Grief counseling has grown over the past two decades to become a well respected specialty within the field of counseling. This article examines books, articles, and literature developed by leading agencies in the field. Grief counseling is an interdisciplinary field focusing on the clinical aspects of working with individuals involved in dying and bereavement. This review of the literature points out that grief counseling is highly specialized and differentiated from other aspects of thanatology. It is rapidly becoming an area of expertise and has a rich depth of literature to support this differentiation. Training programs and certification efforts need to be sensitive to the needs of individuals providing clinical services in thanatology to provide educational experiences and training to increase competence in this area.