Grief is a universal human experience, yet it remains one of the least addressed topics in behavior-analytic training and practice. When clients with disabilities experience the death of a loved one, the dissolution of a relationship, a residential transition, or any other significant loss, the behavioral changes that follow are often misunderstood, misattributed, or addressed through interventions that fail to account for the emotional context driving them.
Provider: BehaviorLive
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Join Free →All of us will experience loss at some point in our lives—but how many of us truly know how to support our clients when they experience it? For many individuals with disabilities, grief can be misunderstood, overlooked, or expressed in ways that others may not recognize. As behavior analysts, it's essential that we expand our awareness beyond observable behavior to understand the emotional context driving it. This CEU invites BCBAs to explore what it means to be grief-informed. Through 10 guiding principles, participants will learn how to recognize grief responses, respond with empathy, and ethically support clients navigating loss. Each principle is directly connected to the BACB Ethics Code, offering clear examples and actionable strategies that can be applied in everyday practice. By the end of this training, BCBAs will walk away with a deeper understanding of how grief shapes behavior—and how compassion, ethical practice, and awareness can empower us to better serve those we support. OBJECTIVES: Participants will identify their comfort level with death/dying and will describe how this can impact their work with clients who are grieving/mourning.Participants will identify principles of being grief-informedParticipants will identify how principles of being grief-informed align with the BACB ethics codeParticipants will identify how they can bring grief-informed principles into their practice.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 2 | Ethics |
Tricia Lund has been working as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst for 10 years. She has worked in schools, clinics, in home and now works primarily with teens and adults in Texas with who are living in group homes and attending day habs. In addition to being a BCBA, Tricia is a Certified Special Education Teacher, Certified Sexuality Educator, Certified Trauma Professional and has started coursework in Somatic Experiencing (currently at a Beginner Level 2) and Thanatology (the study of death/dying/grief/loss) through Edgewood University. Tricia believes strongly in treating all clients with compassion and finding a way to make ABA more compassionate, trauma focused and grief informed.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
280 research articles with practitioner takeaways
279 research articles with practitioner takeaways
258 research articles with practitioner takeaways
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.