What is Grief Counseling?

Transition from hospice care

If your loved one was taken care of through hospice, the majority of the treatment you and your family have received so far has been an effort to make them comfortable during what can be a painful season. There may have been social support given, but the focus was on the patient. The transition after their passing to the beginning of your care can be a difficult one. Most of your time and effort may have been focused on others, and that can leave you feeling empty. There’s also a void in time now that was normally spent either physically or emotionally caring for your loved one. This is a season of transition, and there is not a time limit or expectation set on that. What I would ask is that you begin taking stock of what the season of your loved one’s passing took up in your life. This could be time, resources, energy for others, energy for yourself, hobbies, or a multitude of other things. While it may be impossible to restart all of these at once, now is the time to begin reinvesting in yourself. Grief counseling can be a really great place to start.

What will we talk about?

Grief is something that every person will experience at some point. It is a universal truth, and yet the way that it affects your life will be wholly unique. Grief counseling will dive into your unique experience and give you a space to process free of expectation or judgement. Since it is something that is experienced by everyone, we have tried to create a uniform checklist of what a person has to experience and “get through” to “get better”. These sessions will not be full of check ins about what stage of grief you’ve achieved. As you will learn, grief is cyclical and brings new challenges and realizations at unexpected times. Grief counseling is a place for you to be honest and open about how this loss is affecting you.

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What to expect from your counselor?

As a grief counselor, I have studied and worked with individuals and families who have experienced loss in a multitude of ways. I have counselled families who have watched their loved one pass away slowly due to Alzheimer’s as well as people who have lost their best friend to cancer. You can expect me to provide an environment of listening and understanding. We will talk about difficult aspects of your loss as well as reactions to the loss that you didn’t expect. You can rely on me to hear and process these occurrences right along side you. I will challenge you to be honest, but I will not discredit or demean your current reality. I will push you look past where you are today, but I will not fail to realize that the hardships of today are real.

What to expect from yourself?

In the season of your loved one’s passing, I’m sure there were innumerable reactions and emotions. This is expected in a time of uncertainty and stress. Similarly, you’re now entering into a new reality where you are without a spouse, a parent, a child, or a friend. With that in mind, allow yourself to experience that which your body creates.