CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE GRIEF COUNSELLING FOR REFUGEES: ADDRESSING COMPLEX LOSS IN THE CONTEXT OF TRAUMA AND DISPLACEMENT 

Refugees often experience multiple, compounded losses due to war, persecution, and forced migration. These may include the death or disappearance of loved ones, loss of homeland, cultural identity, and disruption of traditional mourning practices. Grief in this context is shaped by both trauma and diverse sociocultural and religious frameworks, making culturally responsive approaches essential for effective counselling. 

This 3-hour interactive workshop presents a trauma-informed, culturally sensitive framework for grief counselling with refugee communities, drawing on over 30 years of clinical experience. 

- Participants will explore key topics including: 

- Diverse mourning rituals and gendered expressions of grief 

- Ambiguous and collective loss, including missing persons 

- Identity, adjustment, and coping following trauma 

Through clinical case studies, reflective exercises, and group discussions, participants will develop practical skills to: 

- Build trust and cultural safety in grief counselling 

- Incorporate clients’ spiritual and cultural rituals into therapeutic practice 

- Support memory work, survivor guilt, and narrative processes 

- Respond sensitively to culturally specific grief expressions 

This workshop is designed for psychologists, counsellors, social workers, and mental health professionals working with refugee or multicultural populations. By the end of the session, participants will have enhanced their cultural competence, deepened understanding of complex grief, and gained confidence in addressing trauma-related loss in refugee communities within a practical, skills-focused framework.

Workshop run time: 3 hours