(previously known as Pre-Death Grief and Loss Series - Quest for Meaning in Terminal Illness)

In the face of the bad news of being diagnosed with a terminal illness, patients often have to face both their own impending death and separation from their loved ones through different dying trajectories, which can be swift or protracted. This complex emotional journey often triggers existential crisis, death anxiety and pre-death grief in a way that calls for professional psychological attention. In this workshop, we will examine terminal illness and its implications from the 4-Dimensional Framework of Meaning Reconstruction that reviews the event story of the illness, the relational story between patients and their significant ones, the personal story of the self, and the existential story of life.  We will also address death anxiety, distress related to unfinished business with significant people in life, and pre-death grief experienced by those diagnosed with a terminal illness. Through various small group practices and discussion, learners will become acquainted with relevant meaning-focused intervention tools to facilitate conversations about life and death and life review with these clients, and to preserve and enhance their sense of dignity, as they learn to cope with their dying trajectory and face their eventual death.   

Course Objectives

• Examine the threat of terminal illness and its implications from a 4-dimensional meaning reconstruction framework;
• Address pre-death anxiety, preparatory grief and unfinished business distress that are often experienced by the person with a terminal condition; and
• Implement meaning-oriented techniques to facilitate the quest for meaning in the face of terminal illness and impending death.

2 full day, 9am - 5pm

Counsellors, healthcare workers, social workers, psychologists, teachers and principals, pastoral staff, and people involved in the helping profession . 

Upcoming Schedule: 13 - 14 July 2026 (Registration opens on 30 Jan 2026)

2 days, 9am - 5pm (14 training hours)

•  Terminal illness as a crisis of meaning through a 4-dimensional framework
•  Conversations about life and death through Walking the Labyrinth of Life
•  Use of Virtual Dream Stories to explore death anxiety and preparatory grief
•  Life review through curating My Life Exhibits
•  Application of My Life Footprints to review significant connections in life
•  Practice of Feast of My Life as a form of life celebration and legacy building
•  Application of various assessment tools and conversational guides to examine the degree of meaning crisis and evaluate the patient’s sense of dignity

Participants who meet 75% class attendance will be awarded a Certificate of Completion by Portland Institute for Loss and Transition & Academy of Human Development.

For certification enquiries, please email carolyn@portlandinstitute.org