Grief and Loss Counselling in Courtenay, BC.

Grief and loss are a part of all of our lives. If you are experiencing grief and loss then often it is helpful to speak in confidence to a professional who is empathetic and understands the grieving process. There are many ways we can be affected by grief including loss due to death, marriages ending, relationships, jobs, or friends. Benefits of seeking counselling at these times can be to identify and better understand our feelings, to express our grief in a safe place with a compassionate listener who is free from judgement and to explore ideas of the best ways for you to move forwards.

Grief and loss is a profound and individualized experience. However, with ideas about specific stages of grief and appropriate and inappropriate types of grieving - grief and loss can be stigmatizing. Feelings of grief and loss can come from a wide range of experiences. For instances, these feelings can emerge from a death or loss of a loved one, an illness, death of a pet, loss from relationship or identity etc. In therapy we will explore your individual experience with grief and loss within the context of your life and life experiences. I offer support to individuals, couples, or families.

Grief is a potential reaction to a loss of any kind whether through death, divorce, abandonment, separation, job loss, illness, disease diagnosis, kids leaving home, etc. Feelings of anger, resentment, shame, confusion, isolation or abandonment can result. Friends and family may not know what to say or how to provide support. A trained professional, who is profoundly sympathetic, respectful and empathetic, with the skills required to help one navigate through this difficult time, can be critical in helping one regain equilibrium.

The inevitability of loss of a loved one is something we will all encounter, but each person grieves in their own way. Sessions focus on talk therapy, and finding personal ways to commemorate loss. I have worked with children who have lost parents, adults who have lost friends and women who have lost their pregnancies. Each carries with it its own pain and path to growth.

When we experience loss, we can become stuck in a pattern of negative feelings and emotions. It can be hard to more forward in the healing process. EMDR can help by targeting and reprocessing the underlying memories and emotions associated with the loss, thus allowing us to move through the stages of grief in a more healing and adaptive way. By reprocessing the negative experiences, we reduce the negative symptoms and increase our sense of emotional resilience and well-being.

When we are facing grief and loss, there is often a complex web of emotions and many layers of meaning-making to encounter in our healing process. The path is never linear. The timeline requires sensitivity and nuance. Compassion, patience and the ability to hold seemingly contradictory feelings are paramount. With gentle presence, we can hold the magnitude and the subtleties of this experience moving step by step towards healing.

My approach is to join with you to understand your experience of loss intimately and deeply in conversation with you. When we are joined with the pain, you will not have to feel it alone, even if the grief is only fully healed with time. I will help you make sense of your feelings and provide psychoeducation around the phases of grief, specifically to how these known phases can be meaningful to your current experience, what you are feeling, and how you can continue to honour the person, relationship, or thing that you have lost and find acceptance and hope.