and patterns of death and lifestyle choices, gender issues, impact of technology, influential theories, death attitudes, role of complementary/alternative therapies.
End-Of-Life Decision Making advance care planning, ethnic issues, values and attitudes, gender, advance care planning, values and attitudes, beliefs and doctrines, suffering, sanctity of life, quality of life, communication, understanding patient's rights, landmark legal cases, attitudes toward final disposition, evolution of advance care planning, options and choices, impact of medical technology, impact of media and internet.
Loss, Grief & Mourning - factors affecting experience of and expression of grief, mourning practices, meaning making, burnout, compassion fatigue, awareness of personal loss history, coping strategies, self assessment, self care, boundaries, clinical competency, influential theories, post-death activities, influential theories and models, post-death practices, media and internet, intervention.
Assessment & Intervention - advance care planning, cultural competence, communication, meaning of death, components of spiritual assessment, interventions, meaning and value of one's life, communication, professional liability and limitations, determining appropriate interventions, professional responsibilities, changes in determination of death, intervention theories, therapeutic strategies, controversy, complicated grief, gender considerations, pathologizing of grief.
Traumatic Death - cause of death, meaning making, advance care planning, ethnic issues, values and attitudes, gender meaning making, rituals, impact of religion, appropriate training, professional response, commemorative activities, vicarious traumatization, previous major traumatic occurrences, recent/anticipated future traumatic occurrences, organ and tissue donation, current approaches.
Death Education - different death systems, diverse views about death, diversity of religious beliefs, diversity of meaning making, diversity of spirituality, evaluation of knowledge, criteria for an effective educator, methods, training specific to parameters of practice, media and internet, attitudes towards death, history of thanatology as a discipline, historical eras, advance care planning, influence of media and the internet, social concerns, components of death education.
The “Association for Death Education and Counseling” lists it’s ADEC members who are professionals with specialized education and/or certification in dying, death and bereavement on their website directory based on area.
source:adec.org
Death and Dying Films