Where to Learn Prolonged Grief Therapy: Columbia's Training Ecosystem and Beyond
- Columbia's Center for Prolonged Grief offers a structured training pathway: PGTWeb ($500, 10-module self-paced online course, 8 APA CE credits, 99% satisfaction rate among 196 clinicians), a one-day workshop "The Big Picture" (6.5 CE hours, next session May 1 2026), and a two-day "Practice-Focused Training in PGT" (13.0 CE hours, next session June 12-13 2026). The treatment manual ($59.95) and assessment packet ($39.95) are available separately
- Prolonged Grief Therapy (PGT), developed by M. Katherine Shear, targets 6 Healing Milestones through a short-term protocol using active empathic listening, companionship alliance, and targeted procedures — grief monitoring, situational revisiting, imaginal revisiting, and memory/aspiration exercises. Three NIMH-funded RCTs showed PGT was twice as effective as Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) in reducing grief intensity; antidepressants had no effect on grief symptoms
- The Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) provides broader grief competency through its CT (Certified in Thanatology) and FT (Fellow in Thanatology) credentials, the Handbook of Thanatology, two peer-reviewed journals (Omega and Death Studies), and an annual conference — the 2026 meeting marks ADEC's 50th anniversary
- Robert Neimeyer's meaning reconstruction approach offers an alternative theoretical framework — instead of symptom reduction, it focuses on rebuilding the narrative disrupted by loss. His "Grief and the Expressive Arts" and "Techniques of Grief Therapy" volumes provide practical exercises for clinicians who want to integrate constructivist grief work alongside protocol-driven PGT
Prolonged Grief Disorder is now diagnosable. The ICD-11 codified it in 2018. The DSM-5-TR followed in 2022. Prevalence estimates converge around 10% of bereaved adults, higher after violent or sudden loss. Yet most clinicians who encounter these patients received zero hours of grief-specific training during their graduate programs.
This is the gap. Not knowledge that grief can become pathological — most clinicians intuit that. The gap is knowing what to do about it. Specifically: how to assess it, how to differentiate it from depression and PTSD, and how to treat it with something more targeted than supportive therapy and time.
Columbia's Center for Prolonged Grief: the primary training hub
The Center for Prolonged Grief at Columbia University School of Social Work is the institutional home of M. Katherine Shear's Prolonged Grief Therapy. Shear developed PGT, tested it in three NIMH-funded randomized controlled trials, and built the training infrastructure around it. This is not a third-party continuing education mill. It is the source.
The training pathway has three tiers, each progressively more hands-on.
PGTWeb is the entry point. A 10-module self-paced online course covering diagnosis and treatment of PGD. Interactive exercises, case vignettes, downloadable assessment measures, session outlines, and client handouts. Cost: $500. Duration: self-paced. CE credits: 8.0 APA-approved hours. The pilot study data is compelling: of 196 clinicians who completed the course, 99% would recommend it to colleagues, and 94% reported they could apply the skills in practice. The course was developed in collaboration with the Center for Telepsychology with NIMH funding.
The Big Picture Workshop is a one-day live event. Conceptual framework for understanding grief and adaptation, screening and diagnosis strategies, differentiation from MDD and PTSD, and an overview of PGT procedures. Next session: May 1, 2026 (9:00 am - 4:30 pm EDT). CE credits: 6.5 contact hours.
Practice-Focused Training is the two-day intensive. This is where you learn to implement PGT: active empathic listening, companionship alliance, brief personalized interventions, and the full sequence of targeted procedures — helping clients manage emotional pain, envision a future, strengthen relationships, narrate the death, live with reminders, and connect with memories. Next session: June 12-13, 2026 (9:00 am - 4:30 pm EDT, both days). CE credits: 13.0 contact hours.
The center also sells the PGT Treatment Manual ($59.95) — the same manual used in the NIMH-funded trials — and an Assessment Packet ($39.95) with validated instruments including the Brief Grief Questionnaire (BGQ), Structured Clinical Interview for Complicated Grief (SCI-CG), Typical Beliefs Questionnaire (TBQ), Grief-Related Avoidance Questionnaire (GRAQ), and Grief Support Inventory (GSI). Bundle price: $84.95.
Group consultation is available for clinicians who want ongoing support while implementing PGT. Organizational training is offered for agencies and health systems via training@complicatedgrief.columbia.edu.
The evidence behind PGT
Three things to know from the RCT data. First, PGT was twice as effective as Interpersonal Psychotherapy in reducing grief intensity and life disruption. IPT is an excellent depression treatment. It is not an adequate grief treatment. Second, antidepressant medication had no effect on grief symptoms — though it did help with co-occurring depression when present. Third, suicidal ideation decreased substantially more in PGT than in the comparison condition. These are not marginal effects. This is a treatment that works for a condition that previously had no evidence-based intervention.
The treatment targets 6 Healing Milestones. The specific procedures include grief monitoring (tracking grief intensity over time), situational revisiting (gradual engagement with avoided situations), imaginal revisiting (narrating the story of the death), and memory/aspiration exercises (reconnecting with positive memories while building a future). The protocol uses what Shear calls "companionship alliance" — a therapeutic stance that combines active empathic listening with gentle guidance toward experiential learning.
Beyond Columbia: broader grief competency resources
ADEC — Association for Death Education and Counseling. Founded in 1976, ADEC is the oldest interdisciplinary organization in the field of dying, death, and bereavement. It offers two professional credentials: Certified in Thanatology (CT) for practitioners and Fellow in Thanatology (FT) for those with advanced expertise. ADEC publishes the Handbook of Thanatology and supports two peer-reviewed journals — Omega: Journal of Death and Dying and Death Studies. The 2026 annual conference marks the organization's 50th anniversary. For clinicians building grief competency beyond PGT-specific training, ADEC provides the broader intellectual and professional scaffolding.
Website: adec.org
Robert Neimeyer's Meaning Reconstruction Approach. If PGT represents the protocol-driven end of grief treatment, Neimeyer's constructivist approach represents the narrative-integrative end. His framework centers on the idea that loss disrupts the bereaved person's self-narrative, and therapy involves reconstructing meaning — not just reducing symptoms. His edited volumes Techniques of Grief Therapy: Creative Practices for Counseling the Bereaved and Grief and the Expressive Arts: Practices for Creating Meaning are practical clinical resources with dozens of exercises. Neimeyer directs the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition and has published over 500 articles on grief and loss. His approach complements PGT: one provides structure, the other provides depth.
Portland Institute: portlandinstitute.org
The competency trifecta
If this issue has done its job, you now have three coordinates. The Lancet seminar review (Article 1) establishes what PGD is — its diagnostic criteria, prevalence, risk factors, and evidence base. The assessment tool coverage in this issue gives you the instruments to identify it. And this resource article tells you where to learn the gold-standard treatment.
Diagnosis, assessment, treatment. That is the minimum viable competency for a condition affecting one in ten bereaved patients. Most of us were not trained for this. The training exists now. The question is whether you will pursue it before or after the next patient with PGD sits across from you.
PGT was twice as effective as Interpersonal Psychotherapy for grief — and antidepressants had no effect on grief symptoms at all. The treatment exists. The training is accessible. The only missing piece is you.
All Columbia training materials and workshops are in English. PGTWeb and workshops require payment ($500 for the online course, workshop pricing varies). CE credits are APA-approved but may not be recognized by all licensing boards — check your jurisdiction. The PGT manual is designed for use after completing training, not as a standalone learning tool. ADEC credentials require documented experience and examination fees. Neimeyer's volumes are edited collections, not treatment manuals — they supplement but do not replace protocol-specific training.