For Community Mental Health Agencies & County Programs
Give your team a framework for the grief they're already holding
A two hour introduction to the Psychospiritual Grief Method, built for the agencies and county programs whose staff sit with BIPOC clients through loss, disenfranchisement, and racial trauma every day. No continuing education credit required, just a shared language your whole team can use starting Monday.
The framework your team will learn: the ARISE Arc
A (Acknowledge)
Witness the full loss
R (Reconnect)
Body, ancestors, self
I (Integrate)
Clinical and spiritual truths
S (Sustain)
Ongoing practice and care
E (Emerge)
Grief carried with agency
Why This Matters Now
Your frontline staff were never given a map for this
01
The grief in your caseload is often invisible
Disenfranchised grief, ambiguous loss, and racial grief rarely show up the way clinical training expects them to. Staff notice something is wrong long before they have language for what it is.
02
Standard frameworks weren't built for your clients
Most grief models come from Western, individualistic research. Community and county teams serving BIPOC clients need a framework that was built with ancestral, cultural, and spiritual context already inside it.
03
Your team doesn't need another certification
They need permission, language, and a referral map they can use today. This session is designed for exactly that, without asking anyone to sit through a full clinical training first.
What The Session Covers
This is the same introduction Amber has brought into community rooms before: an overview built to travel, not a shortened version of the clinical training that leaves out what matters.
Two hours, five parts, one shared framework
2 hours total
Live, virtual or on site
No CE credit
Built for mixed clinical and non-clinical teams
1
The Full Landscape of Grief
Grief typologies your team will recognize immediately, from anticipatory and ambiguous loss to collective and traumatic grief, and why misidentifying the type leads to under-serving people.
2
Disenfranchised & Invisible Grief
The losses that go unnamed because a relationship, a loss, or a griever wasn't recognized, and why naming it out loud is itself an intervention your staff can offer.
3
BIPOC Grief, Racial Loss & Ancestral Frameworks
Racial and intergenerational grief, plus a respectful overview of the spiritual and ancestral traditions your clients may already be using to hold their own loss.
4
Introducing the Psychospiritual Grief Method
The ARISE Arc itself, the five-phase framework that holds clinical, spiritual, and cultural truths together instead of asking your staff to pick one.
5
Applying This in Your Role
Scope of practice, language to avoid, and how to build the referral relationships that keep your team supported instead of stretched past what their role requires.
What Your Team Walks Away With
Five things that show up in casework the next day
Recognize
The major grief typologies, and why misidentifying grief type leads to under-serving the people your team works with.
Name
Disenfranchised grief out loud, so clients stop carrying losses that were never acknowledged as real.
Understand
How racial, ancestral, and intergenerational grief actually show up in the BIPOC communities your agency serves.
Map
The ARISE Arc, so every staff member has the same five-word framework for where a client is in their grief.
Apply
What's in scope, what to refer out, and how to avoid the most common harms, inside your team's specific role.
Who This Is For
Community mental health agencies whose caseworkers, therapists, and intake staff serve BIPOC clients through loss and crisis.
County behavioral health and social services programs looking for a shared framework across large, varied teams.
Nonprofits, shelters, and hospice or victim services organizations supporting communities carrying compounded grief.
Case management and intake teams who need language and referral clarity, not a clinical certification.
Built for the whole team, not just the licensed clinicians
Have individual licensed clinicians who want CE credit instead?
The full six hour, NBCC approved Psychospiritual Grief Method training is offered separately for individual registration and covers the complete clinical framework in depth.
See the CE training →
Amber Thuston, LPCC
License #13283 · Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor
Creator of the Psychospiritual Grief Method
Practicing evidential medium & spiritual counselor
Grief specialist specializing in BIPOC women's grief
Founder, The Grief Sanctuary community
About Amber
Why this framework exists
"I didn't build this method because I wanted a training program. I built it because I saw a pattern in the women that I serve where spirituality is missing from their treatment. It’s the same missing part that I felt throughout my many episodes of grief in the clinical space."
-Amber Thuston, LPCC
How It Works
From consultation call to a trained team
1
Schedule a consultation
A free 30 minute call to talk through your team's size, caseload, and what your staff need most.
2
We design the session around your team
Amber tailors the 2 hour format, timing, and delivery, whether that's on site, virtual, or built into an existing staff training day.
3
Your team leaves with shared language
Staff walk away able to recognize disenfranchised grief, apply the ARISE Arc, and know when and how to refer, starting with their very next case.
3
Your team leaves with shared language
Staff walk away able to recognize disenfranchised grief, apply the ARISE Arc, and know when and how to refer, starting with their very next case.
Questions Agencies Ask
Frequently asked questions
Does this session provide CE credit?
No. This introduction is designed for mixed teams of clinical and non-clinical staff, so it does not carry continuing education hours. Individual licensed clinicians who want CE credit can register separately for the full six hour, NBCC approved training.
Can this be delivered in person, or only virtually?
Both. Many agencies bring Amber on site for an in-person session, and others prefer a live virtual format, especially for teams spread across multiple county offices. We'll settle on the right format during your consultation call.
How large can the group be?
This session has worked for small teams and for full department trainings. Group size shapes format and pricing, so bring your expected headcount to the consultation call.
What does it cost?
Investment depends on group size, format, and whether travel is involved. There's no fixed public rate for agency bookings because every team's scope is different, which is exactly what the consultation call is for.
How is this different from the public CE training?
The public training is a 6 hours, individually registered course built for licensed clinicians who need continuing education hours. This session is a 2 hour introduction brought directly to your team, open to clinical and non-clinical staff alike, and scoped around your agency's actual caseload.