Grief and Loss Counselling in Summerland, BC.

While each person's way of grieving may be unique; as humans, we will all experience it. And while it is so painful at times, grief helps us to accept and understand what the loss means for us, so that we can create new meaning around it. Along the way, people may find themselves feeling stuck or lost - and this is where counselling can help. My understanding of attachment theory, emotionally focused therapy, and the human experience provides a map to guide us through, together. We all suffer in life, but suffering is made more tolerable when we don't have to do it alone.

Counseling with Olivia through a trauma-informed perspective can provide a compassionate and supportive space for clients navigating grief and loss. Olivia prioritizes safety, trust, and understanding, recognizing how trauma impacts emotional and physical well-being. By focusing on the client’s unique experiences, she helps them process their pain, rebuild resilience, and find meaning amid loss. This approach emphasizes empowering clients to establish healthy coping strategies and restore hope in the aftermath of profound emotional challenges. Through a tailored, empathetic framework, Olivia fosters healing and growth, guiding clients toward a sense of peace and renewed purpose.

Everyone at some point in their lives will have to grieve. Dealing with grief and loss is different for everyone and dependent on our relationship with the deceased, our religious beliefs, and our previous experiences with death. The pain we experience can be overwhelming and some people need additional support. We understand the wide range of emotions and behaviours associated with grief and will be with you every step of the way.

Grey Matters International and the work of Kevin J. Fleming, Ph.D approaches issues of grief & loss through the lens of innovation----instead of growing the same neural networks responsible for the pain in weekly therapy sessions, we reset the brain to move forward quicker and efficiently by working on the stuck limbic system so as to empower the person with more success and traction. For no one wants to stay in a grief mode for too long; but when you don’t include the brain in your work with someone, you risk describing the water to them while they drown and calling it success. Contact Grey Matters International, Inc now at kevin@kevinflemingphd.com or 877-606-6161.

Often people can become overwhelmed with grief where you might feel shut down low energy states or highly activated states. This is due to the fact that the grief is so large the nervous system does not have the capacity to process it so it either gets stuck on high or shuts down into low energy states. Robin first works to effectively help to build the capacity to process emotions in your body. Then she titrates into the grief allowing it to process slowly and release out of the body .

Navigating through the intense emotions of grief and loss can be overwhelming and often lonely. Grief and loss is something that every single human is going to navigate at some point in their life, the challenge is that it is experienced very differently for everyone. Through our connection, my primary goal is to support you in understanding how to navigate through the intensity of it and acquiring some tools to move through the journey.

Grief is a deeply personal experience, and there is no single “right way” to move through it. In my work, I provide a compassionate and supportive space where you can share your story, process difficult emotions, and find ways to carry your loss with gentleness. I use an attachment-focused approach to help you explore how loss impacts your sense of connection and safety, while also drawing on nervous system regulation techniques to support your body and mind through overwhelming feelings. For those who are experiencing traumatic grief, I may integrate EMDR to help process painful memories and reduce the intensity of emotional triggers.

There are several tasks of grieving that a person must go through. Sometime our grief is complex grief (being hurt by another person or being responsible for the loss ourselves.) It does not matter how early in the grieving process that you seek help, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) will receive the excess emotional pain and speed up the process of grief.

The pain of loss comes in many forms. Everyone experiences grief differently and there is no "right" way to do it. Often there is not only the loss of a specific person or situation, but also the pain of the loss of hopes, dreams and future visions. Healing from loss and separation takes time. Therapy can provide a safe place to explore emotions, understand one's sense of loss/ grief and find ways to manage feelings. The human heart holds a great capacity for both sorrow and joy.

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.

Grief and loss are unavoidable. We may think that time alone will enable us to heal, but this is rarely the case. Although time does help in the healing process, to truly heal, we need to work through our losses and the grief they bring. I can help you to do just that. I do not believe we were meant to shoulder our grief on our own. So if you find yourself somehow "stuck", and unable to truly move on, please contact me.

Working through grief and loss takes time--I will go at your pace and accompany you on your journey. Perhaps you have read about the stages of grief--this does not mean you will go through these stages in any particular order, in fact, you may go through all the stages in the space of one hour and then go through them again. Together we will explore tools and ways to help you navigate your feelings around your loss, and find the meaning and purpose to continue. Sometimes this means talking about who you lost and what impact this had on you, finding connections to others who have had a similar experience, writing or drawing, or creating something to honour your loss.

Everybody has experienced loss; some events have more impact on our mind than others. There are circumstances in life that make almost impossible to process this loss. There are way and methods to help with the normal flow of that process in order to overcome the pain. I have over 20 years helping people to find their way and their new identity after the loss.