Crisis Care, Grief & Spiritual Support

Course Syllabus

Course Description

This course prepares chaplaincy assistants and prison ministry volunteers to offer calm, faithful presence when people are hurting. You will learn what a crisis is and how a steady caregiver helps; practice a simple, original spiritual first aid pattern called The Shelter Steps (Safe, Stay, Hear, Link); and explore grief as a normal, varied human experience rather than a fixed series of stages. You will give special attention to losses that come with incarceration: the death of a loved one while inside, missed funerals, loss of custody, lost years, and losses that have no clear ending. You will learn how to support someone after the chaplain or staff deliver bad news, how Scripture gives words for lament, and how to pray and share Scripture without clichés. You will learn to recognize danger signs such as talk of suicide and to get help immediately, how grief touches children and families, and how caregivers can guard against compassion fatigue. You will finish with a Crisis & Grief Care Toolkit and an observed role-play of a grief visit. This is a lay ministry credential, not a clinical license. Assistants are not counselors or clinicians; they offer presence and prayer and connect people to help. Every activity can be completed on paper.

Faith Integration

Hebrews 13:3 calls us to remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Crisis and grief ministry begins with that kind of remembering: entering another person's pain as though it were our own. Scripture never hurries grief. Jesus wept at the grave of His friend (John 11:35). The psalmists cried How long? (Psalm 13:1), and God kept their prayers in His Book. In this course we hold together honest sorrow and living hope: that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We also honor the ways God works through chaplains, staff, counselors, doctors, and crisis lines. Knowing our limits and getting help quickly are part of loving a hurting neighbor well.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. Define a crisis in plain language and describe how a caregiver's calm presence helps (Psalm 46:1).
2. Use The Shelter Steps (Safe, Stay, Hear, Link) to offer basic spiritual first aid within the limits of a chaplaincy assistant's role.
3. Describe grief as a normal, varied, non-linear response to loss, without forcing anyone into fixed stages or timelines.
4. Recognize losses particular to incarceration, including death of a loved one while inside, missed funerals, loss of custody, lost years, and ambiguous loss.
5. Support a person after the chaplain or staff deliver bad news, without delivering notifications yourself.
6. Use biblical lament, prayer, and Scripture with the hurting gently and without clichés.
7. Recognize danger signs such as talk of suicide or deep hopelessness and get help immediately: staff or chaplain inside; 988 or 911 outside.
8. Describe how grief affects children and families in general terms, recognize compassion fatigue, and write a personal self-care plan.

Course Materials

• This student workbook
• A Bible (King James Version)
• A notebook or lined paper and a folder for your toolkit
• Index cards for Scripture and prayer cards
• Pen or pencil (no devices are required; every activity has a paper version)
• Your Get Help Now card (made in Module 1)

Weekly Schedule

How You Will Be Graded

To pass this course: earn 70% or higher overall and attend at least 80% of sessions.

Classroom Covenant

• We begin and end each session in prayer. Participation in prayer is always welcome, never required.
• What is shared in class stays in class. We protect one another's stories.
• We speak with respect, listen without interrupting, and disagree with grace.
• We come prepared, do our own work, and ask for help when we need it.
• We follow all facility rules. Safety and security come first.
• We believe the best about one another and about what God can do.

Support & Accommodations

If reading, writing, vision, hearing, or any other need makes a part of this course harder, tell your instructor privately. Materials can be read aloud, enlarged, or completed orally. Missed sessions can be made up using the module pages. If you are transferred or released, your completed work stays on record and you can finish online.

Welcome

Welcome to Crisis Care, Grief & Spiritual Support. This companion walks beside you with a weekly reading, five devotions for the days between sessions, and a Crisis & Grief Care Quick Guide you can keep for years to come. This course touches loss and pain, and many of you carry your own. Be gentle with yourself. You may always speak with your instructor or the chaplain privately. And remember the boundaries of this lay ministry: chaplaincy assistants offer presence, listening, and prayer, and they get help right away when anyone is in danger.

How to Use This Companion

• Read the weekly reading after each class session. It takes about 10 minutes.
• Reflect on the questions. These are for you; you do not have to turn them in.
• Meet with God through the five daily devotions between sessions.
• Keep the Quick Guide at the end to carry home after release.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.— Psalm 119:105 (KJV)