Explore Grief & Loss
Loss is an excruciatingly painful experience that is an inevitable part of life.
Loss can be sudden, anticipated, or pro-longed. For instance, suddenly losing your job or the tragic passing of a loved one, recognizing a relationship is about to end, or knowing life is time-sensitive due to an illness. However, whether we knew a form of loss was coming or not the intense feeling of loneliness, sadness, and feeling lost is always present. Grieving is a natural part of life that allows us to have a balance of sitting in the pain in a healthy way while also honouring ourselves in how we want to experience closure and move forward.
What Does Grief Look Like?
Guilt & Shame
Depression
Loss of motivation
Denial
Isolation
Healing from grief is not linear, together we will honour your process while learning skills to aid in a functioning life.
Types of Grief & Loss I Treat
Life Transitions
As we move through life, we enter different transitions whether they are welcomed or not. We can also experience grief and loss even when part of us is understanding and supportive about the end of a life chapter. For instance, if your child is moving out of the home and for the first time in many years you are childless. You can be equally excited and proud of your child for moving out while also feeling a sense of loss in identity as a parent or the presence of them always being home. There are many facets of this type of grief and loss that may look like, getting married, retiring from a career, having a baby, moving, and aging. With our work together you can grieve the past and be hopeful about the present and future.
Ambiguous Loss
Ambiguous loss can be confusing and complicated to experience. This type of loss is often prevalent when we are feeling unresolved grief or like there is no closure in our grief process. This may be due to the unique experiences surrounding the loss such as, knowing a loved one is missing or is bodily gone due to, natural disasters, war, genocide, and kidnapping. Ambiguous loss may also be experienced in respect to your own abilities, such as receiving a new health diagnosis (mental and physical health) that affects the way you lived life before. Together, we can safely identify the pain and explore the losses and begin to develop skills to re-build a meaningful life after loss.
Relationship Loss
The loss of a relationship can be devastating. To have a relationship end that you put your whole life and being in to can be extremely difficult to understand and process. Often the pain of the event can distort how we perceive the loss, and harmful automatic thoughts develop. Maybe thoughts of “I am unlovable” are keeping you trapped in not feeling a sense of closure. Grief from a relationship can also be formed when an unhealthy relationship ends with a friend, partner, or family member. There is a misconception that grief is not experienced when something unhealthy “ends”. However, this is false as there are numerousness losses experienced in these forms of relationship unique to each person. We can grieve “what was”, for instance, if you had a home with this person, had a specific lifestyle, or the constant presence of someone else being there aiding in familiarity. With therapeutic treatment, you will have a non-judgemental space to explore this loss while building effective tools in developing self-empowerment and resiliency in life without these relationships.
Death Loss
The death of a loved one is an indescribable unbearable pain. It can often have us questioning how we can live without this person’s presence. The absence of a loved one can also directly impact our mood, behaviors, thoughts, and beliefs. It can be extremely difficult to find the motivation to do day-to-day tasks such as eat, shower, and experiencing life altogether. Often, acting as if there’s no point in in living as well. With my clinical support, you no longer need to experience this pain alone. Together, we will make space for you to grieve and process the death and create tools to help you experience closure while honouring the person who has passed. Through our work together, you can experience hope and live a purposeful life with new facets of gratitude.