Fall 2026 

As a Certified Grief Companion you will be able to offer grief support to clients one-on-one (akin to Grief Counseling) and you will know how to organically integrate grief and loss companionship into any spiritual guidance session. This course offers a whole person approach (pastoral rather than clinical) to grief companioning. 

Offered twice each year:
Fall Cohort: September - December
Spring Cohort: March - June
Dr. Jan Lundy, Facilitator 

Winter/Spring 2027

"How to Create, Launch and Lead a Grief Sharing Circle" 

A 7-week, online training on the practical aspects of starting and leading a Grief Sharing Circle (grief support group) in your community or online. (Cohort limited to 10 individuals.) ​
7 Consecutive Mondays Beginning March 1, 2027
Dr. Jan Lundy, Facilitator

"Translating Our Grief"
​with Christine Hiester 

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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. Begins January, 2027.
Course includes:
  • 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.