skillfactor-pipeline/skills/bereavement-counsellor/references/skills.md

Competences — bereavement counsellor

Source: ESCO v1.2.1 occupation-skill relations (http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/f7f8c077-26ec-455f-8311-aeafbc24d9a5).

Essential

• accept own accountability (skill/competence)
• apply quality standards in social services (skill/competence)
• apply socially just working principles (skill/competence)
• assess social service users' situation (skill/competence)
• behavioural therapy (knowledge)
• build helping relationship with social service users (skill/competence)
• client-centred counselling (knowledge)
• cognitive behavioural therapy (knowledge)
• communicate professionally with colleagues in other fields (skill/competence)
• communicate with social service users (skill/competence)
• cooperate at inter-professional level (skill/competence)
• counselling methods (knowledge)
• deliver social services in diverse cultural communities (skill/competence)
• demonstrate leadership in social service cases (skill/competence)
• encourage counselled clients to examine themselves (skill/competence)
• follow health and safety precautions in social care practices (skill/competence)
• have emotional intelligence (skill/competence)
• help clients cope with grief (skill/competence)
• help clients make decisions during counselling sessions (skill/competence)
• human psychological development (knowledge)
• legal requirements in the social sector (knowledge)
• listen actively (skill/competence)
• maintain a non-emotional involvement (skill/competence)
• maintain records of work with service users (skill/competence)
• maintain the trust of service users (skill/competence)
• manage social crisis (skill/competence)
• manage stress in the work place (skill/competence)
• organise relapse prevention (skill/competence)
• perform therapy sessions (skill/competence)
• promote human rights (skill/competence)
• promote inclusion (skill/competence)
• promote social change (skill/competence)
• provide social counselling (skill/competence)
• psychological theories (knowledge)
• psychology (knowledge)
• refer social service users (skill/competence)
• reflexion (knowledge)
• relate empathetically (skill/competence)
• report on social development (skill/competence)
• respond to individuals' extreme emotions (skill/competence)
• social justice (knowledge)
• social sciences (knowledge)
• stages of bereavement (knowledge)
• supervision of persons (knowledge)
• undertake continuous professional development in social work (skill/competence)

Optional

• support traumatised children (skill/competence)

Market evidence (job-ad analysis, 7 ads, as of 2026-07-09)

Share of analyzed job ads mentioning the item (threshold ≥ 20 %). Source: JSearch/Adzuna APIs.

Hard skills

• bereavement support — 43 %
• crisis intervention — 43 %
• care planning — 29 %
• grief counseling — 29 %
• psychosocial assessment — 29 %
• bereavement services — 14 %
• social evaluation — 14 %
• social services — 14 %
• social work — 14 %
• trauma-informed communication — 14 %
• grief counseling coordination — 14 %
• donor family engagement — 14 %
• emotional support — 14 %
• group therapy — 14 %
• individual therapy — 14 %
• medical history documentation — 14 %
• patient assistance — 14 %
• case management — 14 %
• clinical documentation — 14 %
• clinical record maintenance — 14 %
• care plan development — 14 %
• bereavement counseling — 14 %
• authorization — 14 %

Methods

• acute health care — 14 %
• crisis intervention — 14 %
• interdisciplinary group meetings — 14 %
• simulation training — 14 %
• quality assessment performance improvement — 14 %

Responsibilities

• patient assistance — 29 %
• emotional support — 29 %
• family contact initiation — 14 %
• family counseling — 14 %
• family support — 14 %
• follow-up support — 14 %
• funeral arrangement assistance — 14 %
• donor referral response — 14 %
• grief service delivery — 14 %
• providing crisis intervention — 14 %
• patient assessment — 14 %
• interdisciplinary team collaboration — 14 %
• implementing standards of care — 14 %
• documentation maintenance — 14 %
• client contact — 14 %
• communication with hospital partners — 14 %
• community liaison — 14 %
• coordinating grief services — 14 %
• counseling provision — 14 %
• aftercare partnership — 14 %
• assessing patient status — 14 %
• authorization discussion leadership — 14 %
• bereavement program development — 14 %
• care plan development — 14 %
• referral services — 14 %
• regulatory compliance — 14 %
• social factor assessment — 14 %
• social factors assessment — 14 %