Grief Counselling

Grief exists because love exists.

Grief is the pain of missing someone so much that our world feels as though it has been turned upside down, and we would do anything to just have one more moment with our loved one, to have a chance to say all that remains unsaid, a moment to just hold that person in our arms for one more time.

When someone you love dies, everything around you can feel so surreal, the world keeps moving but yours has changed forever. Some days can feel so difficult and finding the strength to get through the day becomes your greatest challenge, of course you still must eat, drink and carryout your own responsibilities of your daily life, but inside nobody knows exactly how your feeling, the internal struggle continues and yet you find yourself saying “I’m fine”. We do not want to burden any one with our true feelings, so grief remains tucked away inside and then suddenly without any warning it’s there again, it’s crept up behind us and it hits us like an enormous wave.

The more we think and feel such strong emotions the more we question how we will ever cope without our loss.

Jacqui is a renowned grief psychotherapist having supported thousands of people to help them understand and navigate their grief, helping them to heal whist honouring the love they hold onto. Grief is so complex missing someone and trying to understand a life without them creates so many strong emotions and feelings. Nobody should ever have to grieve alone, whatever it is you are feeling, it is valid, it does matter, and compassionate support can make all the difference, there is a space for you to just be, a space to share as much or as little as you want to share as you go through your personal journey.

Some days you may feel ok and other days may be very different, you may feel numb or completely challenged and overwhelmed by life matters, things that you were once able to manage so well, feel so difficult now. You may want to explore the many questions that torment your mind and gain new insights, or you may just want to honour the memory of the person who has died. You may want to share photographs or messages that make you smile without having to question if it is ok to share, sharing these moments are all part of our healing process.

Jacqui is trauma informed and holds specialised qualifications in order to integrate your needs, whether it is helping you individually, as a family or within a couple relationship, know that my aim is to make you feel heard and understood.

It can be helpful to understand what happens in your body when you experience grief, for e.g. how our nervous system reacts in many different ways and how the fight, flight or freeze response can activate feelings of anxiety, stress, sadness, anger or emotional shut down. When we understand our emotions, when we can acknowledge and process feelings, we can learn to reduce the intensity and provide a space for healthy healing. Grief counselling is about working through the pain together and finding strategies that work for you, a private, confidential space for you to start a healing process, not about getting over it but indeed about holding onto the love.

How can grief counselling help you?

• To add meaning to your life
• To honour the person who has died
• To share memories, pleasant and difficult
• To process your sadness
• To manage feelings of anger
• To work through feelings of guilt
• To work through shame
• To increase levels of empathy
• To provide you with helpful strategies for anxiety
• To deal with important days e.g. Birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Easter etc.
• To work through thoughts and over thinking
• To consider and discuss your attitudes regarding death and dying
• To be able to hold hope and consider new perspectives
• To set helpful boundaries around difficult conversations with others
• To learn about your window of tolerance
• To develop new ideas regarding the person’s possessions
• To explore your new identity