Fellowship Program in Grief Counseling
“Dedicated to Continued Learning, Growth, and Achievement in Health Care Practice”
The American Academy of Grief Counseling offers a Fellowship program for qualified professionals who have already gained certification in AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Certificate Program.
A conferred Fellowship is considered by many professional organizations to exemplify a high level of attainment and validation of one’s education, knowledge and skills in a practice specialty. Fellowship is a conferred status provided to those who meet comprehensive criteria for specialty practice through testing, education and practice. Webster’s II dictionary defines a “Fellow” as a learned member of a learned society. The AAGC Fellowship program provides for this validation within a peer group of professionals. Fellowship in the AAGC denotes this high level validation and achievement.
Education Program Leading to Fellowship
The American Academy of Grief Counseling offers a full continuing education program of courses for 255 hours of continuing education. Successful completion of this 255 hour program qualifies one for Fellowship in the Academy. Access Program Information.
The objectives of the AAGC are:
- Provide high quality programs of Certification and Fellowship for professionals practicing grief/bereavement counseling.
- Develop and support high standards of education and practice requirements for the attainment of certification, fellowship status, and re-certification.
- Provide a mechanism for the ongoing involvement of a peer advisory board of qualified professionals to oversee program development and requirements for certification and fellowship in the AAGC.
- Provide society with a mechanism to ascertain the appropriate education, skills, knowledge and experience required by professionals who offer such services.
- Establish quality standards and requirements for the re-certification and re-fellowship of its credentialed members, attesting to ongoing education and skill attainment in the practice specialty of grief/bereavement counseling.
- Provide a comprehensive program of approvals for continuing education, seminars, offerings, independent study, and other related educational activities, to ensure high quality standards are met and that such programs are of value to professionals practicing grief and bereavement counseling.
Eligibility to Achieve Fellowship Status in the American Academy of Grief Counseling:
Registrants must meet the following Pre-requisites:
- Registrants must be currently Certified in Grief Counseling by the American Academy of Grief Counseling. Certified members may take the courses for Fellowship status at any time. Upon completion of the courses the Certified member may make application to advance to “Fellowship” status.
If you would like to find out if you meet the qualifications for this fellowship program. Please submit an Inquiry Form at the following link: Access Here.
Fellowship Status in The American Academy of Grief Counseling
Requires attainment of the following criteria:
- Participants must complete the entire 255 contact hours of education to meet the continuing education requirements for advancement to Fellowship status in the Academy.
- Participants are given two (2) years from the date of enrollment into the first course, to complete the entire program of seven (7) continuing education courses.
- The cost of the Fellowship is $ 220.00, plus shipping and handling. Once you have achieved Fellowship in the American Academy of Grief Counseling, your Fellowship status remains as long as you maintain your Certification as a Certified Grief Counselor (GC-C) in the American Academy of Grief Counseling. There is no need to complete a recertification of your Fellowship apart from your GC-C recertification. There are no additional fees for Fellowship after the initial Fellowship application fee.
- Participants must complete the entire 255 contact hours of education to meet the continuing education requirements for advancement to Fellowship status in the Academy.
Conferral of Fellowship Status in the AAGC
Fellowship status is conferred when the applicant has:
- Successfully completed an approved continuing education curriculum.
Fellowship in the American Academy of Grief Counseling – Identification & Credentials
Those applicants who achieve Fellowship in the AAGC – shall be deemed a “Fellow” and may use the initials/credential “FAAGC”, after their names: “Fellow in the American Academy of Grief Counseling”
The Application for Fellowship in the AAGC may be found here: access here
Timeline
All Fellowships are valid so long as the fellow remains a certified member with the AAGC.
KEY FAQS
What are the key benefits of achieving a Certification in this health care specialty practice?
Response: Some of the key benefits of receiving a Fellowship in Grief Counseling includes increasing your marketability in the work place, enhancing your knowledge and skills base in this specialty practice, increasing your earnings potential, commitment to ongoing professional development and continuing education, achieving recognition for accomplishments attained, networking with peers in the same practice specialty, and much more.
Must I take the continuing education courses/program to achieve my certification?
Response: Yes, our model for certification is designed so that our certified members have accomplished the same educational achievements and have consistency in knowledge and skills attainment. Many have experiences in many types of specialties practices, but are varied. Our model focuses on core and solid, comprehensive knowledge and skills that have been determined to practice the specialty at a higher level of quality practice. There are instances where past education may be used to waive some of the courses required. This is evaluated on an individual basis and more information may be found in our more comprehensive FAQS section: Access here
Do you offer a curriculum of continuing education courses that meet the requirements for your Certification standards?
Response: Yes, for each of our certification programs we offer full continuing education curriculums that are designed to meet full requirements for certification. Click on the link above (Ce courses and prices) for this program. All of our CE courses are authored and mentored by highly qualified faculty with graduate degrees.
Do your continuing education courses have any Board approvals?
Response: Yes, most all of our continuing education courses do have some or many Board approvals, depending on types of professional boards. Please access more information: Access here
Does Society Expect Health Care Professionals to be “Certified” in specialty practices?
Response: It is safe to say that today our society expects health care professionals to be highly knowledgeable and to practice their professions as well as their specialty practices at high levels of safe care, quality standards, and to maintain a high level of ethical practice. One way in which our health care professionals may demonstrate this level of achievement is by attaining a recognized professional certification from an organization that has developed and upholds all of these important indicators of high- quality professional specialty practices. Certification in a specialty practice demonstrates the professionals commit to achievements in core defined domains of practice allowing more confidence by society as a whole.
Once I am certified by your organization, am I certified “for life?”
Response: You can be if you chose to be. We have a program of Recertification for all of our specialty practices. Initial certifications are for a four-year period. All those obtaining certification may re-certify upon meeting the specific requirements for recertification every four years. Certified members may recertify every four years indefinitely as long as they meet the recertification requirements for their practice specialty. We hold strongly to the belief that professional Certification requires that one commits to and maintains ongoing education, skills attainment and practice in their specialty practice. Our recertification process allows for the verification of these verifications of our members. We offer a large curriculum of continuing education courses for our certified members if they would like to meet continuing education hours of recertification. You may learn more about our recertification requirements: Access here
After reviewing all of the information on this page, I may have more questions, who may I contact?
Response: We are here to help and assist you in all ways possible. We have Live Chat online during normal business hours and you may access the Live Chat link above on this page. Also, please access our Contact Us Page
Please view more FAQS for this Practice Specialty.
The Certification Process
We have a dedicated page that provides a quick over-view of our certification process. It will provide you with good information about the process/phases of both the education courses and application for certification. Click here to access.
Certificate
Fellows will receive a large size official Certificate attesting to conferred Fellow status, as well as an official letter of notification. The certificate is suitable for framing and details the official professional title, and time frames for fellowship. Wallet sized identification cards are also presented. Those re-certifying receive a new, updated certificate.
Standards & Code of Ethics
Once a candidate has been officially conferred Fellowship status in the AAGC, the Fellow will receive a handbook detailing a code of ethics.
Fee Schedule
The Fellowship fee for Grief Counselors is $220.00, plus shipping and handling. Payment in full is due at the time of application. If an applicant does not meet certification criteria, the application fee is refunded. A completed application must be submitted with full payment to be considered for certification. The application form is available Here.