Private Practice
Q: What do grief therapists and support groups provide?
- Information about the grieving process
- Nonjudgmental support
- They encourage and validate feelings and thoughts
- They reinforce positive change and help people heal
- They suggest coping techniques
Q: What are the goals of grief counseling?
- To help the grieving person complete any unfinished business with the deceased and say goodbye to the deceased
- To help the grieving person identify feelings and express emotions
- To help the grieving person adjust to the loss
- To help the grieving person talk about the loss
- To help the grieving person adjust to living without the deceased and reinvest energy back into life
- To help provide time to grieve and help the person get through that time
- To educate the grieving person about "normal" grief behavior vs. "abnormal" grief behavior and keep that person within reality
- To provide continuing support
Q: When is professional intervention needed?
- When the grieving person shows symptoms of dysfunction, drug and alcohol abuse, depression, and suicidal tendencies
- Unrealistic expectations that the deceased will return to life
- Behavior that affects the grieving person's ability to work, handle everyday tasks, or take care of themselves
- Intense social withdrawal