Grief counseling helps people grieve difficult losses including the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or the end of a relationship. It helps people navigate their grief process and eventually accept, understand, and move forward from their loss. Grief counselors have specific experience, training, and skills that enable them to best-support grieving individuals.
Grief counseling isn't one-size-fits-all, but it involves sharing about your loss and then working with your counselor to acknowledge and accept your new reality in its wake. Your Thriveworks grief counselor will design your treatment plan around your unique needs and goals for therapy, applying the counseling techniques that best support them. It may take place as individual-counseling or a form of group therapy such as Family therapy.
For many, grief counseling lasts for about 6 months. For others, it may last shorter or longer, depending on the severity of their loss and their grief.
Losing someone we love is one of the most difficult experiences we will ever face. While we know it can happen, we are never really prepared when it happens. We don’t really know what to expect. Is there a right way to grieve? How long should I grieve? Is it OK to talk about how I feel? The counselors of Johnson City Grief Counseling can help you to understand your grief and begin the process of healing.
What Should I Expect When Grieving?
Expect that you will experience a lot of different thoughts and emotions. Expect that you may act differently. Expect that people around you may act differently. Expect that grieving takes time…sometimes a lot of it.
Some of the things you may experience while grieving are:
- Intense and changing emotions including anger, sadness, loneliness
- Fatigue or low energy
- Others experiencing the loss in different ways than you
- Feeling as though or being told you “should be over it already”
- People may say seemingly thoughtless things or nothing at all. They aren’t uncaring. People often struggle with what to say to someone suffering a loss.
- Feeling as if you’ll never be happy again (You will.)
- Needing to remember your loved one. It’s ok to still love them and talk about them.
- Needing support. (It’s not a sign of weakness.)
These things are all normal parts of grieving. While it may feel uncomfortable, the pain and the intensity of emotion do ease as time passes. Most people are able to work through their grief and move forward with their lives while remembering their loved ones in healthy ways. For others, however, the grieving process can feel like it’s never going to end. It goes on to the point where the person’s functioning becomes compromised. That’s when grief counseling can help.
When Do I Need Help?
Sometimes no matter how hard you try, you just can’t find a way to move forward. When this happens, counseling can help through the healing process and learn effective ways to cope with the emotions and stress associated with loss.
Here are some signs that counseling might be helpful:
- Your depression is persistent and overwhelming preventing you from carrying out day-to-day activities such as going to work or school, bathing, routine chores
- You are using alcohol or medications more often to cope with your feelings
- You are not sleeping well on most nights (nightmares, broken sleep, insomnia)
- Your appetite is disrupted causing significant weight gain or loss
- You have experienced multiple losses in a short period of time
- You have thoughts of death or dying
At Johnson City, TN we have counselors with the experience and training to help you through your grief. You can find that path to healing. If you or a loved one are struggling with grief, you don’t have to struggle alone. Johnson City Grief Counseling can help. Call us today to schedule your confidential appointment.
