Using Service-Learning to Integrate Death Education Into Counselor Preparation

Service-learning can be a meaningful and effective tool for integrating death education into counselor preparation. The authors describe the design, implementation, reflection process, and evaluation of a service-learning based support program for grieving families and offer suggestions for death educators interested in service-learning as pedagogy. Their evaluation indicated that students who took a graduate-level group counseling course with a service-learning component exhibited lower distress in death-related clinical situations than students who took the course without the service component. Service-learning is closely aligned with death education aims and can be used to enhance counselor preparation program curricular alignment with relevant accreditation standards.