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About Dr. Elizabeth

Grief and Loss Specialist

I work with adults facing diverse forms of loss, including bereavement, non-death loss, and life transitions. My fifteen years of research and specialized training in grief and loss, as well as seven years supporting clients through losses and transitions of many kinds, equip me to coach people through these challenging experiences.

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Prior to my transition to coaching, I taught counselors-in-training as an Assistant Professor of Counseling at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and served as a Past President of the European Branch of the American Counseling Association.

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I have authored or co-authored over a dozen scholarly works published in peer-reviewed journals, and was the lead developer of the Coping Assessment for Bereavement and Loss Experiences (CABLE), a validated scale for assessing constructive strategies for coping with the death of a loved one.

 

As a coach and Certified Grief and Loss Provider, I am honored to be able to offer coaching support to grieving individuals worldwide. I provide services in English and have limited working proficiency in French.

Education and Training

​Education

  • PhD, Counselor Education, University of Central Florida

  • M.S., Clinical Mental Health Counseling, The University of Memphis

  • B.A., Psychology (Major), French (Minor), The University of Memphis, summa cum laude

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Certifications​

  • National Certified Counselor (NCC; 340840), National Board for Certified Counselors

  • Certified Grief and Loss Provider through the Grief and Loss Training Program with Claire Bidwell Smith, LCPC

  • Graduate Certificate in Advanced Quantitative Methodologies, University of Central Florida

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Additional Trainings

  • Complicated Grief Treatment (Level 1 Provider), The Center for Prolonged Grief at Columbia University, New York, NY

  • Grief and Loss: A Comprehensive Training Program, with Claire Bidwell Smith, LCPC

  • Therapist and Coach: An Ethical Path to Adding Coaching Services to Your Practice, with Anne McSorley, LPC, and Patricia A. Daly, JD

  • Coherence Therapy Intermediate Intensive Training, Coherence Psychology Institute, New York, NY

  • Coherent Narratology and Coherent Narrative Therapy, with Gail Noppe-Brandon, LCSW, MA, MPA

  • Essential Elements of Experiential Therapy, with Tori Olds, PhD

Elizabeth Crunk, PhD, Grief Coach

Research

My research bears on issues of grief, loss, death, and dying, with a particular focus on complicated grief and understanding the strategies we employ to cope with grief following the death of a loved one. My published works appear in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals in the fields of counseling and psychology.

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Representative examples of my scholarship include the following:

  • Crunk, A. E., Burke, L. A., Neimeyer, R. A., Robinson, E. H., & Bai, H. (2019). The Coping Assessment for Bereavement and Loss Experiences (CABLE): Development and initial validation. Death Studies, 1-15.

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  • Gonzalez, J., Crunk, A. E., Barden, S. M., Harris, S., & Belser, C. (2020). A preliminary longitudinal study of multicultural competence in counselor education. Journal of Counseling & Development, 98(3), 308-318.

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  • Burke, L. A., Crunk, A. E., Neimeyer, R. A., & Bai, H. (2019). Inventory of Complicated Spiritual Grief 2.0 (ICSG 2.0): Validation of a revised measure of spiritual distress in bereavement. Death Studies, 1-17.

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  • Crunk, A. E., Burke, L. A., & Robinson, E. H. (2017). Complicated grief: An evolving theoretical landscape. Journal of Counseling & Development, 95, 225-232. DOI: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00000.x

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  • Bonin, E. P., Neimeyer, R. A., Alves, D., Smigelsky, M., & Crunk, A. E. (2016). Innovative moments in humanistic therapy I: Process and outcome of eminent psychotherapists working with bereaved clients. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 00(00), 1-29. DOI: 10.1080/10720537.2015.1118712

Teaching and Leadership

As a former Assistant Professor of Counseling and Human Development at The George Washington University, I have taught the following courses to master's- and doctoral-level students who are training to become counselors:

  • Grief and Loss Counseling

  • Counseling Skills

  • Practicum I & II

  • Individual Assessment in Counseling

  • Group Counseling

  • Lifespan Human Development

  • Adult Development and Aging

  • Leadership and Advocacy in Counseling

  • Foundations of Play Therapy and Expressive Arts

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As a Past President of the European Branch of the American Counseling Association (EB-ACA), I am committed to promoting the counseling profession globally and to supporting counselors and clients around the world.

Disclaimer: Interactions and 1:1 sessions with Dr. Elizabeth Crunk are considered coaching, not therapy. Coaching is not a substitute for counseling, psychotherapy, or other forms of mental health care. In her role as a coach, Dr. Crunk is not acting as a licensed counselor or psychotherapist and is not offering mental health care. If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, contact 988 or your local emergency services.

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