Grief and Loss Counselling in Balzac, AB.

Grief and loss is highly personal and unique. It can come in ebbs and flows and can seem overwhelming at times. As difficult as this is, it can get better, even if the loss remains. Counselling is a soft place for you to land, where you can express what you're feeling, what you'd like to feel and what you'd like to do about it. There is hope and you can learn tools to help you through the tough times, as well as through the pain to the other side. I'm here to help.

Grief and loss extend to more than losing a loved one to death, it includes loss of a dream of what we thought our life should be or could have been. Loss of a relationship partner to divorce or separation. Understanding the process of grief/loss helps us learn to manage the process. Working with me I can show you tools to assist with pain. The use of mindfulness has been shown to effectively help with grief/loss.

The loss of a loved one can be one of the most challenging emotional experiences that people face in their lives. Loss and grief can also be experienced for other reasons such as when an individual or a loved one develops a serious disability or life-threatening illness. I support people through the symptoms of grief and the difficult life adjustments that follow. The goal of counselling is reached through the expression of emotions, memories and thoughts about the loss, while normalizing its effects. The hope is that eventually people work toward rebuilding and find their new sense of normal.

For over twenty years I have been working with issues of grief and loss. We have beliefs about how long it takes to move through the typical stages of grief and not everyone fits that. Our culture doesn't always appreciate that grief takes longer, is experienced in unexpected ways or is as significant over time as it is. I can help you move through the loss where ever you are at now. If grief is in control of your emotions and your life I invite you to contact me.

People living in our culture often lack the permission -both from others and themselves - to fully grieve their losses, and yet I have observed that careful attention to grief is so necessary for achieving and maintaining our health and wellness in the long term. I try to support you in approaching grief as a process and a journey. Our work together involves honoring the loss while finding ways to help you manage strong feelings, and re-orient toward the many aspects of your life that your grief touches. Using mindfulness and body awareness helps to both deepen and ground this process, and exploring meaningful personal rituals together (ritual having been a key ingredient in many healthy cultures’ approach to grief) can be very helpful.

Feeling lost and alone? Wish others understood, or knew what to say? I journey with people touched by loss in their life, big or small (in fact, in my mind, no loss is really 'small,' because it's significant to YOU). What we do with our disappointments and losses will define who we are (Dan Allender). Whether you're stuck with grief from the past, or coping with life changes today, having friends along the journey who can be with you in your pain are what you need. Together you and I can help you move through this difficult phase of your journey, resulting in renewed hope and yes, joy, that comes from a healed heart.

We all experience grief and loss. Yet sometimes, the pain cuts too deep. Sometimes, people stay stuck in acute grief for a really long and difficult time. To help, I use techniques based on research by Robert A. Neimeyer. They focus on creating ways to make sense of what happened, together, as a team. This way, the loss could be integrated into your continuing life story. Such grief therapy is not truly about moving on or moving past - it is about reconciling whom - or what - you lost with what you still have. So you can continue to live fully, with a place for both sadness and joy of memories in your heart. I work online across Canada or in-person in Calgary.

How people experience grief and loss is in part influenced by their personal values and beliefs. I respect the unique approach, faith, worldview, or philosophy that every client brings to therapy. I accompany my clients in their journey of change and growth. I help my clients to give meaning to their experience and to face complex emotions and feelings. Time of grief and loss can bring surprising changes; it is often time of personal growth, increased self-awareness, and healing.

Feelings of grief and loss can emerge from the loss of a loved one, a pet, a relationship, a job, a house, a community, and just about anything else. This journey can often feel too heavy to carry on one's own, and they need a safe space to let down the veil of "I'm fine", and truly feel the sadness in order to move through it and towards the other side of healing.

It is impossible to live without experiencing the loss of someone or something that really matters to us. Grieving is a normal human experience but the emotional pain can often be unbearable. Although grieving does not necessarily have an end point, therapy can assist you to cope more effectively with the loss and return sooner to a meaningful and satisfying life.

Losing someone or something that is close to us, can leave us feeling as though we have a gaping hole in our hearts. Grief and Loss counselling will help you feel less alone during this time of struggle and provide the support needed to find new ways to flourish. It's incredible what kind of growth and new meaning can come from allowing ourselves to be transformed for the better by our loss.

Have you experienced a loss and are worried about how your children are coping? Are they refusing to talk about it? Or maybe they are asking too many questions and you are worried about how to answer them? Children grieve differently to adults and are often not able to fully express their fears or emotions. Often, these feelings are internalized and result in disruptive behaviors as they get older. In my custom designed play therapy room, they are given a safe space to explore their feelings and process their experience. I can help you guide them through this experience and set them up for future success and happiness.

When it all comes crashing down, everyone needs a safe place to be heard. It should be easier for Christians - but often it is far more difficult. It's hard to find a safe place to ask the really hard questions. It's even harder to receive subtle messages to, "Contain your sorrow," from others. So, if you're tired of putting on a brave face, come and experience a place where you can be really understood and real help with navigating through that surreal fog and haze. Life's losses are never a place for pat answers or bandaid solutions.