Grief and Loss
The stages of grief…
Walking through the valley of darkness…
The grief journey…
Despairing…
Coping with grief…
Deep anguish…
Mourning…
Bereavement…
Your entire life imploding…
Your entire life exploding…
Your entire life imploding and exploding simultaneously – which is actually quite a trick and not for the faint of heart.
Call grief what you will. At times it may be difficult to remember that you are not the only person who has, is, or will experience grief.
Grief comes with the territory of being human. You may be grieving the death of a loved one. (By that I mean a two-legged, four-legged, finned, feathered, or scaled loved one.) Or you may be grieving the loss of a career, or the loss of your health, or the end of a marriage or relationship, or an estrangement of a family member, or the loss of what you thought a functional society should look like, or multiple things all at once. Grief comes in all shapes and sizes and can be a precarious journey indeed.
In the article “What Is Grief” The Hospice Foundation of America sums it up well. Grief is normal. Grief is individual. There is no time table for grief. It’s not a train. Contrary to popular belief, there are no stages of grief. Unfortunately, we can’t just check off or cross off an emotion or perception and move on to the next step. If only we could.
As a mental health therapist I focus on listening to your grief story and supporting you in whatever comes next – because only you may decide that. If you want to more about my therapy style, click this:
8 common grief therapy techniques – Better Place Forests
You may not be a person who needs the support of a mental health therapist for grief. If you are, I am here, and there are lots of people around the country who are here too. You may use https://www.psychologytoday.com/us to enter your geographic location. From there, choose Grief in the Issues category.
“Grief is like the ocean. The waves ebb and flow. Sometimes the water is calm. Other times it's turbulent. In order to survive, I had to learn to swim. In moments when I struggled with massive waves of grief, I rode it out.”
― Dana Arcuri, Sacred Wandering: Growing Your Faith In The Dark
Kathy Link, LCSW
She/Her
Licensed Clinical Social Worker