If you’re experiencing grief and loss, you know that there’s no single template for how to deal with everything you’re thinking and feeling. After the loss of a friend, family member, peer or pet, or any other instance of loss, it’s sometimes easy to fall into self-destructive behaviors. That’s why grief therapy is so important: it can help you process your emotions in a positive, proactive, healing way.
Grief counseling offers a safe outlet for clients to experience help and healing for the loss they’ve experienced. Grief counseling sessions last as long as individuals need to heal and develop perspective. If you’re looking for therapy that can help you work through loss, appropriately deal with sadness and depression, address lingering guilt and shame, and adopt healthy coping mechanisms, you’re looking for benefits that grief counseling can uniquely offer.
What happens during a grief counseling session?
Grief counseling is designed to help you address the thoughts and feelings you’re experiencing as a result of grief and loss. You’ll learn how to express, and to deal with, your reactions in appropriate, healthy ways.
If you’re someone who sometimes has trouble fully expressing your emotions, this might be a difficult step. That’s why grief therapy progresses at a pace most apt for you, allowing you to organically process grief and loss at a comfortable pace. During your first session, your therapist will look to establish a better understanding of your individual situation: who you are, what you’ve experienced and how you typically process experiences externally and internally. You’ll learn to openly discuss emotions, a critical step in processing grief and loss.
What will I learn during grief counseling?
Grief counseling helps to offer a secure, non-judgmental atmosphere where you can safely process your emotions. While participating in grief counseling, you’ll learn several critical coping skills that will help you fully process past and ongoing grief and loss.
You’ll work on accurately, completely expressing your feelings. One of the critical steps during the grieving process is learning to express everything you’re feeling, no matter what those thoughts or feelings might be. You’ll grow more comfortable with how you think and feel, as you learn more productive coping mechanisms that allow you to validate your emotions.
You’ll also learn how to open yourself up to others: other relationships and others’ opinions. Oftentimes when one experiences grief or loss, they will emotionally close themselves off, as the body’s natural response to avoid further hurt. Grief counseling can slowly show you how to express your feelings again, processing your grief without dismissing it. This enables you to reestablish emotional connections with friends, family members and peers, especially those individuals who might be sharing similar feelings of grief or loss.
How can I benefit from grief counseling?
Grief counseling offers several distinct benefits to participants. We’ve outlined some of the most popular benefits to grief counseling below:
- An emphasized focus on proven coping skills
- Learned acceptance of loss, and of the accompanying emotions
- Comfort in the good memories of the individual/pet lost
- Grief in a safe, non-judgmental environment
Another potential benefit to grief counseling is the fact that a support group may be available. It’s truly invaluable to surround yourself with peers struggling through similar life experiences, sharing similar thoughts and feelings. As you collectively work toward shared goals, you’ll be able to join a community that can help you work through the death of a loved one, a pet or a beloved individual.
Grief therapy from licensed professionals
So often, grief counseling is met with unrealistic, outdated expectations. When many of us imagine grief counseling, or counseling of any kind, we envision a traditional “counselor and client” environment: a couch where the client sits, a counselor taking notes on a notepad, perhaps an artificially-lit office space. Modern grief counseling puts that picture to shame: licensed healthcare professionals help you address grief and loss on your own terms, on your own time.
That’s where Mazzitti & Sullivan Counseling can help. We offer grief and loss counseling services fulfilled by licensed professionals, to help you cope and work through the stages of the grieving process. Call 1-800-809-2925, or reach out today to Mazzitti & Sullivan Counseling today, to learn more about our programs and discover how grief therapy can help you process your feelings in a therapeutic setting.