Ambiguous Loss: Its Meaning and Application

Human relationships are often traumatized by ambiguous loss, however this unique kind of loss is just beginning to be discussed in professional texts and training courses.

Dr. Boss in front of students teaching with projector in background

Non-Credit Professional Development Training Course

Professionals from a variety of disciplines will find this course valuable, including family therapists, social workers, educators, nurses, psychologists, school and guidance counselors, grief counselors, international humanitarian workers, clergy and pastoral counselors, military support personnel, and health care professionals. Understanding the difference between ambiguous loss and other kinds of loss will help you serve students, clients, and patients more effectively.

The Online Training course includes access to the content you need to become proficient in understanding and applying ambiguous loss theory.

You will learn:

  • How to recognize ambiguous loss
  • How it differs from other losses
  • Guidelines for therapy, education, and family/community interventions

Training will coordinate with Dr. Pauline Boss's book, Loss, Trauma, and Resilience: Therapeutic Work With Ambiguous Loss (Norton, 2006). Purchase of this book is required for taking this course. Purchase Here.

You will earn:
Once you have completed the training you will have access to a wide range of valuable resources and materials:

  • Access to all video based instruction from the training for easy review
  • Certificate of Completion with *15 CEUs

* The number of professional development CEUs earned from this online training may not translate to the same number of CEUS required by your licensing governing board. Our CEU offerings are based on 1:1 contact hours. It is your responsibility to apply to your licensing board for the training hours earned, using the Certificate of Completion granted. Along with this University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development Certificate of Completion, you may also print your official training transcript.

Learn more about this online training by visiting the FAQ page.


Pricing and Registration

Registration is accepted on an ongoing basis. You may register for the training at any time, and move through at your own pace

  • Complete certificate program (Five learning modules) - $500
  • Introduction to Ambiguous Loss (First training module) - $100
    • Register for remaining modules (2-5) - $400

Register for the training here

Required Material

Book cover of Loss, Trauma, and Resilience

Loss, Trauma, and Resilience, W.W. Norton, 2006

Pauline Boss, the principal theorist of the concept of ambiguous loss, guides clinicians in the task of building resilience in clients who face the trauma of loss without resolution. In Loss, Trauma, and Resilience, Boss provides the therapeutic insight and wisdom that aids mental health professionals in not "going for closure," but rather building strength and acceptance of ambiguity. What readers will find is a concrete therapeutic approach that is at once directive and open to the complex contexts in which people find meaning and discover hope in the face of ambiguous losses.

Order Book eBook