When is the Best Time to Start Bereavement Counseling?

It is tough to lose a loved one. Dealing with death can be overwhelming, and many people take comfort in getting help.

Bereavement counseling, also known as grief counseling, provides a supportive space to make sense of loss and helps you to take the first steps in the healing process.

When should you start bereavement counseling?

Here’s what you need to know about what bereavement is, how counseling may help, and when you should speak with a grief therapist:

What is Bereavement?

Grieving is what you feel for the loss of a loved one. It can be a mix of emotional responses, from deep sorrow to anger to confusion. Grief is a natural response to loss and a feeling you must go through.

What are the 3 Cs of Grief?

Choose

When people experience Grief, they have options for managing it. Such choices could involve seeking professional help, turning to friends and family, or exploring individual coping strategies.

Connect

Grieving is a necessary time to reach out to others for support. Being able to share emotions and experiences with others who can relate can be a source of comfort and aid in coping with feelings of loneliness and alienation.

Communication

The expression of experiences and feelings needs to be open and honest in the work of mourning. Communication Writing, speech, or some other form of conversation is the byproduct of communication, and communication creates healing and empathy.

Can Bereavement Counselling Help with Grief?

Explore Emotions in a Safe Space

Grief counseling is a place to talk about what is happening without fear of judgment.

It is okay to experience all feelings, including sadness, anger, guilt, or even relief, in this haven as part of the grief cycle.

Understand the Grieving Process

Grief isn’t a straight path – it’s a journey filled with intensely personal highs and lows.

However, grief counselling provides an understanding of what are commonly known as the five stages of loss: the inevitability of loss, shock, the overwhelming emotion of denial, the frustration of depression and anger, the struggle of bargaining, and then the acceptance of moving on.

But it's worth keeping in mind that everyone's experience is their own. Not everyone grieves in the same order, and some individuals may not experience every stage to the same extent.

Grief therapists work to help people understand that there is no right or wrong way to grieve.

Develop Coping Mechanisms and Strategies

A key focus of grief counselling is to support and empower them with practical tools and practices to help deal with the intensity and complexity of feelings experienced while adapting to the loss.

Therapists actively partner with clients to discover and refine healthy coping skills specific to individual clients and their life situations.

It could be relaxation and mindfulness, journaling, creative pursuits, or creating routines that give a sense of order and control.

Navigate the Complexities of Loss

Grief is not just the absence of someone you have lost but a dramatic reordering of your inner world and your very reality.

Grief counselling SOS: Grief counseling helps people who have lost a loved one to manage the many layers, questions, dilemmas, and the different identity and relationship shifts that naturally occur through loss.

Bereavement counselors provide direction and solace as clients struggle with matters of meaning, ethics, and the existential aspects of mortality.

After How Long Can I Have a Grief Therapist?

There are a few timeframes professionals suggest when to start with grief counselling, anything from 3 weeks to 6 months after a loss, but prescribing a life history? Well, there's no one-size-fits-all timeline.

Some people may never need the comfort of a therapist; some people may feel nothing for a month and then find themselves taking on a tidal wave of feeling; still others may struggle years after a loss when some life experience intensifies the distress connected to the loss.

If nothing else, regardless of the timing, consider grief counseling if you have the following:

Persistent Feelings of Overwhelming Sadness

If you find that months have passed since the loss of your loved one and your sadness feels all-consuming, you may want to consider seeking bereavement counselling.

Grieving can be an emotional rollercoaster, but if those intense periods of overwhelming sadness never seem to let up and get in the way of your daily life or moments of relief, know that seeking professional support can offer you direction and support.

Inability to Perform Daily Tasks

If you're struggling with everyday tasks (such as getting up in the morning, going to work, or caring for yourself or your family), consider consulting a bereavement counsellor.

A grief counselor can also work with you to overcome personal challenges and manage emotions associated with your fearing that your partner isn't ready to let go.

Social Withdrawal

Feelings of loneliness and of losing contact with others are often part of the grieving experience. “If you find that you’re isolating from friends and family, or you don’t want to do the things that you used to enjoy, it could be that you need more help.”

Bereavement Counseling can provide a place for exploring those feelings of isolation and restore connections with others, which might be supportive of understanding during the difficult time.

Intrusive Thoughts

If you're finding that thoughts of your loss are frequently occupying your mind or if it's difficult for you to move on from the loss, if you're having flashbacks during the day or dreams at night, or if your dreams have turned into nightmares, you might be someone who needs to consider getting professional help.

A therapist who specializes in Grief can help you work through and find positive ways to handle these symptoms.

Impacted Mental Health

Losing someone you love can take a toll on your mental health and worsen any mental health conditions you may already have -- including depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

If you find that it has exacerbated those pesky underlings, though, or if you're dealing with symptoms like pervasive sadness, suicidal thoughts, panic, or disordered eating, seek support from a licensed medical professional.

Grief counseling can offer focused interventions to support your mental health in coping with your own unique situation for addressing Grief and supporting recovery.

Addressing Grief with Bereavement Counselling

If you are grieving, know that you are not alone.

Health Families of Albuquerque provides caring and sympathetic bereavement or Grief counselling to help you cope during this challenging period.

Contact Healthy Familes of Albuquerque at 505-842-9911 today to begin your healing journey.