Two Day RTS Bereavement Support Training Conference

Who should attend?

This course is open to all professionals including nurses, physicians, chaplains, clergy, US technologists, ER staff, social workers and funeral directors. This course would also be very useful for anyone interested in and/or working with perinatally-bereaved parents.

Special emphasis will be made on early pregnancy loss and its tremendous impact on families.

About the Training

This two day course provides insight, knowledge and hands on classroom experience with the skills necessary to interact with families experiencing perinatal loss at any gestation.

Objectives of the RTS Bereavement Support Training
After completing this program the student will understand:

• The inclusive definition of perinatal grief.
• That grief is a normal response to the death of a baby through miscarriage, medical termination, ectopic pregnancy stillbirth and neonatal death.
• That grief is an individual experience.
• That disenfranchised grief occurs when the death is not recognized or validated
• That the intensity of the grief reaction experience is directly related to the significance of the attachment to the baby.
• Attachment can be assessed by caregivers during regular interaction with bereaved parents
• Parents must work through the tasks of mourning
• Phases of grief are recognized general patterns that bereaved parents experience in their own unique way
• Bereaved parents must deal with the general public misinformation about grief
• Listening Techniques and The Theory of Caring
• The importance of telling the story
• That providing parents with parenting experiences and concrete evidence of their baby's life facilitates the mourning process
• How to create mementos
• The special support needs of the parent who terminates a pregnancy for medical reasons
• How to support a parent through a subsequent pregnancy
• Support needs of children
• The hospital chaplain's role in assisting bereaved parents
• How the funeral director can help bereaved parents
• Networking with the clergy and funeral directors in your community
  

You will Receive:

• breakfast, lunch and 2 breaks daily
• 200+ page manual of resources
• theoretical framework for understanding attachment, grief and loss
• protocols for appropriate bereavement care at any gestation
• strategies of care for perinatal loss at any gestation
• multicultural resources
• RTS certification and pin

Typical Agenda

Day One
7:30 a.m.

• registration and continental breakfast (provided)

8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

• welcome and introductions
• grief theory and application
• parenting tasks
• strategies for care in miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy loss, medical terminations, stillbirth and neonatal death
• lunch (provided)
• hands on practical sessions:
  • photography
  • foot molds
  • shrouding
• rituals:
  • funeral
  • namings
  • blessings
• care for the caregiver

4:30 p.m.

• optional video viewing: "Some Babies Die"

Day Two
7:00 a.m.

• optional video viewing: "For the Love of Our Family"

7:30 a.m.

• continental breakfast (provided)

8:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

• pregnancy termination and grief
• subsequent pregnancy
• children and grief
• addressing problems and concerns
• networking and sharing of resources
• lunch (provided)
• parent panel
• debriefing
• how to apply knowledge in your workplace
• Lucy Lettuce
• evaluation, certificates and pins

3:30 p.m.

• departure