Grief Counselling

After bereavement, family and friends may support us, but sometimes this is not enough. Sadness is a typical and natural reaction. We may want to discuss the deceased person, will probably become upset when we do.

If a person is also thought to be suffering from depression, antidepressants may be prescribed by a doctor. Antidepressants treat the depression, but they do not have an effect on the underlying problem – their grief. Untreated depression can make it harder for the person to cope with their grief though.

There are many different responses to grief, which are totally normal, and doctors, counsellors and psychiatrists may be reluctant to diagnose a person as mentally ill during a bereavement. They may provide support to help the person grieve.

A grief counsellor can help the mourning process by allowing a person to move through the stages of grief in a relationship that is supportive and confidential. The grief counsellor will try to help the person to accept their loss and talk about it. They will encourage them to identify and express their feelings of anger, guilt, sadness, helplessness and anxiety.

The grief counsellor will also help the person live without the deceased, encouraging them to make decisions alone. They may need to separate emotionally from the deceased and form new relationships. The grief counsellor will also provide support and identify ways of coping with the bereavement. The grief counsellor will also help the person to realise that what they are experiencing is normal and a typical response to grief, that they are not “going mad”.

The course is divided into eight lessons:

1. Nature and Scope of Grief and Bereavement
2. Stages of Grief
3. Grief and Children
4. Grief and adolescents
5. Adjustment to Bereavement
6. Abnormal Grief
7. Preparing for Grief and Bereavement
8. Future outlook and Long-term Grief

What you will learn:

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• Describe the nature and scope of grief and bereavement counselling and individuals’ attitudes to grief.
• To identify through continuing exploration, the meaning and responses of a wide range of loss situations, taking cultural variations into account.
• To describe the different ways that children may respond to grief and to develop appropriate strategies for helping them to cope.
• Determine the different ways that adolescents may respond to grief and to examine how these perspectives have translated into counselling practice
• Describe the different means through which individuals are able to adjust to loss and to consider other options available to them.
• Describe when an individual’s response to grief may be considered abnormal and to discuss methods of assisting such individuals.
• Define the different ways of preparing for grief and bereavement and to consider social, cultural and psychological perspectives.
• Describe separation, loneliness, the effects of long-term grief and long-term counselling support strategies.