Love never dies, but a lifetime of loss or the death of a loved one can leave us feeling utterly empty, hopeless, heartbroken, ravaged, depleted, and in agony.  And it can render us temporarily nonfunctional.  My experience of loss – both personally and with clients – is an experience of deep and painful transformation that ultimately leads to discovery of great power and love.  But the road there is not easy, and we need guidance and support to get there.

My job as your therapist is to give you my professional knowledge of grief and grieving while supporting you on a simple, human level so that you emerge from your loss with more insight and power.  This means that I guide you through your experience with deep empathy, and help you create the space you need to move through and integrate the person or people you have lost back into your schema – such that they become a healthy part of who you are in the world.

In loss, you need time to grieve and space to feel the multitude of strong and often unfamiliar emotions.  Your heart wants to open again, but it needs to know the full spectrum of grief.  I have always believed that the amount of grief you experience is tantamount to the immensity of love you have in your body and mind, and that love often came from the very person you are grieving. 

In times of agony, opening your heart is perhaps the last thing you want to do, but after moving through the different stages of grief, it is likely the very thing that allows you to step into a new, more powerful being in this world.  To learn more about my own personal relationship with grief, read my blog at www.thewrittenriver.com or click on the blog link above.

Transform Grief