Grief counselling - what to expect ?

Coping with bereavement
1

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone can share their experience of councelling and if you found it useful ? Not anything personal just your overall feelings about it .

I’ve had a few 1-1 counselling sessions at a hospice . I’m not sure what I expected , but the sessions seem very ad-hoc . No structure to it , he doesn’t even take notes so I find I’m repeating myself a bit . He’s a good sounding board , but I feel I’m just crying at him for an hour a week and I’m not sure what good that’s doing me . I can cry at my friends and family . He does assure me that what I’m feeling is normal in grief and I shouldn’t expect too much of myself , but I already know that .

Has anyone had a more structured approach to their sessions or is this the norm in grief councelling ?

2

Hi janetteR1,
My counselling has finished after 9 weeks,also at a hospice. I know what you mean,but to be honest. I needed a safe space to say stuff i could not tell other people, as i didn’t want to upset them.
I don’t have people near me,so i really needed it. I did make her cry at one stage.
Some of stuff she told me makes sense and i hope i will care about myself enough to follow it one day.

2 Likes
3

I had 18 weeks of counselling… she never took notes. She may have written something afterwards but I dont know for sure.
She was my safe space, I told her things about our relationship that I wouldnt want anyone else to know.
She let me talk, she let me cry and sometimes we laughed. No judgement, no careless, thoughtless comments.
Just a safe space.

I had questions about dealing with certain situations, such as returning to work and people making thoughtless comments… we talked through them, how I might react and practiced what I wanted to say.
That gave me a bit of courage to face people and explain how I was feeling, or how they’d made me feel.
Its your time and your safe space and if you repeat yourself, maybe your trying to work something out…?

4

Hi

I had counselling with Sue Ryder. It was done by zoom meetings with just my counsellor and me. It was my safe space to talk. It was for 6 weeks. It was invaluable. We talked about lots more issues than the overwhelming grief.

I would recommend Sue Ryders counselling to anyone in our situation.

I was able to realise a lot more things and process them far better.

It doesn’t end your grief, nothing can, but it provided me with valuable support when I needed it.

I hope this helps.

4 Likes