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Who is it for?

The Psychosocial Spiritual Care course is ideal for any health care professionals, such as primary care providers, nurses, and social workers, who provide care for patients with life-limiting illnesses and are seeking to build their skills in providing compassionate, whole person, and trauma-informed palliative care.

Prerequisites: Participants must have completed a Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative Care (LEAP) course (or equivalent) prior to registering for this course.

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Celebrate Pallium Canada’s 25th anniversary with 25% off!

To celebrate the launch of this course and to mark this exciting milestone, enjoy 25% off! See Pricing for more details.

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of this course, learners should be able to:

  • Understand the dimensions of whole-person care and recognize how physical, emotional, spiritual, and social factors contribute to total pain and suffering.
  • Explore the nature of spirituality, differentiate it from religious needs, and develop skills to address spiritual concerns compassionately and effectively.
  • Examine the role of compassion in health care and identify ways to integrate compassionate practices into patient and family care.
  • Identify strategies for self-care and resilience to manage the impacts of caregiving on individual and team well-being.
  • Understand grief and bereavement processes, including anticipatory grief and complicated grief, and provide compassionate support to those experiencing loss.
  • Recognize the influence of family dynamics, cultural safety, and attachment patterns on caregiving and palliative care delivery.
  • Apply trauma-informed care principles and utilize tools to create a sense of safety and connection for patients and their families.

Course features

Complete at your own pace.
Gain essential skills and competencies in psychosocial spiritual care.
Supports interprofessional collaboration across teams.
Developed and reviewed by Canadian psychosocial spiritual care experts.
Earn a nationally recognized certificate of completion.
Grounded in best practices and evidence-based approaches.
Interprofessional approach
Expand knowledge and comfort in managing more complex palliative care cases
Built by Canadian palliative care experts
Interprofessional approach
Expand knowledge and comfort in managing more complex palliative care cases
Built by Canadian palliative care experts

Delivery Model

Online, self-learning delivery
  • Self-paced learning: Complete 8 online, self-learning modules at your own pace (approximately 8 hours of work).
  • Quizzes: Complete short quizzes at the end of each module to assess knowledge.
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Pricing for online delivery

Celebrate our Pallium’s 25th anniversary with an exclusive 25% discount on this course for a limited time!

  • $200 $150 for all professions

For organizational pricing or group enrollments, please contact us directly.

Course topics

The Psychosocial Spiritual Care course equips health care professionals with the knowledge and skills to provide whole-person care, covering topics such as:

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Treating the whole person
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Treating total pain
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Spirituality and palliative care
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Suffering
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Compassion
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Dignity
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Caring for ourselves
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Grief and bereavement
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Social care
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Trauma informed care
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Spiritual care
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Psychological care

Course contributors

This course was developed and peer-reviewed by volunteer pan-Canadian teams of subject matter experts who are committed to promoting psychosocial spiritual care.

Course contributors and reviewers

  • Shane Sinclair, PhD, co-curriculum lead, Founder and Director of the Compassion Research Lab
  • Monica Branigan, MD, MHSc, co-curriculum lead
  • Rabbi Dr. Rena Arshinoff, BCC, CSCP, RP
  • Peter Barnes, D.Min, CCC, SEP
  • Dr. Lynne Benjamin
  • Jill Marcella, MSW, RSW
  • Philip Murray
  • Julie Wilding, PhD Candidate
  • Lori Clarke, RCC-ACS

Interested in this course?

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