Bereavement Support

What is bereavement?

The words grief, mourning, and bereavement are sometimes used interchangeably.

Bereavement is the time of grief and mourning you experience after you lose someone you loved – it’s the time you spend adjusting to the loss of that person.

Do I need grief counseling?

You may have heard that you should get grief counseling after a loved one dies. While it’s helpful to some people, not everyone wants or needs grief counseling.

For years, we’ve read about the stages of grief (such as those popularized by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who was researching and writing about dying patients) but the reality is that there are no neat, fixed stages that you go through in your grief journey. Mourning is messy, unpredictable, zig-zaggity, and exhausting.

You’re the best judge about whether you can benefit from a visit, a phone conversation, or individual counseling with one of our bereavement counselors.

If you enjoy learning from others, a bereavement support group might be a good fit for you.