Informing someone of the sudden death of a loved one is one of the most difficult tasks an emergency response professional has to perform. Apprehensions surrounding death notification include feeling untrained, coping with survivors' reactions, and facing personal fears about death. Knowing what is appropriate to say and do during such a traumatic event is not easy.

Death Notification is adapted from classroom training offered by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD Canada). It teaches police officers, victim support workers, and other emergency services personnel the most current, proven, and compassionate approaches to death notification. It also provides learners with the skills necessary to lay their own apprehensions about death aside while they support the next of kin during the notification and help them cope with a death.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course you will be able to:

• Recall common apprehensions about performing a death notification
• Recall the fundamental elements of a death notification
• Identify the needs of next of kin and recall what is appropriate to say during a notification
• Recall protocols for viewing the deceased and concerns of the bereaved
• Recall how to help victims heal

Target Audience

This course is designed for all police officers and first response personnel.

Subject Matter Experts

Lloyd Grahame is a retired member of the Windsor Ontario Police Service. Throughout his thirty-year career he served in nearly every aspect of policing. Mr. Grahame is also a trained trauma counsellor and coordinated the Windsor Police Service Peer Counselling/Stress Management Unit. In 1989, he was seconded to the Ontario Police College and served for three years as a full time instructor in the Police Leadership/Management Training Unit. Mr. Grahame completed his police career, in 1995, as the Staff Sergeant in charge of Community and Support Services and was the Media Relations Officer for the Windsor Police Service.

Mr. Grahame is presently working with MADD Canada, and was instrumental in the development of the Death Notification Training Program for police and emergency service personnel. He now delivers this training package on behalf of MADD Canada and has trained over 12,500 people in more than 200 presentations across Canada.

Wanda Kristensen is MADD Canada's National Director of Programs and is responsible for Chapter, Victim, and Youth Services. She gained first-hand knowledge of victim issues after her 16-year-old son Dave was killed in an impaired driving crash. Wanda has worked extensively with victims and has produced a number of educational victim-related videos and multi-media high school assembly programs. In addition, she is responsible for the training program for MADD Canada's Victim Services Volunteers (VSVs) and organizing MADD Canada's Annual National Victims' Weekend.

Ms. Kristensen is a graduate of the Volunteer Management Program, CVA certified, a trained VSV for MADD Canada, a trained facilitator for Bereaved Families, and a member of the Association for Volunteer Administration. She is also a member of ADEC, the Association for Death Education and Counseling.

Course Details Content Provider: Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD Canada) Price: $50.00 + GST Languages: English Course Duration: 2 hours Release Date: September 16, 2008 Date of Last Revision/Review: September 2009