grief counseling

certification and education programs

Your request for information

Thank you for your recent request for information on our Grief Counseling programs. We are happy to provide you with more information on the programs.

Below you will find more information, as well as link which will easily take you to even more information. If after reviewing this information page you still have questions, please always feel free to contact us by email : at info@aihcp.org or by phone at 330-652-7776.

Our office hours are: Monday-Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm, eastern standard time.

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The American Academy of Grief Counseling (AAGC), which is a professional divisions of the American Institute of Health Care Professionals, Inc (AIHCP) offers comprehensive, quality, Certification and Fellowship programs for qualified professionals. The AIHCP offers foundational, as well as advanced programs in Grief Counseling. The information provided here is applicable to our Core Grief Counseling Certification program.

Please be sure to visit our website and review our FAQS (frequently asked questions) for more information on our Grief Counseling program: Access Link

Certified Grief Counselor - requires attainment and/or verification of one of the following certification criteria:

Completion of an official, established education program to prepare health care professionals for the practice of Grief Counseling/ Bereavement Therapy. Educational programs must have provided a minimum of 100 hours of lecture/study and be offered by a college/university or a professional organization. Candidates for certification must present valid evidence of successful completion of such program. The AAGC review board will review and approve programs on an individual basis. Once a program is approved, it will be published as "approved" by the AAGC. Programs submitted for approval consideration must have their curriculums specifically based in grief counseling and bereavement therapy theory/practice. Curriculums must include content/theory on death, dying, grieving/bereavement, interventions, grief therapies, grief assessments, and child grief, at a minimum. To view approved programs and courses, click here. Candidates whose can demonstrate evidence of successful completion of such programs within a five (5) year period prior to the date of application for certification, and meet the pre-requisites for certification (see below), are eligible to receive certification as a Grief Counselor.
Completion of the continuing education program in Grief Counseling offered by the American Academy of Grief Counseling. Candidates must meet one of the pre-requisites provided below to enter this education program. Upon completion of the four core courses in Grief Counseling, the candidate may then apply for official Certification. This program of education consists of core continuing education courses designed to meet the specific education standards as developed by the American Academy of Grief Counseling. All courses are offered by distance education, and candidates have two full years to complete the complement of courses. For full program information: access here.

Pre-requisites to enter the continuing education program for Certification eligibility are provided below. Candidates must meet a minimum of one pre-requisite to be considered for entry into the program.

Pre-requisite to enrolling in the continuing education program and qualifying for Certification are:

Registrants must meet at least one of the following; 1.) a registered nurse currently licensed to practice nursing, 2). a licensed social worker, 3). a health care licensed professional, 4). a professional counselor, 5). a licensed psychologist, 6). an ordained minister, 7). a licensed funeral director, 8). a pastoral counselor in active ministry, 9). a graduate degree in educational counseling, 10). a licensed physician, 11). a college degree in human services, psychology, or human behavior, 12). a school counselor 13). other college degrees may be applicable if they are in a related area or if the candidate can verify significant job experiences working with grief/bereavement under the direct supervision of one who would qualify as a candidate above. Such cases are evaluated by the Academy on an individual basis.

Once Certified, members must commit to adherence to the Code of Ethics for Certified Grief Counselors and adhere to their specific profession's Standards of Practice.

Certification- Identification & Credentials

Those applicants who become certified by the AAGC- shall be deemed "certified" and may use the initials/credential GC-C, after their names:

"Certified Grief Counselor"

Time line

All certifications shall be for a period of 4 years from the date that the initial certification is granted.

Recertification

Certified members may receive recertification at the expiration of their four (4) year term by one of the following means Criteria for Recertification

Access the CE Program for this Specialty: Click Here

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Education Program:

How are the courses designed and accessed?

* All courses are continuing education courses. They are provided in online classrooms via our website. The courses are formatted as independent study with one-to-one faculty mentoring. You will progress with your study materials at your own pace. Anytime you would like to discuss course materials and/or have questions for the course author/faculty, you may contact them via email. You are provided with the email contact information for your course instructor at the time of course registration. Each course requires the completion of a comprehensive final examination. All examinations are taken via the online classroom. All examinations are formatted as "open book" exams. Questions are formatted in an objective manner (multiple choice, true-false). There are only a few courses which also include some essay type responses.

*Once your course registration and payment have been received, you will receive a welcome email from our staff with full course access information. You will be provided a unique password with which to access the online classroom. You have full, 24 hour a day, seven day a week access to your online classroom. You will receive your email notice with course/classroom access within 24 hours of receipt of your registration form and payment.

* Once inside the classroom, you will be provided with the course syllabus, instructor information, full instructions for progressing in the course, full examination access instructions, course objective and course content. You will also be provided with many more links which provide much more information regarding the course and resources.

Does the cost of the course tuition include the cost of any required textbooks and/or learning materials such as CD audio's, Videos, etc?

Textbooks and most required CD audio's are not included in the tuition fee. You are required to obtain the necessary texts and audio learning materials on your own. To assist with ease of obtaining materials, you may access our online AIHCP Book Store at any time. You may click on the link of your specialty. This will take you to page listing all course books/materials for all of the courses in your program. You may easily order them online via our AIHCP bookstore (in affiliation with Amazon.com). Please note that most all of our required textbooks are available for order as "used" editions via Amazon.com. This can save you considerably on your costs of books.

How long do I have to complete each course in the program?

Our courses are self-paced with faculty mentoring as needed. You decide how to pace yourself and meet course requirements. The only "time-frame" policy that we have is: Once you enroll and begin the "First" course in the CE program curriculum, you must complete ALL of the courses within a two-year period from the date of your enrollment into the "first" course. If you do not meet this time-frame, you will never lose credits of course completions, however, if there has been changes in courses and/or curriculums, you will be required to comply with the most recent revisions/changes. There is a small "re-entry" fee assessed as well.

How long will it take me to complete "a course?"

Our courses are self-paced, meaning you can go as fast as you like or as slow as you need. The average student, however, spends about 4-6 weeks per course. For more information please visit this link.

What are the cost of the courses?

Please access this link. This will take you to the CE program page. On this page you will see all required courses in the curriculum. At the end of each course's brief description is the course tuition fee.

Must I register for and pay for "all" of the required courses at one time?

No. We offer our candidates the option to register for and pay for "one course at a time. This is an added advantage to our candidates so that costs can be spread-out over a long period of time. Of course, if you wish, you may enroll into more than one course at a time. This is your option.

Do you accept payment from organizations/employers?

Yes. Many of our candidates who enroll into our programs are sponsored by their organizations/employers. We will accept checks, money orders and payments from organizations/employers.

How do I pay the course tuition fee?

We accept personal checks, money orders, and credit card payments. We currently accept Visa, Master Card and American Express. Check and money orders may be mailed in to us along with a completed course registration to our postal address. Click for contact information. We have a Merchant Service Credit Card account that is highly secure online. Once you have completed the online course registration, you will be automatically taken to another web page with a link right to our secure online credit card payment server. Or, you may go directly to our credit card server by accessing this link.

Do you have a program for accepting loans, grants, etc?

No. We do not at this time have any type of programs where we are authorized to accept loans, grants, etc. We are a professional organization and a non-government organization. We are not a college/university. As such, we are not participants in any type of state, government loans/grant programs. Also, we do not have any type of scholarship programs available at this time. To assist in the affordability, rather, we have a policy of letting our candidates pay for "one course at a time" thus spreading the costs of the program out up to a two-year period.

Do your CE courses have any types of "organizational or board" approvals?

YES. Please access this link to be taken to another page with this specific information.

When may I register for a course?

We have "open" enrollment. This means you may enroll into any course at anytime and begin your studies. There is "no waiting" for any type of specific start dates. Register Today: access link.

Do your courses have "accreditations?" Are you "accredited?"

We are a professional health care organization. We are NOT a chartered school, nor a college/university. For more information on accreditations, please visit this link.

Do you have any Testimonials from Professionals who have become Certified through your programs?

YES. We have a Testimonials Page on our website that you may access: access here. All testimonials provided have been received voluntarily and the original submissions are maintained in our administrative offices. The posted testimonials are un-edited.

Do you accept students/candidates who reside outside of the USA?

YES. Our courses and certification programs are open to anyone living outside of the USA. Our only requirement is that one have a good foundation in the English language, as all our courses are provided in English only.

If I enroll into a course and decide to "withdraw," may I do so?

YES. We have a policy which allows for course withdraw. To review our policy,
click here.

Are there resources/tools in the online course classrooms?

YES. Here is what you will find in the online classrooms:

* Examination Access: there is link to take you right to the online examination program where you can print out your examination and work with it. All examinations are formatted as "open book" tests. When you are ready, you can access the exam program at anytime and click in your responses to the questions. Full information is provided in the online classrooms.

* Student Resource Center: there is a link for access to a web page "Student Resource Center." The Resource Center provides for easy access to all of our policies/procedures and additional information regarding applying for certification. We also have many links to many outside reference sites, such as online libraries that you may freely access.

* Online Evaluation: there is a link in the classroom where you may access the course evaluation. All students completing a course, must, without exception, complete the course evaluation.

* Faculty Access Information: you will have access to your instructor's online resume/biography, as well as your instructor's specific contact information.

* Additional Learning Materials: some faculty have prepared additional "readings" and /or brief lecture notes to enhance your experience. All of these are available in the online classrooms.

* AIHCP Blog and Specialty Blogs

Will I receive a "CE Certificate" of course completion after completing each course?

YES. Upon successful completion of a course and upon receiving your completed course evaluation, you will be postal mailed a CE Certificate of Course Completion. Each CE certificate has the AIHCP Seal and is signed by the Executive Director. The Certificate provides the name of the course, course code, the number of earned contact hours, any board or organizational "approval" statements, the date of course completion, etc. CE certificates are generally prepared and mailed out to your postal address within 48 hours of receipt of your course evaluation.

Will I be able to receive feedback on my completed examination?

YES. Once you have clicked in your responses to all of the questions, you will be able to follow commands and access your total score. Also, you will be able to access a copy of the entire exam which will show you the correct responses for all questions. The AIHCP staff will also email you a copy of your completed examination with your final score.

I have taken some "courses" in this subject area in the past. Can I use these past courses to meet education requirements for this certification?

Maybe. As provided in the main FAQS page (link to page), normally we do not allow this as we want all certified members to all meet the same education standards for their certification specialty. However, we will consider the following: if a course or courses were taken from a college/university and the course or courses are predominately "equal" in course content to our required courses, then the candidate may petition us for review and a decision regarding whether we will accept the course or courses as "equivalent" to one or more of our required courses in a curriculum. To facilitate this, please email or postal mail a letter of request and include a copy of the college/university transcript and point out the name of the course you have already taken, and the course you are asking us to consider equivalency to. We will be happy to review your request and accompanying transcripts and render a decision for you.

Do you have an advisor that I may contact to learn more about your programs?

YES. Our chief candidate advisor is Mark Moran, MA. Mark can be reached at the following email address: mark@aihcp.org You may also phone our office and speak to Mark by calling : 330-652-7776. If after business hours, just leave a message for Mark via our phone voice mail and he will get back to you.

Do I have to receive any type of "permission" from AIHCP to enroll into the first course in my program curriculum?

NO. This is not necessary as long as you meet at least one of the defined "pre-requisites" to the enter the program. If so, you may go ahead and register and enroll into your first course at anytime. If you have any questions regarding whether or not you meet at least one of the defined pre-requisites to enter this program, then please contact us first before enrolling into a course with us.

How do I register for a CE Course?

We have prepared an information page with complete, simple instructions for registering for your first course and subsequent courses in your desired specialty program.

Access Link

CERTIFICATION INFORMATION

Below is provided some additional information presented in a FAQ format

What is Certification?

Certification is a voluntary process for professionals that attests to meeting defined standards for a particular specialty, by a professional organization and not a government organization or licensing board. Certification and "licensing" are legally very different. Certification is NOT licensing. Licensing is provided by government agencies with such authority under specific state statutes, for example, State Boards of Nursing. To view more detailed information on what "certification is, please access the FAQ link for this practice specialty. Access link

Will my Certification be "accepted" in the workforce?

To respond more fully to this, we have prepared a separate information page. Please access the information page to review. Access link

Will I be able to use specific "initials" with my name if I am Certified with the American Institute of Health Care Professionals, Inc?

YES. Each certification specialty has it's own unique set of "initials." Once you are certified you are legally authorized by AIHCP to use the designated initials after your name. Please refer to the main Certification page to see what specific initials are used for your certification: access link.

Does the cost of the CE courses in my program include the "certification" too?

NO. Upon successful completion of all of the required courses in your curriculum, you may then make official "application" for Certification. Our applications are located on our website. You will print out the application for your certification and include the required fee. The fee provides for your four year period of Certification and is $ 200.00. You will also include any and all validation necessary to verify that you have the required pre-requisite to apply for the certification, i.e. transcripts of college degrees, copies of professional license, etc. This must be included with your submitted application. If you have any questions regarding the pre-requisites to enter this program, please go back to the main certification page access link or the page listing the CE courses.

Should I mail in my application for "Certification" now?

NO. Please do not. You will mail in your application for "Certification" after you have successfully completed all of the CE courses provided in your program curriculum. Applications that are submitted prior to the completion of the CE courses will be mailed back.

Once I am certified, will AIHCP provide letters and or phone verifications of my certification to those I request to have this information provided, such as potential employers, etc?

YES. We are happy to provide this service to all of our certified members. However, we do require your expressed permission to provide others that information.

Are their advisors or specialists who are involved in AIHCP and its development of standards/programs?

YES. For each specialty certification and education program, we have an Advisory Board with distinguished members who have credentials/practice experience in the specialty. You may review our advisory board members by accessing this link.

Need Additional Information?

Do you have any other questions? If so, we invite you to contact us with your questions at any time. We look forward to hearing from you.

Contact Information:

e-mail contacts: info@aihcp.org or mark@aihcp.org

Phone: 330-652-7776

Fax: 330-652-7575

Mailing Address:

American Institute of Health Care Professionals, INC.

2400 Niles-Cortland Rd. S.E. Suite # 4

Warren Ohio 44484