Grief and Loss Counselling in Kanata, ON.

The more you love the greater the pain of loss. Sandra Forbes and Associates at Relationship Solutions can help you remember with less pain. Our support, understanding and active practices tailored to your situation will honour your grief but free you to live more fully again. We know people do not "just get over" the pain of losing the opportunity to parent, losing a child, a life partner, a friend, a beloved pet or a family member. We can help you live with the loss you cannot control to a life where there is meaning again.

Are you using alcohol, substances, or addictive behaviors to cope with grief and loss? Although they provide relief in the short term, their long-term effects on your relationships and health can make it even more difficult to cope. Through a compassionate non-judgmental approach, I help clients explore their relationship to grief and loss so that they can overcome addictive coping strategies. If you're looking for another way forward, feel free to reach out and we can set up a free consultation to discuss further.

I open up space for clients accept and share their grief, since many people don't feel comfortable doing so, especially with others. I help clients to work toward resolving unresolved grief and express their unexpressed grief. I help clients to honour & give space to their grief. In today's rushed world, people often don't take adequate time to honour their grief & sense of loss. I help clients to try and honour what their lost loved one would have wanted for them, or, sometimes to take back their life back from a lost loved one who didn't value or validate them. I work to prepare clients for grief to be lifelong, though that doesn't mean that it will always have the same intensity.

I approach grief and loss with a deep understanding that it manifests in various forms, each deserving recognition and validation. I emphasize that grieving is a natural response not only to the death of loved ones but also to the loss of pets, plants, and any significant changes in life. By normalizing these experiences, I help clients see that their feelings are valid and that grief can touch any aspect of our lives. It's important to acknowledge and process these feelings at your own pace, and I provide a supportive environment to explore these emotions. Whether it's a cherished pet, a favourite plant, or a life transition, I guide clients through their unique grieving process.

What makes grief so painful? Perhaps it's because we experience a double loss. The first is losing a loved one, the second is losing a part of our ourselves. This is why the familiar saying, "you gotta let go," can sometimes make things worse. Instead of letting go, I'm interested in how we can bring people closer: closer to what we hold dear, closer to what we cherished most… In doing so, we can begin to develop a new relationship with our departed loved one, and simultaneously offer comfort and healing to parts of ourselves.

Grieving is the intense pining or yearning for the loss of anything; for example it could be a job, a particular time, your health, an object or a person. One can feel disbelief, shock, fear, anger, frustration, sadness, abandoned, hopeless, shame and/or humiliation. How is the loss affecting you? Any loss can be traumatic, life altering and difficult to cope with. The pain may never completely go away but it can be managed in a healthy way.

At some point in life, everyone will experience grief and loss. Grief is a normal response to a final disconnection from something or someone important to us. While grief is a common human experience, we will all experience loss in very different ways. It may occur following the loss of a pet, job, relationship, or loved one. Together, we will explore your grief to develop an understanding of what your loss means to you, and how it has impacted you. Together, we will explore how you can effectively experience and express your grief in a way that makes sense for you - there are no rules or timelines when it comes to grief.

As a person who has navigated many of life's challenges, I understand the struggle of grief and loss both as a person with lived experience and a professional. My experience in safe emotion release work (Psychodramatic Bodywork) can assist with helping to address the deep feelings related to this topic. Grief and loss are deeply personal experiences, and there is no one way to cope or navigate the experiences. Lets work together during this difficult time.