Bereavement Counselling in Crewe and Nantwich or Online

If you’re looking for bereavement counselling for your or someone else, then my heart goes out to you in this time of grief.

Rather than just ploughing through, I understand why you might to want to reach out for help from someone who knows how to deal with it. Family may be too preoccupied with their own grief and you might not want to burden friends, or you may have withdrawn from them. Support groups and services such as those from Cruse can help enormously, but sometimes you just need to talk individually in person to someone who gets it.

I can help if you are looking for bereavement counselling in Crewe and Nantwich or online. Watch the following video or read on for more details on how bereavement counselling can help.

How Bereavement Counselling Can Help

Grief comes in many forms and can affect us all differently. The immediate aftermath is not usually the time for bereavement counselling as there is too much going on and the feelings are too raw. But as other people start getting on with their life and you’re left with your feelings, that’s when it can really help.

Some people just need to talk about their loved one and that is absolutely fine. Others need help finding a way to live after the bereavement and that is absolutely fine too. Others may be afraid to talk about it in case all the grief and sadness comes flooding out. That is also okay by me. Or you might be flipping between all of these, sometimes on the same day. Grief can be like that.

The key thing is being listened to, rather than being what to do or how you ‘should’ feel. Good bereavement counselling is about listening and being with your feelings, whatever they are, so you can find a way of living with what’s happened. Sometimes you might just need an outlet that family and friends can’t provide.

What Bereavement Counselling is Helpful For

We tend to think of bereavement counselling as only applicable for a close family member who has died, but this isn’t true. It might be a beloved pet, or a dear friend. It might even be a grief that you can’t speak of publicly because of other relationships but it still cuts to the core. This is known as ‘disenfranchised grief’. You still feel it, but it can’t be acknowledged publicly or shared.

The death of a dream is often one of the saddest parts. When we lose a loved one we also lose a future together. But it also applies to major life transitions too, such as redundancy or a change in health or having to move home against your wishes. These are all forms of grief that bereavement counselling can help with.

Anticipatory grief refers to things that we know are going to happen but that haven’t yet happened. For example, a parent with dementia where you have already lost them as they’re not the same person, but they are still physically here. This can also apply to terminal illnesses or being aware of a horrific upcoming, life-changing event. Bereavement counselling offers us an outlet to discuss and explore these feelings. It’s like double grief, once before the event and then again afterwards but with completely different feelings each time, e.g. perhaps guilt at a sense of relief.