GRIEF AND BEREAVEMENT COUNSELING

“Healing from grief is not the process of forgetting.
It is the process of remembering with less pain and more joy.”

Loss throws one into a place of uncertainty, even if the loss is anticipated or planned. People grieve over many things: death of a loved one, broken relationships, job loss, infertility, financial distress, loss of health, lost hopes and dreams. No two people grieve the same. One’s story, style of mourning, and the way one experiences grief are unique to that individual. Yet, the emotions that accompany loss follow a universal pattern. The experience of loss signals a time of re-evaluation. It creates a void and necessitates a restructuring and reorganization of one’s life.

Many people feel isolated and alone in their grief. Creating a safe place to acknowledge one’s losses and talk without censoring is an essential part of a healthy grief process. Counseling can help individuals understand normal grief reactions and find meaning in their grief experiences. The act of speaking without having to suppress thoughts and feelings promotes healing. This can provide an outlet for the overwhelming emotions that inevitably accompany grieving. Counseling provides support in one’s navigation through the difficult, dark emotions; transforming grief to gratitude, fear to joy, and despair to faith.

Principles of effective grief counseling include:

• Acknowledging the loss and accepting it
• Giving time to grief and its expression
• Identifying and expressing feelings of anger, guilt,fear, anxiety, sorrow
• Assisting in overcoming obstacles that prevent one from letting go and readjusting to life
• Identifying the normal continuum of grief and education about typical grief reactions
• Allowing for individual differences
• Exploration of defenses and coping mechanisms
• Cultivation of self-compassion
• Making meaning of one’s suffering