Grief and Loss Counseling in Avenel, NJ.

I can help you learn how to manage and release the deep pain of grief and loss. Grief is a natural feeling that is a result of loving with all your heart. The loving action is to embrace your very difficult feelings and express the heartache you feel. I create a safe environment for you to go into these challenging feelings and learn how to let them go.

The loss of an important person, can be a terrible shock. I help you with moving through the process of grieving, including issues of survivor guilt, anxiety and depression that may arise after a loss, whether it be loss of a person, job, or pet. When grief feels overwhelming, I can provide the support needed to find meaning in the past, and hope for the future.

Personal loss such as a loved one or due to trauma needs to be mourned in order to move on in one's life. This difficult process requires a 'witness' to the emotional loss. Psychoanalysis serves the function of enabling a person to speak about the loss. It enables an individual to remember in a way that enhances the individual survivor.

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.

The benefit of my approach for someone who is grieving and who has suffered a great loss is that I actively teach you how to accept things that cannot be changed. Only by achieving real acceptance can the individual carry on in life despite the loss. Acceptance in REBT does not mean liking or even denying the loss. Acceptance in REBT means to acknowledge that a great loss has occurred and to feel healthy negative feelings of sadness, even great sadness. The benefit that results is that one can still have some degree of enjoyment in life. One can function without guilt and do well in life despite having suffered a great loss. This is leverage over the loss, the thing that cannot be changed.

Loss is an unavoidable part of life, and is often followed by grief. The process of experiencing, enduring, and resolving grief can be a very lonely and painful one, but manageable and even enriching. The ultimate goal is to accept the loss and reaffirm your life, moving on to more fulfillment than you may imagine possible. Working through this p[rocess with a knowledgable professional is usually very helpful.

Grief counseling 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 searing pain.

If it is a past loss we will talk about that relationship and what it meant to you, and see how that person affected you in your current life and what he/she meant to you. If it is a current or impending loss, we can focus on day-to-day issues to lessen anxiety, and process how to handle what time is left. Practical issues may be discussed. if you find yourself obsessing we will probably focus on feeling, if you find yourself lost in feeling, we may focus on verbalizing your thoughts and your feelings. If you are overwhelmed by depression and find it difficult to function, I will make recommendations for medications and/or alternative strategies.

The range and intensity of emotions experienced as a result of a significant loss often make the grieving person feel like they are going crazy. You need a non-judgemental place to process the loss and the effect it has had and is having on your life, and to talk about what you are experiencing. You need someone who understands the devastation and its profound impact on you and who can help you pick up the pieces and gradually begin to imagine the future in a different 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.