Grief and Loss Counselling in Balzac, AB.

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.

I help clients with grief and loss using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), an approach in which I am certified. I encourage clients to set aside regular times to let themselves grieve. This makes it easier to focus on other matters during the rest of the day. I explore with clients ways of grieving which would be most helpful to them.

Grief counselling helps people cope with grief and mourning following the loss of a loved one or due to major life changes that trigger feelings of grief (i.e. job loss or divorce). It provides a space for individuals to work through and process the complex emotions surrounding loss. Healthy grieving results in remembering the loss with a newfound sense of peace, rather than emotional pain.

After significant loss, you may experience difficult and surprising emotions, such as anger, shock and guilt. It may feel like the sadness will never go away. I know personally what this feels like and I support many people who are trying to find ways to cope and find their reason to continue. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. There are however many healthy ways to cope with the pain. You can get through it! I can help you.

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.

Standard Grief: Sadness directly related to a loss. Complex Grief: Sadness related to a loss. Includes additional meanings and associated emotions as in: Regret – “I am a horrible person” Anger – “The universe took something too soon” Hopelessness – “ My life has not meaning now” Fear – “I am at risk of losing more” Helpless – “I am incapable- I cannot go on” Complex grief is grieving that get stuck because of the complicating meaning the trauma of loss has triggered. In order to treat complex grief, we remove the LBs associated with the loss, as shown above, and this lets the standard grief progress through the regular stages of grief, to arrive at a healthy perspective on the loss.

I empathize and listen to individuals facing loss and grief. Many clients would benefit from my Rogerian Approach (Client-Centered Therapy) because when clients have lost a relationship, boyfriend, girlfriend, marriage, or someone they love and care for, it is important that they have someone who can really listen to them and understand what they are going through. Each individual may be unique to how a person grieve a loss. Therefore, I make sure that I respect my clients' unique ways of handling their loss. At the same time, I offer feedback and professional opinions regarding various grieving processes out there--in current literature/research.

If one is going to love they are going to experience loss. Loss, suffering and grief are part of living. Research clearly shows that the grieving process entails emotional reflection and redefining one's way of being in the world. By engaging in grief counselling with me you will rewrite the story of your life so that the one you have lost lives on in you via your memories and in your life via the stories you tell others about them. As the saying goes, "after great pain a new life emerges" by deeply engaging in the grief process with me you will open yourself up to the emergence of a rich and full life.

Grief and loss counseling is provided for all members of the family. Grief and loss can complicate all areas of family life and make parenting difficult during this season. Keystone offers support to parents who are grieving and to parents who are trying to understand and support their grieving child. It is also sometimes difficult understanding how to help a grieving child. Keystone provides a developmentally appropriate perspective on grief and provides counseling to those going through this journey.

If you have lost someone close to you through death, relocation or the end of a relationship, and feel isolated and lonely, it takes time and support to gently move forward in life. If you are shy or feel anxiety in social situations it can be hard to reach out for help and create the supportive relationships you need. I can help you move forward, gain a new sense of self worth, and begin to create meaningful nurturing social connections.

Many people reach out for help to deal with grief or loss of a friend or family member. Its important to remember to be kind to your self during this time there is no right or wrong way to grieve. Its also important to remember a person can miss or grieve the loss of not only people but also jobs, events, trips, freedom, health and a number of other things As you process your memories of a person or an event you will be contained in a safe environment with acceptance and care.

At Living Well we journey along side our clients suffering from a loss & offer respect as clients work through their grief. In addition to grief/loss you may be suffering with anxiety or depression, difficult decisions, family concerns & so forth. As such, we attempt to understand all that is going on and then recommend a therapist that's right for you.

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.