Grief First Aid equips workplaces to respond to grief with clarity, confidence and care – combining contemporary research, lived experience and practical training to create safer, more supportive cultures.
Grief First Aid equips workplaces with practical, non‑clinical skills that help people respond to loss with confidence, compassion and steady presence. By teaching simple, human‑first tools and practices that respond to grief and create psychological safety, Grief First Aid supports organisations to build consistent, caring practices and contribute to a more grief‑literate Australia.
Grief First Aid was created from a simple truth: grief is already in every workplace, yet most people feel unsure how to respond. For years, we saw leaders trying their best but lacking the confidence, language, and boundaries to offer support without overstepping. We saw teams fall silent after loss, not out of indifference, but out of fear of getting it wrong. And we saw the impact this had – on people’s wellbeing, on culture, and on psychological safety across organisations. People struggled with their performance and they left their jobs.
As we listened to their stories, a pattern emerged: while specialist grief care will always matter, the support that shapes daily experience for every grieving person, comes from peers and managers. What workplaces were missing wasn’t clinical expertise – it was a clear, human, practical way to show up.
We conducted a three‑round global Delphi study to build expert consensus on the core aims, content priorities, and implementation principles for effective workplace grief literacy training.
Grief First Aid training aligns with a public health approach to bereavement care, which recognises that most people are best supported through every day, informal networks, with only a smaller proportion requiring specialist or clinical services.
Through the GRIEF Action Plan, we provide a simple five-step framework guiding safe, compassionate, practical, non-clinical responses to grief in everyday workplace interactions.
Grief First Aid is our commitment to making that support possible everywhere people work.
Why workplaces needed a clearer way to support grief.
We saw the same pattern across industries: grief was quietly shaping people’s wellbeing, performance and connection at work, yet leaders and peers felt unprepared to respond. Silence often replaced support, not out of indifference but uncertainty. Organisations needed a simple, safe and practical approach – one that respected grief’s complexity, strengthened psychological safety, and helped people show up for each other with confidence and care.
Our approach is practical, evidence‑informed and deeply human. We focus on real workplace moments – teaching skills that leaders and peers can use safely, confidently and within their role. Through the GRIEF Action Plan, cultural humility and clear boundaries, we support workplaces to respond to grief with compassion and consistency.
We teach practical, workplace-ready skills that enable leaders and peers to respond calmly and confidently, focusing on presence, clarity and appropriate supportive actions within everyday workplace interactions.
We deliver training live online or in person, allowing for in the moment, real conversations that allow participants to reflect on their grief ‘lens’ and learn through excellent content and insightful, safe discussions.
Our core framework offers a clear, memorable structure for supportive conversations – guiding people to give space, respect uniqueness, invite gently, empathise and facilitate appropriate next steps.
