How can grief counseling help me?
Perhaps you lost the person you would normally turn to for support and comfort during this kind of crisis.
Perhaps you have some ambivalence, guilt, or relief about your loss or about how you are experiencing grief.
Perhaps you are afraid to let go of the pain of loss because it feels like the only connection that is left with your loved one.
Whether your loss was unexpected or happened after an agonizing decline, death or the end of an important relationship can shatter your assumptions about the world.
Grief Counseling can help.
Grief is nature’s way of healing a broken heart.
Everybody grieves differently, just as they fall in love differently.
Grief has its own timeline that is different for everybody.
If you are grieving the loss of a loved one, you may find yourself asking:
- Is my grief normal?
- Am I going crazy?
- Why me?
- How long will this pain last?
- Who am I now?
Grief Counseling can help you find your own answers to these important questions.
Your Grief Counselor can also:
- Be your companion on the delicate, healing journey of grief.
- Help you get the most out of your grieving process.
- Guide you through all the natural variations of grief.
- Help you find meaning in grief. Distress and growth are not mutually exclusive!
- Give a reality check about whether you are stuck in unproductive grief.
- Help you accept grief attacks (and everything else) as a natural part of the process (not a setback).
- Help you move adaptively into your new future.
Aren’t friends good enough?
Even the best of friends may not have the patience, experience, or expertise to guide you in making meaning of your grief and loss.
Well-meaning friends can add to your distress by avoiding talking about your loss, treating you differently, or expecting you to get back to being your old self.
Support and companionship are important, but don’t expect your friends to be everything you need during this distressing time.
Your Grief Counselor’s goal is never to remove your loved one from your consciousness.
The goal is to help you accept, integrate, and transform your loss while finding an “enriched remembrance of your loved one” (Cantor, 1978).
