Grief Specialist | meetpiers

In the role of Grief Specialist

Piers Heaney

I am passionate about, and have been working with the issues of Grief, Loss, Death and Bereavement for over thirty years. My interest in this area began when I worked as a Funeral Director.

My focus is to dispel the inadequate stereotypes and myths which still abound around the topic, and to equip people with factual knowledge and useful skills so that they can manage their own grief and grieving process.

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"Everyone can master a grief

but he who has it."

Shakespeare

My work and expertise has been recognised internationally having been awarded Accreditation with both the Association for Death Educators and Counsellors in America and The National Association for Loss and Grief in Australia. I was also contracted to deliver training for Victim Support Counsellors in Samoa through the Samoa In-Country Training Programme that is carried out under the auspices of the Australia and New Zealand Official Development Assistance Programme to that country.

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I am a recognised Author in the field: ("Coming to Grief", and "Children's Grief")

Am a regular lecturer on the topic in numerous tertiary institutions,

And hold formal accreditation as a

Grief Group Facilitator

Grief & Death Educator

Grief Counsellor

Grief Counselling Supervisor

Crisis and Trauma Debriefer

Thanatologist: death, dying and bereavement

"No-one ever told me that

grief felt so like fear."

C.S. Lewis

Workshops focus on:

Offering insight into the true nature of grief and loss.
Explaining why grief is different for everyone.
Clarifying the difference between grief and grieving and why it is important to know this.
Equipping people with knowledge and strategies to learn how to manage their own grief and grieving processes.
Developing community skills and awareness so that care for those who are grieving may be more effective.

An Educational Offering

Work has involved:

Running residential therapeutic workshops for people with long-standing unresolved grief.
Public speaking engagements, including via radio and television media.
Being designated Homicide Counsellor for Victim Support N.Z.
Introducing Bereavement Support Volunteers in a variety of venues (e.g. Funeral Directors, Hospice).
Writing a study course and assisting others to become Grief Practitioners.
Debriefing individuals and response teams following disaster and crisis situations (e.g. Aramoana).
Helping to establish the Grief Education Trust, the National Association for Loss and Grief in New Zealand, and the Otago Community Hospice.
Consulting to a diverse range of organisations and schools to help them deal with crisis situations and the resultant grief.

Grief is like a fingerprint.

It is unique to you and to your loss.

Therese A. Rando

"It's all about Developing People Potential"

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