Navigating grief

Above all, the aim of grief and loss counselling is to support you through your loss. The time we spend together is a time for you.

Trained in person-centred counselling, I use a number of different counselling tools and skills. My first golden rule is listening to you from beginning to end with deep listening and empathy, as well as having unconditional acceptance of who you are, your thoughts and your feelings. We all grieve in our individual ways, with no loss being identical to another.

As a framework, I use the ‘Skilled Helper’ model, which will help you to assess your current situation, discover how you would like things to be instead, and to work out how to get there. This is integrated with the four Tasks of Mourning – accepting the reality of the loss, processing the pain of grief, adjusting to a world without your loved-one and finally finding a lasting connection with them, bu also being able to move on with a different life. The Tasks are not straight, it’s perfectly normal to go backwards and forwards and even to revisit several tasks. There is not easy cure for grief. The path may be long, winding and full of obstacles, but together we can work through it and come out the other side.