Grief and Loss

Understanding the Pain of Grief…

If you’ve lost a loved one, a job, a marriage, a home or been diagnosed with a disease or are experiencing a difficult life transition, you may be feeling loss associated with deep sadness and fear. Losses can be paralyzing and deeply painful. You may also be fearful of how the situation will resolve and fearful of what your situation might mean to you and where it might lead you. All of this is perfectly understandable.

Most people feel a sense of loss and sadness during periods of their lives–sadness and grief are a normal response to any kind of loss.  However, long periods of sadness can have a negative effect on the quality of life and can cause relationship and/or work related stress. Therapy is beneficial by helping an individual to process and work through these feelings, whether they are recent or longstanding, to understand the meaning of the loss and how to move forward in a positive way, finding new meaning and purpose in life.

Whatever your loss, I want to understand first what the loss means to you and how it is affecting you and your peace of mind. Together, we will address feelings associated with the loss and will work toward regaining a sense of acceptance and empowerment regardless of what you are facing or have experienced.

How does Therapy Help with Grief and Loss?

It may be that people in your life are telling you it’s time to move on, get it together; perhaps their own discomfort with your feelings is getting in the way of you being able to talk freely and express what you need in order to truly “move on” in a new way.  Therapy can provide a place and time to talk openly, without being rushed to grieve so that others will feel better.

Your own frustration with feeling “stuck” may cause you to feel powerless and unable to feel better. Sometimes, grief and loss can lead to depressed feelings or a feeling of being stuck. If the loss you are feeling has led you to these feelings, we will address this too. In my experience, when grief converts to depression, there are underlying feelings that need to be discovered, faced, challenged or perhaps, simply grieved. These feelings can be surprising when discovered, and yet can be powerfully healing when considered in a therapeutic setting.

Working Through Loss

The truth is that some circumstances are just painful and sad – no sugarcoating will change this. During our work together, you will have the opportunity to freely express your thoughts and emotions in a secure and comfortable environment in order to ultimately “move on” in a new and fulfilling way. Expressing these feelings freely is an important part of the process of opening a door to something new and meaningful. When you get short-cut in your grief, you are much more likely to get stuck; our work will be geared toward getting you un-stuck.

If your sad feelings don’t seem to be directly connected to recent circumstances, you might be feeling hopeless and wonder how to even begin to feel better. Together, we will explore these feelings too, make sense of them, and seek new ways of understanding and transforming old ways of thinking and feeling that no longer serve you. These “old ways” often are the source of stuck feelings and hopelessness.

Is it Time to Get Help?

If you are looking to heal and see the light at the end of the tunnel, I would be honored to join you, and at times, guide you, in that journey. Please call or email me to set up an appointment or to learn more about how we could work together.

Phone: 949.222.4200

Email: lisa@lisaquinncounseling.com