DEATH & DYING II

Bachelors Degree in Grief Counseling & Bereavement Education

GRF 225

Breyer State University
Instructor: Juan Kenigstein, PH.D, M.ED., GC-C

SYLLABUS

COURSE OVERVIEW: Welcome to Death and Dying II, a Bachelors Level course in the curriculum for the degree, Bachelors in Grief Counseling and Bereavement Education. I'm pleased to offer you this course, which will be a foundational course for the remainder of your studies in the bachelor program. This is an exciting course. Death, dying and bereavement are fundamental and Pervasive aspects of the human experience. Individuals and societies can only achieve fullness of living by understanding and appreciating these realities. The absence of such understanding and appreciation may result in unnecessary suffering, loss of dignity, alienation, and diminished quality of living. Therefore, education about death, dying, and bereavement is an essential component of the educational process at all levels formal and informal.

TIME FRAME: This is a ten-semester hour course. This course is allotted ten weeks of time. You must complete all of the requirements for the course successfully by the end of the ten-week period. The first day of week one will begin the day that you register for the course, or the day which you notify me that your text book(s) have arrived and you are ready to begin your studies. Please be cognizant of the time frame. It is rare that extensions of time are permitted, unless you have good justification. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be awarded ten semester hours of credit.

TEXTBOOKS: There is one (1) required textbook for this course.

Book 1: The Wisdom of Dying. By N. Michael Murphy MD: 1999. ISBN # 1-86204579-8.

This text may be found at your local bookstore. Your local bookstore most often will order it as a special order for you. Or, you may purchase it online from:

Amazon.com at
www.amazon.com

Barnes & Nobel at
www.bn.com

Borders Books at
www.borders.com

EXAMINATIONS: This course is comprised of a mid-term exam and a final exam. The mid-term exam must be taken by the last day of week five. The final exam must be taken by the last day of week ten. You will have three days to complete the mid-term and three days to complete the final, which will commence once you access it from the classroom.

The mid-term examination covers material found in chapter 1 through 7.
The final examination covers material found in chapter 8 through 14.

Both the mid-term and final are programmed and are located in the classroom for this course. They are both open book and objective type exams. To access the exam you must send me an e-mail and state that you are ready to start the exam. Upon registration, you will be provided with my e-mail address. I will then program your access and e-mail you back that you are now authorized to take the exam. To access, you will come into the classroom, click on testing, and click on the exam you are going to take. You will need your User I.D. and Password to access the exam. The exam will appear on your screen. Once again, upon access you will have three days to submit your answers. The program provides me with the exact date and time that you accessed the exam, as well as the exact date and time that you submitted your answers. Thus, the program is timing you. When you are ready, go back into the classroom and click in your responses and then click submit. Shortly thereafter, you will receive the exam in your e-mail box with your computed score. You will also know what questions, if any, that you missed, as well as the corresponding correct answer for each missed question.

GRADING: The grading scale for this course is as follows:

90-100%    = A
80-89%      = B
70-79%      = C
Below 70% = Fail

GRADING COMPOSITION:

TWO MINI PROJECTS    20%
MID-TERM                     40%
FINAL                            40%
TOTAL                         100%

REQUIREMENTS: You are to write two mini-projects, each 2-4 pages in length, on the following subjects:

1). A curriculum for Living and Dying (See Postscript example on page 206).
2). Complete Directive for the care of Body and Soul (Page 220).

COMMUNICATION: You are encouraged to communicate with me. I am available as a teacher, coach, and mentor to assist you in meeting your goals for this course. Primarily, communication is through email. However, I am also available for conversation by telephone if you would like. Our classroom for this course has a "chat" room. I am also very willing to meet with you one-on-one in the chat room at your request. From time to time, depending on how many students are enrolled in this course at a particular time, we will have some scheduled group chats. You will receive more detailed information at the time such chat sessions are scheduled. Please keep my email address handy so that you can contact me whenever necessary. Upon registration, you will receive my email address. If at any time during this course you change your email address, please be sure to notify me right away.

GOALS: The aim of education about death, dying, and bereavement is to contribute to general education as a basis for personal development and responsible social participation. It must also contribute to the specific education of those who, as a result of personal or professional circumstances, are closely associated with death, dying and bereavement.

METHODS: Readings from textbook, professional books and journals. Self-awareness/exploration activities.

COURSE ACCELERATION: It is permissible for you to accelerate in this course. There is NO mandate to accelerate. This is an individual choice that I will honor.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

1). Understand the care for soulful living and soulful dying.
2). Understand the Ego and the Soul.
3). Understand the Atmosphere of Storytelling.
4). Understanding of Living with Consciousness of Death.
5). Discuss the topic of Denial, in Medicine, the funeral home and the family.
6). Understand encounters, attitudes and cultural issues related to death.
7). Understand self-care activities in order to heal.
8). Understand the family dynamics after Death.
9). Understand suffering and Death.
10). Understand how to process healing.
11). Explain Mourning: bereavement, and Grief.
12). Understand rituals and Dying.
13). Understand rituals and Living.

COURSE OUTLINE:

1). Introduction.
2). The universal Story.
3). Storytelling.
4). The Denial of Death.
5). Living with Consciousness of Death.
6). Care of the Soul.
7). Dying and the Family.
8). Living and the Family.
9). Suffering and Dying.
10). Living and letting Go.
11). Mourning: Bereavement and Grief.
12). Living with Loss.
13). Rituals and Dying.
14). Rituals and Living.

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