Grief and Loss Counseling in Red Bluff, CA.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross provided that there are 5 grief stages-- Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. I help people acknowledge and welcome all the emotions and experiences grief brings, which we now know can include more than the stages Kubler-Ross has identified. I assist people in adjusting to a new normal without their beloved person/pet. Grief can include grieving loss of past, present, and/or future, and emotional experiences are non-linear and varied from person to person.

When we lose someone we love, it feels like we have lost a part of ourselves. Something within us has been torn out, leaving a hole that we easily imagine will never heal. The pain can be profound, the feelings of helplessness, or regret, or guilt overwhelming. Having a partnership where you can talk through these feelings can make a huge difference not only in how quickly and how well you are able to move through the process of grieving, but also how you ultimately are able to frame the experience and your memories of the person lost into the narrative of your own self and life as you move forward. What you carry with you afterward is just as important as surviving the hurt of the loss.

Grief & Loss: As an experience psychologist, I help people struggling with deep sorrow, pain of loss, guilt, denial, anger, and coping with tragedy process these emotions and experiences in a healthy way. If not handled properly, people can get stuck in 'complicated grief,' meaning that feelings of loss/grief do not improve over time. Through specific interventions, I can help a person move through these painful experiences and emotions to the other side and to eventual acceptance.

Grief and loss is a part of so much more than many recognize in every day life. Most folks are familiar with the Kubler-Ross stages, but processing grief is much more than those five stages. There are tasks of mourning that can be explored and expanded with support in therapy. There are secondary losses as a result of an initial loss. Grief impacts how open we feel to new relationships in our lives. I work with clients to help them understand their responses to grief, move through their grief and feelings through expressive arts and verbal processing.

Have you lost a person that is dear to you? Do you feel that your whole world has come to an end, although the outside world still keeps moving on in the same old way, indifferent to your pain? Do you feel that friends do not really understand what you are going through, and can't fathom your pain. I offer a warm, welcoming and safe place where I can help you work through your grief. I would be honored to listen to your story. Know that my door is open, and that I have a space waiting for you: I am here to help.