Grief & Loss Counseling
HAS A PROFOUND LOSS OR LIFE TRANSITION TURNED YOUR WORLD UPSIDE DOWN?
Have you recently experienced the loss of a job or a relationship? Are you reeling from the death of a parent, spouse, child, or pet? Perhaps you or someone close to you has received a terminal diagnosis and you now must adjust to the difficult transition from life to death. Or maybe your loss is more abstract, existing in the form of a loss of a dream, an identity, or a sense of self.
Grief occurs in a variety of ways and affects every individual differently. Oftentimes, when people experience grief, they are met with co-occurring symptoms of anxiety and depression. If you have experienced a recent loss, you may feel excessive sadness and fear, manifesting in long periods of weeping or an inability to shake traumatic thoughts and memories associated with the event.
Perhaps you have begun the process of bargaining with the impossible, telling yourself that if you could just have one more chance with the person or thing that you lost, you would be able to reconcile the pain. Or maybe your pain has taken the form of physical and interpersonal symptoms—such as body aches, an upset stomach, and general fatigue—that make it hard to be functional and complete basic tasks or participate in the things that would otherwise bring you joy.
Grief and loss are so rarely discussed in everyday life, so it’s not uncommon to begin to feel alienated and isolated by others’ lack of understanding and inability to verbalize their sympathies. You may feel as though no one could possibly fathom what you are experiencing or can help alleviate the pain, but we want to assure you that you are not alone and that the pain you are experiencing in grief is both real and meaningful.
Grief And Loss Are Part of Being Human
Grief, unfortunately, is an inescapable facet of life. Every adult will experience some form of loss at some point in their life and there is no way to avoid it. Despite this reality, however, our society provides very little preparation for and very few defenses against the many types of pains associated with grief and loss. We are largely uncomfortable with adverse feelings and emotions and thus have consistently avoided them and failed to develop a vocabulary around them. Moreover, there is often an impression that our grief has an expiration—that after a certain amount of time following our loss, there is pressure to be healed and, in a place, to move on.
As a culture, we tend to be somewhat less physically affectionate, not valuing touch the way some other cultures might. This is exemplified in American taboos surrounding public displays of affection and the various studies that have demonstrated how society engage in significantly less physical touch than cultures in other parts of the world. Therefore, if we have experienced the loss of someone who was once our primary form of touch and affection—whether that was a child, a parent, a spouse, a lover, or a beloved pet—a sense of physical and emotional isolation from others persists in their absence.
Persistent grief may create the pressure that we are not coping with loss in the “right” way. Harmful cycles of anxiety and depression kick in and the sense that we are experiencing grief in the wrong way creates a sense of personal failure. But lingering feelings of sadness and despair following a loss are not a reflection of our deficits or flaws. Rather, they are indicators of the love and connection we had with a person or pet, or the sense of purpose we felt in a job, identity, or relationship that has now been lost.
It may be difficult to find clarity when you have these feelings because you may not have the words for your emotions, and you convince yourself that no one around you has them either. Luckily, our experienced counselors and therapists, trained in treating grief and loss, can help you normalize the valid emotional experiences you are having and find relief from your pain. While other people in your life may not have the words to offer you comfort in your time of grief. Grief and loss counseling at Pathways to Wellness can pave the way to peace and healing during life after loss.
Grief Counseling Can Provide Relief from The Pain and Isolation of Loss
Therapy offers an opportunity to verbalize the very emotions and realities surrounding grief and loss that our culture tends to shy away from. While your story will inevitably contain the scary, painful, and uncomfortable parts that may have caused feelings of isolation in the past, grief counseling offers the security of a confidential and supportive environment where you can explore the many dynamics of your loss.
Trained in bereavement grief and loss counseling, our therapists understand that there is a prelude to your story—a living, breathing being that had a significant impact on your life, or an identity that relied on the pursuit of certain goals and relationships. The right grief counselor will develop a solid sense of what or who influenced you so that they can fundamentally understand what you are grieving and help you find the means of coping with that loss.
At Pathways to Wellness, our therapists and counselors provide individually tailored, solution-oriented methods for coping, as they recognize that everyone has a different relationship with grief and that each person is at a different stage of accepting and recalibrating after a loss. Some of our clients may have never experienced profound grief before and are thus shaken by novel, uncomfortable feelings of sadness and despair. Others may have unfinished business with loved ones who have died and are struggling with guilt and shame.
We are prepared to be present and hold space with you, meeting you exactly where you are in the process of understanding and coping with your grief. Creating a warm, cozy, and gentle environment, we aim to first and foremost make you feel comfortable during our sessions. Perhaps you need to rehash and process your relationship to the person or thing you lost, or maybe you have already done some of the work of accepting your grief and are looking to move forward. Wherever you may be in your journey, each one of our counselors is prepared to offer techniques and solutions for reaching your goals in therapy.
Together, we will develop mindful practices to help you fully understand the emotions you are feeling and how they prevent you from finding the peace and serenity you want and deserve. Using the approach that best fits your needs, we will help you to develop the coping skills and techniques that will allow you to work through your grief and maintain honor for that which you have lost while grounding your present and future in a renewed sense of hope and possibility. A new normal is within reach.
Love heals. Connection heals. Presence heals. While it may not feel like it now, you can maintain all three and reconstructing a life out of the ashes. Grief and loss are not a bottomless well, but rather a tunnel between two sides. And there is a light at the end of it.
Perhaps you are considering grief counseling but have some reservations…
I am afraid I will never heal from this loss.
This sense of fear is a feeling, but it is not a fact. You may have that feeling at this point in your grief journey and we understand and hold space for the pain that comes with it. However, we encourage you to use the opportunity of bereavement counseling to explore this feeling further so that you can begin to observe your fear and anxiety taking up less space in your life.
While we don’t buy into the idea that loss is something you will get over, we do believe it is something that you can get through. Therapy can give you the potential to reorganize around your pain and reimagine a life that honors your loss while finding peace and joy in what remains.
I feel too overwhelmed right now to commit to a weekly therapy session.
If you are feeling overwhelmed now, you are likely feeling paralyzed by other parts of your life that are not just limited to reluctance in seeking therapy. It is essential to take care of yourself, especially during a time of grief, or you may be unable to maintain your responsibilities and fall deeper into a cycle of inaction.
You are worth the time required for healing and self-care. Moreover, counseling offers precisely the chance to develop tools and techniques to mitigate the kinds of stressors and other feelings that add to the sensation of being overwhelmed. Luckily, Pathways to Wellness currently offers telehealth options so that you can schedule therapy sessions at your convenience and from the comfort of your home.
How long will this take?
Everyone is different and requires different approaches. There is no one definitive timeline for grief or loss counseling, and goals will vary according to each individual. As mentioned before, you might never feel completely free of your loss, but working with a therapist or counselor to develop skills for coping with grief will help you to understand your feelings and positively re-envision your life in the context of that loss.
You are more likely to heal from feelings of sadness and despair once you can find the vocabulary for your grief and collaborate with a counselor to develop goals and solutions for how to work through it.
You Can Heal from Your Grief Loss and Find Stability in The Process
If you have recently experienced a loss that has become difficult to process and recover from, grief counseling can give you an opportunity to feel heard and seen through your pain. Together with a counselor or therapist at Pathways to Wellness, you can process your experience and develop the tools you need to cope with your pain.
For a free, 15-minute consultation to discuss your experience or your needs, please contact us to schedule an appointment today. The first step to healing is just a click away. We invite you to call us at 714-432-9856 today to set up an appointment so you can start to feel better!
