Grief and Loss Counseling in Mount Prospect, IL.

We are committed to meeting the needs of people who are struggling with grief and loss issues. We want to provide guidance and resources to help you work through your loss in healthy ways. Once a person faces the reality of a loss in his/her life he/she must experience grief. Because grief is a process, someone said, “The only way out of grief is through”. Grief forces us to deal with and face the pain of loss and work through the stages. As a licensed, clinical, professional counseling practice, we offer help. Though you will never forget your loved one - our goal is to help you identify how to move forward finding spiritual and practical resources to help you through it.

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.

I hold grief with deep compassion, honoring it as a tender, human response to the ache of life not going as it should. When left unspoken, grief often takes root in the body or spills into our relationships. In our work together, we’ll gently make space for what hurts—because only by feeling it can we begin to heal. Grief can be a sacred bridge from pain to hope, from disconnection to renewed life and meaning.

I like to help the person work through grief and loss by helping them connect with their sorrow and bring loving closure to those relationships. This may include role playing and also narrative writing allowing them to express their feelings, memories, regrets, etc. Often we may create an experience where they can say goodbye and begin to let go and move on.

Losing a loved one is probably one of the most difficult challenges we can endure. Our entire perspective on life can change in an instant. Your greif experience is unique because only you know the nuances of your relationship to the person you lost. This is a time to be gentle with yourself as you move through the stages of grief but also to make healthy choices for yourself, which is not always easy to do on your own. I'd be honored to walk with you through this painful time as you explore your thoughts and feelings and learn to embrace life without your loved one.

"As for grief, you'll find it comes in waves. When the ship is first wrecked, you're drowning, with wreckage all around you. You find some piece of the wreckage and you hang on for a while. Maybe it's some physical thing. Maybe it's a happy memory. Maybe it's a person who is also floating. For a while, all you can do is float. Stay alive." Grief and loss comes in all forms - from job loss to death of a loved one. Emotional based therapy will help you cope with the loss and adjust to a "new normal". I'll help you explore the loss, your grieving process, and help you find closure.

Times of grief are some of the most painful experiences we have as human beings. But these times are also wonderful in the sense that this is part of our humanity - it's painful because of our ability and capacity to love. With love comes loss - and with loss comes great emotional pain. But the grief journey can also be a time of amazing reflection, growth, and renewal. Sometimes grief is fresh and sometimes grief is deep-seated from events long past. Either way, learning to not fear your grief but to be able to sit with it and use it as a tool to transform yourself is a powerful benefit of this great emotional pain.

Healing in the grief process looks different for everyone and I can provide a space for you to feel and share what you need to. I will provide support and empathetic listening to remind you that you are not alone during this difficult time. We can also identify other ways to connect with others and feel supported within your friends and family as well. Although nothing can fix a loss, therapy can be a powerful tool in the process to experience some relief and begin to heal.

Grief counseling applies to many types of loss, not just death. Counseling for loss can be an opportunity to memorialize the person, relationship, or experience you lost. Counseling should include the joy and laughter of the loss as well as the sadness and pain. Uncomplicated grief counseling can be short-term, 1-6 sessions, and is covered by insurance in many cases.

There are multiple forms of loss, ranging from lost friendship to to the loss of a loved one, which could be a pet or a person. I would encourage open communication about feelings and strongly believe that an individual's feelings should not be judged or criticized. I would also encourage the individual to allow sufficient time to recover from their loss; there is no "right" amount of time to process a loss.

Grief looks different on everyone. Losing someone or something has different implications for everyone and we can experience a variety of emotions. Grief can happen not only after a death but also due to a breakup, friendships ending, moving, change in identity such as due to an illness, and more. Let’s explore what grief looks like for YOU and the emotions that come with it. I am here to meet you where you are at and at your pace. It’s not about “moving on”. It’s about learning what life looks like now and what is in your control. It’s about finding healing but healing is not the absence of pain.

Grief and loss is like a deep well where pain lives. Counseling is a process that allows you to talk about your loved one or the loss you've experienced in an on-going way until healing begins to occur. This is not a conversation you have with friends or family very often as most people don't know how to handle your grief or loss. I've worked with many grieving individuals and somehow we find a way to find life and live it fully again.