Holding Grief Without Losing Ourselves

A Sacred Thanatology workshop for hospice teams, chaplains, clergy, pastoral care teams, bereavement professionals, volunteers, and helping professionals.

Who holds the grief of those who hold everyone else's?

Those who accompany people through death, dying, grief, and loss carry experiences that often stay with them long after an encounter has ended.

We frequently talk about burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma. We talk much less about vicarious grief—the grief that can emerge through repeatedly witnessing and accompanying the losses of others.

Holding Grief Without Losing Ourselves creates space for caregivers to recognize the grief they carry, reconnect with the meaning of their work, and develop practices for sustainable accompaniment.

The Sacred Thanatology Approach

This experiential workshop brings together contemporary grief theory, transpersonal psychology, spiritual care, and contemplative practice through a simple three-part framework:

WITNESS

Be present without immediately trying to fix.

Learning how to accompany grief through compassionate presence, deep listening, and attention.

DISCERN

What belongs to them? What belongs to me? What belongs to mystery?

Developing greater awareness of the emotional and spiritual boundaries involved in caring for others.

RELEASE

Honor what touched you without carrying everything indefinitely.

Developing contemplative practices and rituals that help caregivers acknowledge and release the grief they encounter through their work.

What We'll Explore

Participants will explore:

• Vicarious grief and how it differs from burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma
• Contemporary approaches to grief, including the Dual Process Model, Continuing Bonds, and Meaning Reconstruction
• Grief as a spiritual, existential, and potentially transformative experience
• Compassionate presence and accompaniment without over-identification
• Spiritual bypassing and the importance of making space for difficult emotions
• Contemplative practices for processing accumulated grief
• Sustainable approaches to caring for others while caring for ourselves

Who This Workshop Is For

Holding Grief Without Losing Ourselves is designed for:

Hospice and palliative care teams
Chaplains and spiritual care departments
Clergy and pastoral staff
Bereavement teams
Parish bereavement and funeral ministries
Social workers and helping professionals
Hospice volunteers
Faith communities and nonprofit organizations

Workshop Formats

90-Minute Introduction

An accessible introduction to vicarious grief and sustainable accompaniment.

Half-Day Workshop

A combination of education, reflection, discussion, and contemplative practice.

Full-Day Workshop or Retreat

A deeper experiential exploration of grief, caregiving, spiritual care, and sustainable accompaniment.

Workshops can be adapted to the particular needs, culture, and spiritual orientation of your organization.

Bring Sacred Thanatology to Your Organization

Caring for people through grief requires more than knowledge and technique. It requires the capacity to remain present to suffering while staying connected to ourselves.

Holding Grief Without Losing Ourselves provides caregivers with space to reflect, reconnect, and develop a more sustainable relationship with the grief they encounter through their work.

Interested in bringing this workshop to your hospice, parish, pastoral team, or organization?

Contact Paul to discuss workshop options and the needs of your team.

About the Facilitator

Paul Miner, MS, CT (Thanatology), MA, is a transpersonal coach, grief educator, meditation teacher, and former Jesuit seminarian. He integrates contemporary grief research, transpersonal psychology, contemplative practice, and depth psychology to help individuals and organizations engage loss, meaning, and transformation with greater wisdom and compassion.