Grief and Bereavement

bereavement counselling reading and west berkshire

In this section

Grief Counselling

I have a great deal of experience in grief counselling and would class it as my number one activity and skill. I have been a bereavement counsellor for more than 10 years.  You will benefit from this as it helps me understand most situations and what it takes to move forward with your life. 

Everyone experiences bereavement of someone close at sometime. Whether it is a parent, spouse or partner it will be disruptive to your life. We would not expect to outlive our offspring so if one of them dies it can be hard to accept. Death of a relation or a friend occasionally impacts on our lives.

Clients come to me because they do not understand what is happening to their lives and emotions. Where I fit is to help you understand this transition in your life. One of the key points when looking at bereavement is to understand the stages of grief.

I haven’t seen it all, but I have a lot of experience with bereavement to help you.

Signs

  • crying / feeling helpless
  • anger (not being able to say goodbye)
  • frustration (things left unsaid)
  • loneliness
  • depression
  • resentment
  • void in my life

Suffering from bereavement can occur at any time. Sometimes it takes many years for a person to realise the cause of their unhappiness

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Bereavement Counselling Reading and West Berkshire

The majority of my work is by video using Zoom, Google Meet or Skype.

I have clients across the UK and some in Europe and further afield. I must be well known!

 

My counselling rooms are near Pangbourne so I provide bereavement counselling Reading and West Berkshire area for anyone close enough to be here.

Pet Bereavement

For more on Pet Bereavement – click here.

 

I am experienced with Pet Bereavement. See the page about this.

pet bereavement counselling helps getting over the loss of a dog or cat

The Stages of Grief

Everyone goes through the Stages of Grief in the grieving and mourning process. But grieving is not solely about Bereavement, it could include Separation, Divorce, Redundancy and more. 
Not everyone goes through every stage and the order may vary. Clients come to me because they do not understand what is happening to them, or their emotions. By understanding the stages of grief will consequently help a person struggling with their feelings.

The most commonly referred to stages of grief are in the works of Elisabeth Kubler Ross and David Kessler. These are the 5 Stages of Grief, they are: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.

Bereavement is the usual assumption when discussing the 5 Stages of Grief, but they can equally be related to other forms of loss, such as divorce, separation, redundancy. We grieve for what we had if we were the person who did not want divorce or separation. Coming to terms with redundancy can be difficult because of perceived rejection, even if we could see it coming. We see the redundancy as a loss (of job).

We we touch on the subjects of Bereavement, Depression, Grief & Loss as they are intertwined and consequently discussed in our counselling process.

As we spend time together during our sessions we will explore the stages of grief. I am likely to point these out to you at the time. The counselling process should help you find inner peace. Your acceptance of the process and coming to terms with your emotions will help you move forward. This may take just a few sessions, while for other people it may take more counselling sessions or more time.

Having been through the stages of grief the result is moving on with your life and creating a new role. It does not mean you will forget the past. 

5 Stages of Grief

These are:

Denial – This can’t be happening to me.
Anger – Why is this happening? Who is to blame?
Bargaining – Make this not happen, then in return I will …
Depression – I’m too sad to do anything.
Acceptance – I’m at peace with what happened.

Some people refer to the seven stages of grief. These are Shock, Denial, Bargaining, Guilt, Anger, Depression and Acceptance. There isn’t too much difference. with this in mind I will use the five stages in my work with you.