How helpful is Counselling for Bereavement?
Counselling can be very helpful for bereavement. It can provide a safe and supportive space to talk about your feelings, including your grief, anger, and sadness. A counsellor can help you understand your feelings and develop coping mechanisms. They can also help you connect with other people who have experienced bereavement.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to bereavement counselling. The best approach for you will depend on your individual needs and preferences. Some people find it helpful to see a counsellor regularly for a few months, while others prefer to see a counsellor for a short number of focussed sessions.
If you are considering counselling for bereavement, it is important to find a counsellor who is qualified and experienced in working with people who are grieving. You can ask your GP for a referral, or you can search online for counsellors in your area. Virtual platforms such as Zoom and Teams have made it so much easier to look far and wide for somebody that fits your individual needs.
Counselling can be a helpful way to cope with bereavement. It can provide you with the support you need to express your grief and looking at ways of adapting to it. The purpose of grief counselling is to help you to make sense of what has happened and to develop an ongoing, healthy and meaningful relationship with a person who has died.
We now know that people do not simply ‘move on’ following a loss. Time is not necessarily a healer. We do not ‘get over it’ when we lose somebody close to us. Grief can also be complicated when our relationship with the person who has died has been difficult. It is particular these sorts of losses that counsellors will be skilled and adept at helping you to work through and navigate your losses.
As we go through life, we all experience losses, many of them: relationships, money, homes, pets and so on. It is these losses that we can draw upon to help us to survive other huge losses in our lives. A skilled bereavement therapist will help you to identify how you have coped with previous losses and together, will help you to identify these and other coping skills to help you manage new and uncomfortable feelings.
Some people believe there is no point in talking about loss, “it won’t bring her back”. I beg to differ. I have worked with countless people who have reached a much better understanding of their loss and what they needed to do to both survive this loss and create a meaningful life which integrates their loss.