Bereavement Counselling for Dealing with Grief
Losing a loved one can get the best of us as we find it impossible to cope with all the range of feelings that we get to face. These feelings may range from frustration to guilt, from anger to shock, from numbness to a never-ending sadness. You need to understand that there is nothing wrong or unusual about feeling any of these ways. However, it is imperative to know that you can get a lot of help in dealing with the grief and don’t have to go through any of it alone and this is where bereavement counselling can help you.
What is bereavement counselling?
Bereavement counselling includes advice, assistance, and support from groups as well as specialist charities that help you emotionally, spiritually and socially. This support helps the grieving individuals to deal with the pain and grief and adjust to the loss and change efficiently. Bereavement counselling increases the chances for you and your family to get closure, as well as peace of mind. This service is offered by many service providers to help you with the healing process after the loss of a loved one. You can also purchase a plan in advance along with the funeral plans to help your family with the loss once you are gone.
How bereavement counselling helps
Most of us prefer to talk within our family and friend circle to get help. Many of us don’t even have that option. as they may feel that they don’t have someone close enough who isn’t grieving as well; or may even find talking to a professional bereavement counsellor easier as well as effective.
If you are feeling extremely overwhelmed by the loss of a loved one, so much so that you find it impossible to carry on with your everyday life, then talking with a bereavement counsellor will help you cope with the loss and pain so that you come to deal with it and move forward. The counsellor will help you get your feelings out in the open instead of bottling them up so that they don’t overpower you anymore and you get closure.
How we deal with grief
As discussed by Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her book ‘On Death and Dying’ in 1969, there are five stages of grief which we will briefly discuss.
Five stages of grief
The five stages of grief are:
- Denial: the disbelief and shock of losing a loved one can numb the pain and not allow you to accept the fact just yet.
- Anger: you may feel angry and betrayed by the person who left or the universe for your loss and start feeling frustrated thinking why it had to be you.
- Bargaining: it is the feeling that you would give or do anything to have that person back in your life so that you no longer have to feel the pain and the grief.
- Depression: once you realise that the person is truly gone for good a profound sadness follows. Often this deep sorrow results in depression which in most cases is an inevitable part of the grieving process.
- Acceptance: after the depression lifts the first stage of moving on is acceptance. It includes that you come to terms with the reality and start adjusting to the changes.
Everyone has their own experience of dealing with bereavement, and the order may be a bit different with mixed feelings, but eventually, you gain the control back and start the process of moving forward.
How to get bereavement counselling
If you are concerned as to where you will get the best bereavement counselling from, then UK Therapy Guide is a good place to go. They provide trusted counselling from the best specialist therapists and will get you in touch with the right one for you.
UK Therapy Guide has many different therapists with different backgrounds and specialisms. To find a suitable therapist, check out their profiles by clicking here.
