Grief and Loss

We grieve. It’s a part of life. When we love someone and then lose him or her, we’re left with a painful void. Everything feels turned inside out, and even the simplest things can be difficult to accomplish. It is normal to experience profound sadness in times of grief. The process of grieving — and it is a process — is a healthy experience. It is also a unique one: we each feel and express grief in our own way and on our own timeline. But we don’t need to be alone in our mourning. Grief counseling can help.

Grief counseling addresses such emotional responses to loss as: anger, anxiety, confusion, guilt, isolation, loneliness, and numbness.

Sometimes, following the loss of a loved one, we want to be strong. Perhaps there are others , family members or friends, who need to be propped up in this time of mourning; there are also the practical matters of life that need tending to. And so we put off our own grieving. By neglecting ourselves in such times, we halt the grieving process and therefore halt in our healing. Unresolved grief can lead to other problems down the road. Loss therapy may be the solution.

Through loss therapy you can work to resolve such physical reactions to grief as: exhaustion, difficulty in concentrating, poor sleep, change in appetite, and disorganization.

Grief Counseling From Someone Who Understands

I have been through the experience of losing a loved one, and know firsthand what it is to go through times of sadness and pain. I understand the inclination to ignore feelings in moments of heartache. But, having been through the grief process, I also know what lies on the other side: the promise of joy. You don’t need to be disabled by your loss. Grief counseling can facilitate healing.
Through loss therapy, I can guide and support you as you mourn:

• Your Spouse/Partner – In grief counseling you can count on emotional assistance as you progress through your stages of mourning. Loss therapy can provide you with tools to handle the challenges and changes that follow such a profound loss.
• Your Parent(s) – A complex spectrum of emotions can come into play following the passing of a parent, including feelings of guilt, relief, anger, and even of abandonment. Grief counseling facilitates the handling of the emotional aftermath. This is particularly true in the event of a parents’ death following a lengthy illness.
• Your Child – Loss therapy can offer coping methods to work through your grief following the loss of a child due to childhood or adult death, adoption or the loss of a pregnancy (due to miscarriage or by choice, even if the incident took place long ago).
• Your Friend – In loss therapy you can feel comfortable discussing your loved one and his or her passing.
• Your Pet – Through grief counseling you can work through your sadness following the loss of your beloved companion animal.

Marty Devin’s Horvath, LMSW