Aging and Applied Thanatology, Certificate

• All four courses will be offered at least once each year to enable you to complete the program within one year.  

• Participants can begin the program at the start of either the Spring or Fall semester. 

• Although most students complete the program within one year, you will be allowed up to three years to complete the program. 

The program explores the biological, psychological, social, and cultural aspects of aging, preparing students to understand the challenges and opportunities of later life. It also applies principles of thanatology to support older adults and their families through end-of-life issues, grief, and bereavement, equipping professionals to provide compassionate, informed, and ethical care.  

Our goal is to provide you with advanced knowledge and practical training so that what you learn is both relevant and applicable to your professional context. We have designed the program so that you will experience greater comfort and competence addressing the sensitive and complex issues of aging, death, dying, and grieving. 

Upon completion, you will be able to do the following: 

• Recognize common responses to aging, death, dying, and grief as experienced by adults and children. 

• Demonstrate sensitivity to individual, developmental, and cultural variations in addressing and coping with aging, dying, death, and grief. 

• Communicate effectively with those who are dying and grieving, as well as recognize barriers that can impede effective communication with these populations. 

• Use patient-sensitive methods of palliative care based upon an interdisciplinary perspective. 

• Describe and apply empirically-based methods of therapeutic grief intervention. 

• Analyze and evaluate legal and ethical principles and dilemmas regarding death, dying, and end-of-life choices. 

• Work effectively as an interprofessional team member around issues related to aging, dying, and grief by developing and applying the competencies of interprofessional practices. 

• Evaluate the societal, cultural, and religious/ spiritual influences on responses to death and dying. 

• Develop greater self-awareness of and coping skills for one’s own experiences of and attitudes toward aging, death, and grief. 

• Apply this training for certification through the Association for Death Education and Counseling® (ADEC).

In the midst of a demographic shift that will soon see older adults (age 65+) representing more than 20% of the American population, the number of professionals qualified to care for older patients, their caregivers, and families is decreasing. 

Our graduate certificate in Aging & Applied Thanatology will provide you with the knowledge and skillset to support the bereaved on their grief journeys and to improve the dying process for individuals managing chronic illness in rapidly growing fields experiencing urgent demands for specialized care including: 

• Nursing home care 
• Hospice and hospital care 
• Psychology 
• Emergency services 
• Social work 
• Spiritual guidance 
• Patient care 
• Bereavement Counseling 

Required: 

• THAN 604: Death and Dying: Ethical and Legal Considerations (3 Credits)  
• THAN 605: Palliative Care (3 Credits)  
• THAN 606: Caring for the Bereaved (3 Credits) 
• THAN 609: Psychosocial Perspectives in Aging 

      See Course Descriptions