About the Training
Do your students feel helpless in the midst of the climate crisis? Are you struggling with how to create a safe environment to talk about these emotions? Do you want to help foster resilience and creativity?
Good Grief Network is a US‑based nonprofit. The organization designed the GGN-Z Facilitation Training program for people who work with young people in and out of school. The program is for those who want a structured way to help teens and young adults aged 15-21 explore and talk about their eco-distress. It is not about how to fix young people’s eco-distress, but rather how to find balance. This training is for, but not limited to, teachers, counselors, parents, coaches, and youth program leaders. By taking our GGN-Z Facilitation Training, you learn the skills needed to better support young people. You also access all the tools and resources needed to implement the GGN-Z Program in your community.
For this June training, we will connect asynchronously for 2 weeks over our virtual platform, Mighty Networks, where you can work through the course modules at your own pace. Your facilitators are present to answer questions throughout the course. and teach you how to facilitate meaningful dialogues on feelings with the youth in your life. The training includes 4 live practicum sessions where you'll join your cohort and facilitators to distill the five Steps of the GGN-Z program and practice using action-reflection exercises that engage young people in reflecting on eco-distress and how to manage it. Together, these sessions will bring to life the material learned during the asynchronous portions and support skills development through practice facilitation. This training will build your knowledge base and confidence and skills to support young people in bravely exploring their feelings about climate change.
There will be plenty of space to ask questions on concepts and get comfortable using experiential approaches to exploring feelings. You will engage with others about what it means to help young people develop awareness and engagement during times of great uncertainty. In the process, we learn ways to find our own balance so we can care for ourselves and our communities.
Please note, this training is not about how to be a counselor or a therapist and we are not training you in a therapy modality. Rather than aiming to fix or cure young people, this training aims to build your own confidence and skills to support young people to explore their feelings about climate change.
After the training ends, you'll have access your course material (including facilitation materials, the GGN-Z curriculum, and additional resources to dig deeper), a network of other youth professionals from all over the world, and continued access to the Mighty Networks platform to connect with the larger Good Grief Network community.
Susan Igras found GGN in 2021 when she joined a 10-Step Program. The experience transformed how she understood and viewed her eco-sadness. It also highlighted the lack of similar structured programs for teens to find emotional balance in a chaotic world. With decades of experience in teen health and well-being, Susan partnered with GGN (shoutout to Annalisa Galgano) and teen advisors to develop and test the GGN-Z Program. Then, to develop and test a training program for GGN-Z Facilitators. Her work has been international, and she is keen to collaborate with global partners to bring emotional resilience into more adolescent- and young-adult-focused programs.
Paula Hendrikx was trained as a FLOW facilitator and facilitator of the GGN-Z program in 2024 and will be co-facilitating this training with Susan. Having gone through an emotional journey of intense climate distress herself 7 years ago, she is now very passionate about facilitating spaces where we can reconnect to our feelings about the state of the world in community. As a facilitator in the Work that Reconnects, she believes that learning to connect to our feelings is an essential skill for both personal and planetary wellbeing. With a background in academia, she has a particular interest in bringing this kind of work into higher education spaces.
Timing & Logistics
Please read the following section carefully to avoid confusion about meeting times and time zones. Good Grief Network does not offer program refunds, so please check that the timing of this group works with your schedule.
The reference/anchor time** for this meeting is Pacific Time Zone in United States:
This training will take place over 2 weeks from
16 June - 30 June 2026
While most of the training can be taken asynchronously,
there will be four live practicum sessions:
Tuesday, June 16
Monday, June 22
Thursday, June 25
Tuesday, June 30
10:30am - 12pm PT / 1:30pm - 3pm ET
[check your time zone]***
**When we refer to the anchor time, we mean that this meeting will occur at Pacific Time Zone in United States, no matter what the local time is for you.
Program Fees & Scholarships
This amount can be paid in one payment or two payments. We offer the ability to pay in installments to anyone, regardless of payment tier or scholarship level.
Redistribution Rate: $500 USD
Full Rate: $400 USD
Solidarity Rate: $300 USD
Scholarships/Work Exchanges:
Interested in a scholarship or work exchange?
Please DO NOT complete this form.
Click here for our scholarship/work exchange application.
We don't want finances to be an obstacle to participation. We offer full and partial scholarships or work exchanges to folks from marginalized communities or who are fiscally constrained and need support accessing this healing work.
For more information on our sliding scale payment, payment plan options, and refund policy, please see the Program Payment section below for details.
FLOW Facilitators in Community of Practice Membership
FLOW Facilitators in the CoP Membership are welcome to join this training at a discounted rate. If you are Acorn tier, there is a 25% discount, and if you are an Oak or Sapling (recent FLOW graduate in CoP) there is a 50% discount. GGN-Z Facilitation Training fulfills one of the requirements for continued learning for the CoP Membership.
Acorn Tier: $280 USD
Oak and Sapling Tier: $200 USD
Informational Session
A recording of our last informational session is available here. Please note the course is now 2 weeks instead of 8 weeks long, and includes an additional live practice session to close out the course, but covers the same materials.
Time Commitment
The online GGN-Z Training course is 2 weeks long. The majority of our sessions are presented asynchronously on the virtual platform Mighty Networks. Particpants can expect to spend 8-12 hours each week learning the week's lesson, engaging with others in the forum, and asking questions to your facilitators. There will be 4 live 90-minute practicum sessions hosted by your facilitators via Zoom to practice your facilitation, engage with your cohort, and get your questions answered.
We expect you to engage with the course, and by completing this application, you are indicating that you have the time and space in your schedule to dedicate to this training commitment.
Attendance Policy
2/4 of the practicum sessions must be attended live with any missing sessions watched via recording by 7 July (one week after the last session). Failure to do so will result in no certificate and an incomplete training. Per our refund policy, no refunds are granted for missed sessions, including time zone mix-ups.
Accessibility
The course is hosted on Mighty Networks and the live pracitums will take place virtually over Zoom. Access and familiarity with the Zoom platform is recommended and basic training of Mighty Networks will be provided.
This program will be hosted in English. We would like to be able to offer this training in other languages, but are still a very small nonprofit organization and do not have that capacity at this time.
Please let us know if you have any accessibility needs the facilitator team should be aware of.
GGN-Z Program
The GGN-Z Program, created by Susan Ingras and Annalisa Galgano, is a 5-session support program for teens who want to get real, build resilience, and be re-inspired by joy and creativity. While not required, we highly encourage facilitating GGN-Z in your community after completing this training and provide the curriculm needed to do so. The modules in the GGN-Z Facililation Training follow the 5-Steps of the GGN-Z Program, but also cover key skill-building lessons that can be used beyond the GGN-Z Program and integrated into classes and youth programs. To learn more about GGN-Z, click here.
Final Notes