Description

Grief does not keep office hours, and clients increasingly reach for apps and chatbots in the spaces counseling cannot fill. This session equips clinicians to evaluate those digital grief tools with a clear, repeatable rubric, and to recognize when a well-built tool can strengthen treatment rather than dilute it. Counselors will learn to score any tool on safety and crisis routing, clinical grounding, privacy, dignity, and honest business practices, and to fold trustworthy options into the treatment plan through informed consent and documentation. The session also considers access and equity, so quality grief support can reach clients who are too often overlooked. Attendees leave with a branded one-page rubric and practical language for guiding diverse, bereaved clients.

Learning Objectives  

Objective 1: Differentiate a trauma-informed, safety-first grief tool from a general chatbot using specific clinical and safety criteria.

Objective 2: Apply a structured rubric to evaluate a digital grief tool a client is using, scoring it on crisis and suicide-risk routing, clinical grounding, privacy, dignity, and business-model integrity.

Objective 3: Describe how bereavement frameworks, including prolonged grief and continuing bonds, inform when and how a digital grief tool can support treatment between sessions.

Objective 4: Recommend safe, ethical use of digital grief tools as an adjunct to counseling for diverse and underserved client populations, guided by informed consent and documentation.

Presenter

Dr. Wesley Carter

Dr. Wesley Carter, DM, MBA, is the Founder and CEO of Westercove, a trauma-informed digital grief companion, and the author of AI Powered Leadership for Modern Families. She brings more than twenty years of enterprise technology leadership, including IBM and Cisco, and a Doctor of Management in Organizational Leadership. After the death of her son, a United States Army veteran, she built Westercove on established grief research and a tiered safety design. She speaks on human-centered technology, grief, and dignity, and presents as a subject-matter expert alongside a licensed clinical colleague

Co-Presenter

Judith Johnson-Hostler, LCMHC-S, LCAS, NCC, CSI

Judith Johnson-Hostler, LCMHC-S, LCAS, NCC, CSI, is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Supervisor and Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist, and the founder of Journey to Higher Consulting Services, PLLC in Zebulon, North Carolina. As a National Certified Counselor and approved clinical supervisor, she brings deep experience in clinical mental health counseling, addictions treatment, and the training and supervision of counseling professionals. Her work centers on ethical, client-centered care and on preparing the next generation of counselors to practice with skill and integrity. In this session she serves as the clinical and ethical anchor, shaping the material for a master's-level audience and grounding it in scope of practice, informed consent, and sound bereavement care. She co-presents as the licensed clinical colleague alongside a subject-matter expert, ensuring the training meets professional and continuing-education standards.

Continuing Education Information

                                 

SCCMHCA has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 2088. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. SCCMHCA is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

SCCMHCA is an approved provider for continuing education by the South Carolina Professional Counselors, Marriage & Family Therapists, Addiction Counselors, and Psycho-Educational Specialist licensing board. All hours may count as general social work continuing education hours and Category B educational offerings for psychologists. Provider # 4521

If you need special accommodations, have questions, or need assistance registering, contact SCCMHCA.