Grief Counseling

You feel like you have this giant gaping hole in your heart.

At first the pain is completely unbearable and almost too painful to breathe.

You're on a rollercoaster of emotions. One minute you feel you can't breathe and might plummet into a panic attack. The next one you're furious at everybody, including you, or the people arguing about the paint color at Home Depot, and the whole universe. The next minute you're filled with pain and burst into tears.

Maybe you're going through most of your day feeling numb.

The truth is no one can say exactly what grief feels like, because we are different and we all grieve differently.

Time does not heal all wounds. It just softens the impact of the pain. Grief is life-changing, and the loss you have endured has shaped who you are now.

Symptoms of grief

Some common symptoms of grief include (but are not exclusive):

Shock and disbelief
Sadness
Guilt
Anger
Fear
Physical symptoms ( fatigue, nausea, lowered immunity, weight loss or gain, aches and pains, and insomnia)

What's the difference between grief and bereavement?

We tend to think about grief as mostly related to the loss of a loved one (bereavement). In reality, grief is a reaction to any form of loss: loss of home, job, pet, miscarriage, financial stability, family or friends, loss of who you used to be, loss of safety after a trauma, retirement...

Coping with grief | grief therapy

If you've recently experienced your first loss, or if a recent loss is opening up older wounds you thought had healed, counseling can help you process your experience and may help you feel more at peace. Grieving is a slow and challenging process.

In the first few weeks, you may be flooded with offers to help. The more difficult part is usually 6 months to a year after, when everyone has returned to their lives and you're left to figure how to adjust, move forward, and function on your own.

Coping comes in many different forms, which are as unique as we are.

Although, there is no set time frame when it comes to grief, sometimes people get stuck with feelings of loss that are debilitating and don't improve even after time passes. This is known as complicated grief (sometimes called persistent complex bereavement disorder.)

Having a grief counselor who understands the different stages of grief and loss, as well as the rollercoaster of emotions you go through at times will help you grieve and feel more at peace.

Grieving is personal and unique. I take a gentle and respectful approach to grief counseling, using a variety of tools such as mindfulness and EMDR to resource you, help you work through your emotions at your own pace, overcome obstacles to your grieving process, and build on your strengths.

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