Grief Companion Training - Winter Session

February - May, 2025 
2 sessions to choose from:
• 1st and 3rd Mondays (likely 4:00-6:00 pm EDT)
​• 2nd and 4th Wednesdays 

Final meeting times to be determined by student consensus once applications are received.

Training begins the week of Feb. 3, 2025

​New course beginning January 2025. Register today!

Sometimes tending our losses with words alone isn’t enough. Words have limits that other creative languages move beyond– languages of color, shape, form, movement, sound, and imagery, each employing a unique vocabulary of expression for our grief and pain. In Translating Our Grief, established care professionals (spiritual companions, chaplains, social workers, etc) will learn to use varied creative languages for personal expression and how to offer practices to support their clients. Guided by spiritual companion and retreat facilitator, Christine Hiester, learners will be immersed in an experiential 4-month course, with a curriculum designed to invite fluency in varied materials of expression.

Course will include:
  • Eight 2-hour live meetings on Zoom, with contemplative practices, group discussion, and hands-on creative learning
  • A one-on-one Zoom hour with facilitator within course timeline
  • Varied resources such as videos, creative prompts, books, and case studies
  • Certificate of completion from The Metta Center

Limited to 10 participants.

Christine Hiester is an interspiritual Spiritual Companion, lifelong teacher and musician, and self-taught artist who has guided creative and contemplative workshops and retreats for 15 years. She trained through the Wellstreams Program on the Art of Spiritual Direction, the Spiritual Guidance Training Institute, and as a Grief Companion through The Metta Center. Visit her on Instagram @shapingtheriver, and online at www.shapingtheriver.com."

Watch and learn more

New podcast featuring Christine

"​Exploring Loss - Creatively!"