Grief counseling helps mourners with uncomplicated grief go
through the phases of grief. Grief counseling can be provided by
professionally trained people, or in self-help groups where bereaved
people help other bereaved people. All of these services may be
available in individual or group settings.
The goals of grief counseling include:
- Helping the bereaved to accept the loss by helping him or her to talk about the loss
- Helping the bereaved to identify and express feelings related
to the loss (for example, anger, guilt, anxiety, helplessness, and
sadness)
- Helping the bereaved to live without the person who died and to make decisions alone
- Helping the bereaved to separate emotionally from the person who died and to begin new relationships
- Providing support and time to focus on grieving at important times such as birthdays and anniversaries
- Describing normal grieving and the differences in grieving among individuals
- Providing support
- Helping the bereaved to understand his or her methods of coping
- Identifying coping problems the bereaved may have and making recommendations for professional grief therapy