Facilitating Peer Grief Groups Training Page
Facilitating Peer Grief Groups

Create spaces where people can connect through shared grief

Facilitating a peer grief group is both a skill and an act of care. This training helps participants move beyond “helping” into genuine accompaniment.

Grounded in the RIVER model, this training explores how to hold space for diverse experiences of loss, navigate group dynamics, and respond to emotional intensity with steadiness and compassion.

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Next Training: October 20, 2026
Who this training is for

This training is designed for:

  • Individuals who are grieving or have experienced loss
  • Peer support specialists, recovery coaches, and community health workers
  • Mental health and substance use recovery peer professionals
  • Anyone looking to start or strengthen a peer grief support group
Training overview

Facilitation as presence, structure, and care

This training explores how to hold space for diverse experiences of loss, navigate group dynamics, and respond to emotional intensity with steadiness and compassion.

Whether you are leading a new group or strengthening an existing one, this session offers practical tools and reflective practices to help you guide with empathy and authenticity.

The course integrates trauma-informed, equity-centered, and relational approaches that honor the complexity of grief and the wisdom that peers bring to one another.

This is not a clinical or professional grief counseling training, but rather an opportunity to learn and grow through shared understanding, cultural humility, and community-based support.

Learning objectives

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

Learning Objective 1 Demonstrate techniques for creating emotionally safe and inclusive spaces for peers experiencing grief.
Learning Objective 2 Identify and navigate common group dynamics, boundaries, and facilitator challenges with confidence.
Learning Objective 3 Integrate trauma-informed and equity-centered practices that honor diverse grief experiences.
Learning Objective 4 Reflect on their own role, presence, and lived experience as essential tools in peer grief support.
Download a PDF with information on the training