Grief and loss counseling helps people grieve difficult losses including the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or the end of a relationship. It helps people navigate their grief process and eventually accept, understand, and move forward from their loss. Thriveworks grief therapists in San Diego, CA have specific experience, training, and skills that enable them to best support grieving individuals.
Grief and loss counseling isn’t one-size-fits-all, but it involves sharing about your loss and then working with your counselor to acknowledge and accept your new reality in its wake. Your provider at Thriveworks in San Diego, CA will design your treatment plan around your unique needs and goals for therapy, applying the counseling techniques that best support them.
If you have recently experienced an event like the death of a loved one, a breakup or divorce, the loss of a job, or another major life change, then you may want to seek grief and loss counseling. Grief can be caused by many experiences and events, so if you feel that you are having trouble moving on from a certain event or find that it is still impacting your life and functioning, grief and loss counseling can help you process it more effectively so that you can move on and once again find fulfillment and satisfaction in your life.
There are many counseling theories for treating grief, one of the most frequently used being the dual process model of grief which helps people acknowledge who or what they’ve lost through rumination while also adjusting to the new roles and identities that this loss has now placed on them. There are also many commonly used therapy approaches used in grief and loss counseling, including Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and traumatic grief therapy.
For many, grief and loss counseling lasts for about 6 months. For others, it may last shorter or longer, depending on the severity of their loss and their grief.
Have you experienced the impact of a significant change or loss in your own life? That’s where the grief counseling experts at Thriveworks San Diego, CA can assist you. We offer comprehensive, personalized grief counseling on an individualized basis, addressing your needs, wants, and goals. Learn more below and reach out to schedule your first session.
Do I Need Grief Therapy?
In most instances, the decision to seek out grief counseling (or grief therapy, as it’s referred to interchangeably) is yours. But there are some key indicators that you might benefit more from talking to someone include:
- Sadness that doesn’t seem to fade
- Anger about your loss and what could have been done to prevent it
- Regret toward past feelings or actions
- Guilt in regards to your inability to prevent the event(s)
- Confusion about how to move forward after experiencing the loss
- Yearning for the individual or “thing” you have lost
These emotions are normal to experience during the grieving and bereavement process. But if these feelings prevent you from being able to function during your daily life, it’s highly likely that grief counseling could offer a helping hand.
How Does Grief Therapy Work?
Yes, grief therapy can help you work through one of the most difficult times in your life. By talking with a therapist in grief counseling sessions, you’ll begin to sort through the emotional weight, the shock, and the emptiness left in the wake of a significant loss.
Grief therapy works to help you:
- Accept loss: Sometimes, the hardest part of your loss is accepting the permanence that this person, job, object, or relationship is gone permanently. Your grief counselor can help you completely understand this process.
- Cope more healthily: Though we might try our hardest, sometimes vices take hold when we’re grieving. It’s not uncommon to cope with alcohol, drugs, risky sex, or self-harming behaviors while grieving—but a therapist can help you learn to meditate, journal, organize your day, and even run your household more effectively.
- Process difficult emotions: Some people experience difficult emotions immediately—others experience their whirlwind of emotions much later. One goal of grief counseling is to express and explore whatever emotions you are feeling at the moment.
- Move forward with your lives: When you lose a loved one, your whole life changes. A grief counselor can help you adjust to life without this person, in a way that will still allow you to live a happy, successful life.
Schedule Grief Counseling in San Diego, CA
Without the right support and coping skills, the grieving process can feel like a never-ending nightmare. There’s no need to endure that and suffer alone.
At Thriveworks San Diego, our therapists are here to help. If you think you could benefit from partnering with them, schedule a grief counseling session online, or give our office a call to get started. When you schedule with Thriveworks, you get access to industry-leading perks, such as:
- We make therapy and psychiatry affordable—we’re in network with insurance
- Compassionate care from experts in the mental health field
- Schedule your session easily over the phone with our support team
- Meet with a therapist in person at our San Diego, CA office today—or online, with virtual video therapy options
- Get high-quality therapy and psychiatry from expert mental health professionals
You may not be able to change the past—but you can prepare for a better future by booking a session with one of our grief therapists. We look forward to hearing from you at Thriveworks San Diego, CA.
