Oxford Diploma: Death, Grief, Healing in Depth : ACCREDITED

Death, Grief and Healing

This course is designed for learners who want a serious, reflective, and continually developing study of grief, bereavement, and healing. It differs from more static online courses in that it continues to grow over time, with additional lectures, case studies, and resources being added, alongside a high level of instructor presence and active encouragement of student participation.

The course is intended not only for those with a personal or professional interest in grief, but also for learners in related fields such as business, management, leadership, human resources, organisational behaviour, coaching, education, and the helping professions.

A particular strength of the course is its recognition that grief is not only a personal or clinical issue. It is also a workplace issue, a communication issue, a leadership issue, and a matter of organisational culture. For that reason, the course may be of special interest to business students seeking to understand how bereavement and other forms of loss affect individuals, teams, and professional environments.

In organisational settings, grief may influence concentration, judgement, motivation, attendance, confidence, interpersonal communication, decision-making, and overall performance. It may also affect team morale, role expectations, boundaries, psychological safety, and the capacity of managers and colleagues to respond appropriately. Yet these issues are often underexplored in traditional business education. This course addresses that gap by including material that examines grief both as a deeply human experience and as a significant factor in workplace life.

Topics of particular relevance to business students

Added in May 2026, these topics include:

• understanding grief at work

• how loss affects focus, energy, and performance

• common myths about grief in professional settings

• what managers should say to a grieving employee

• what managers should avoid saying or doing

• how to support a bereaved colleague respectfully

• grief, communication, and team dynamics

• returning to work after bereavement

• managing deadlines and workload during grief

• creating boundaries while grieving at work

• how HR and leaders can build grief-sensitive policies

• psychological safety after loss

• when a team loses a colleague

• leading a team through collective grief

• remote and hybrid support for grieving employees

• cultural differences in grief and mourning

• ambiguous loss and non-death grief in the workplace

• healthy coping strategies during the workday

• recognising when someone needs extra support

• healing, meaning, and long-term adjustment after loss

These topics make the course relevant to the study of:

• leadership and management

• workplace communication

• emotional intelligence

• employee wellbeing

• organisational behaviour

• professional ethics

• human resource management

• team dynamics and culture

Course approach

Throughout the course, the emphasis is on careful, self-paced engagement. Learners are encouraged to proceed slowly, reflectively, and thoughtfully, considering what they are seeing, hearing, and feeling. The Q&A area is presented not simply as a technical support space, but as an opportunity for reflective engagement, discussion, comment, and shared learning.

The course combines personal reflection with professional and educational relevance. It includes theoretical, practical, and experiential elements, making it suitable for learners who want to explore grief not only as a personal process but also as a subject with broader social, cultural, and organisational implications.

Topics covered

1. Marketing yourself as a grief coach

2. Instead of a workbook: a section in which students evaluate, discuss, and share their grief

3. Death and grief in America

4. Distress tolerance and grief

5. Celebration of Life service

6. Death: a religious viewpoint

7. Grief coaching vs grief counselling

8. Healthy homework: helping you to deal with grief

9. Death: helping your parents grieve

10. Death, grief and healing: come, walk with me

11. Meditations to help you grieve

12. Teenagers and grief

Additional course development

Five case studies were added in September 2025:

• grief life coach dealing with teenagers

• grief life coach dealing with the outcome of war

• grief life coach dealing with his or her own grief

• grief life coach: the communication skills needed

• grief life coach: strategies

Student response

AI summary of 126 reviews:

The reviews highlight the detailed and resource-rich nature of the course, with learners appreciating the thorough instruction, reflective questions, and well-structured materials that facilitate self-paced progress and deeper engagement.

Resources included

The course includes:

• three detailed workbooks/journals

• numerous additional resources

• a Handbook on Death, Grief and Healing

Important note

Because of the subject matter, some parts of this course may be emotionally challenging. The material addresses death, grief, bereavement, and loss in direct ways, and some learners may find aspects of it distressing. However, the course is not concerned with death alone. As the title indicates, it is equally concerned with grief and healing, and its overall purpose is to support understanding, reflection, and movement towards healing.

Meditations are included, along with opportunities for independent reflection and further personal investigation.