Grief and Loss Counseling in Shoemakersville, PA.

Losing a loved one is painful. Working through grief is essential for acceptance and healing. We are here to help you work through this difficult time. There are five stages of grief: anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Working through this process takes time. Therapy can provide a safe and supportive environment for your loss. Whether you have lost a parent, child, spouse, friend, we are here to help you through this difficult time.

When we think of grief and the grieving process, we think of losing someone that we love. While this is true, there are many things we can grieve; a broken relationship, job loss, loss of a pet, lost opportunities, loss of familiar environment or things, etc. Basically, if you value it and lose it, you will grieve it. While there is no "right" way to grieve, I can serve as your supportive guide assisting you through the grief process, helping you navigate the complex thoughts and feelings that accompany significant loss. Our goal is to reach a level of acceptance and resiliency that best serves you.

Grief affects our lives in many different ways. Often we are not aware of its impact physically, emotionally or spiritually or how a loss has impacted us even years later. REACH Counseling Services offers support that encompasses all these dimensions and understand that grief and loss can be healed and that life can move forward with hope and healing. We use a variety of approaches to help you deal with loss and grief.

When one person in a family experiences grief or loss, everyone is affected. Sometimes an entire family struggles to adjust to a death or a cross-country move or to a divorce. In any of these cases, a person's need for comfort can conflict with their emotions, causing confusion and conflict among people who are trying to support one another. In addition, children and teenagers can react to loss very differently than do adults, so the signs of pain or distress are not obvious. If there has been a loss for someone in your family or there is an impending loss (planned separation due to marital conflict, children leaving for college), I would welcome the opportunity to help.

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.

To help a client cope through grief and loss, I sometimes use the example of how an oyster forms a pearl. The oyster ingests a grain of sand that causes pain, and which cannot be removed or dissolved (just like we cannot eliminate the pain of missing a loved one). So the oyster begins to encase the grain of sand with layers of calcium-like substance, that makes the grain of sand easier to carry and hold, without the rough edges. Coping through grief and loss can involve learning how to unpack, experience, and adjust how we carry the pain. Therapy can help you soften and encase the pain of loss, forming a "pearl" around it that is easier to carry with you, and perhaps make it more precious.