IFD Certification in
Grief Care
The Certification in Grief Care is making sense of life, when life doesn’t make sense. How do we handle those life-changing storms, and help others along their grieving journey? Participants in this program will learn ways to navigate stormy times and see that faith can grow through moments of crisis and grief. Learners will gain valuable tools for helping people through loss and how to care when others are hurting.
While this program is not a certificate in counseling or a grief support group, through our study we may discover grief in our own lives that is in need of healing along the way. Effective tools to meet that need are provided through these Biblical, theological, and practical courses.
This certification is ideal for pastors, chaplains, church members and community members who work in public and private practice, hospice, mortuary services, acute care, hospitals and social work. Community response teams including police and fire departments will also benefit from these courses. Anyone desiring to begin a Crisis and Grief Care program/ministry in their setting will gain the necessary tools.
Develop tools to make a big impact in your ministry and gain a network of others doing Christian grief care from around the country!
Certification Details
The IFD Certification in Grief Care requires just four 6-week courses of $125 each — a total of $500.
- Certification courses must be completed in order. Courses will be taught on a yearly rotation.
- Once you begin, you can complete all the courses you need for certification in just one year!
- First courses in the certification cycles are offered in either January or August, with some certifications relaunching at both times.
- This program is taught online via Blackboard Learn. Courses are mostly asynchronous, meaning you can complete the work at the time most convenient for your schedule. Daily engagement on the Discussion Board with peers, required reading, and assignments ensure a quality learning experience. Some courses offer a required or optional live video-based session – see individual course descriptions for more details.
2023 Course Schedule
January 16 – February 24, 2023
March 13 – April 28, 2023 (No class during Holy Week)
August 21 – September 29, 2023
October 9 – November 17, 2023
Certification Course List
Add a Denominational Emphasis
You can add an Emphasis in United Methodist Studies to your certificate by taking just one additional 6-week course:
Enroll in the first course!
If the first course is full, or is not currently enrolling, you will be able to sign up for course opening notifications.
Meet the Instructor
Annette Arnold-Pflaum
Annette Arnold-Pflaum is an ordained senior chaplain and the founder and president of Wisteria Ministries. She has over 25 years counseling experience and has specialized in crisis counseling and grief since 2015. Annette is a National Board Certified Chaplain [BCC], has been a licensed minister since 2014, and is a Certified Lay Minister in the United Methodist Church. She is a graduate of Chaplaincy Nevada Theology Academy, and has completed advanced clinical pastoral training.
Annette is the lead director of the Nevada State Chaplains Task Force: Crisis, Trauma, Emergency & Critical Incident Response Team, which assists in times of disasters or other crises. She was part of the response team that assisted after the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas shooting.