Grief and Loss Counselling in Kelowna, BC.

Grief and Loss can feel isolating, hopeless and endless. Whether you have lost a parent, a child, a friend, or a spouse, it is important to discuss your experience with one of our trained professionals in order to start the healing process. Often grief and loss occurs without warning. It is unwanted, stressful, and can feel as though you are the only one experiencing what you are feeling.

Grief counseling helps people cope with grief and mourning following the loss of a loved one or due to major life changes that trigger feelings of grief (i.e. job loss or divorce). It provides a space for individuals to work through and process the complex emotions surrounding loss. Healthy grieving results in remembering the loss with a newfound sense of peace, rather than searing pain.

Grey Matters International and the work of Kevin J. Fleming, Ph.D approaches issues of grief & loss through the lens of innovation----instead of growing the same neural networks responsible for the pain in weekly therapy sessions, we reset the brain to move forward quicker and efficiently by working on the stuck limbic system so as to empower the person with more success and traction. For no one wants to stay in a grief mode for too long; but when you don’t include the brain in your work with someone, you risk describing the water to them while they drown and calling it success. Contact Grey Matters International, Inc now at kevin@kevinflemingphd.com or 877-606-6161.

The experience of grief, whether through bereavement or another form of loss, is unique to each individual, as is my approach to working with you. Seeking help for grief does not mean prescribing to a set view of the way you 'should' go through this process, but rather involves working with you at the darkest depths, to help you discover your own path.

My approach is to join with you to understand your experience of loss intimately and deeply in conversation with you. When we are joined with the pain, you will not have to feel it alone, even if the grief is only fully healed with time. I will help you make sense of your feelings and provide psychoeducation around the phases of grief, specifically to how these known phases can be meaningful to your current experience, what you are feeling, and how you can continue to honour the person, relationship, or thing that you have lost and find acceptance and hope.

Grief affects us all differently. Together we'll work through how you are affected. There is no timeline on grief, and no right or wrong way to move through it. Using tools from dialectical behaviour therapy, combined with humanism and Rogerian reflection, I can help provide some structure to the confusion of loss and mourning. Hurt is a natural part of loss and we'll approach it as such.

There are several tasks of grieving that a person must go through. Sometime our grief is complex grief (being hurt by another person or being responsible for the loss ourselves.) It does not matter how early in the grieving process that you seek help, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) will receive the excess emotional pain and speed up the process of grief.

Loss of relationship like any loss has significant emotional consequences and can have impacts across the life spectrum. The fact that relationships are one of our primary coping mechanisms multiplies the potential distress. Processing and Resolving relationship loss can lead to significant better quality of life as well as significantly improved quality of future relationships.

Everyone at some point in their lives will have to grieve. Dealing with grief and loss is different for everyone and dependent on our relationship with the deceased, our religious beliefs, and our previous experiences with death. The pain we experience can be overwhelming and some people need additional support. We understand the wide range of emotions and behaviours associated with grief and will be with you every step of the way.

Working through grief and loss takes time--I will go at your pace and accompany you on your journey. Perhaps you have read about the stages of grief--this does not mean you will go through these stages in any particular order, in fact, you may go through all the stages in the space of one hour and then go through them again. Together we will explore tools and ways to help you navigate your feelings around your loss, and find the meaning and purpose to continue. Sometimes this means talking about who you lost and what impact this had on you, finding connections to others who have had a similar experience, writing or drawing, or creating something to honour your loss.

Grief and loss therapy provides a compassionate and supportive space for you to navigate the complex emotions that accompany loss. I understand that grief is a profoundly personal experience, and my approach is tailored to honour your unique journey. Together, we will explore your feelings, memories, and the impact of your loss, allowing you to process your emotions in a safe environment. As you move forward, I aim to help you find healing, resilience, and a renewed sense of meaning.

While each person's way of grieving may be unique; as humans, we will all experience it. And while it is so painful at times, grief helps us to accept and understand what the loss means for us, so that we can create new meaning around it. Along the way, people may find themselves feeling stuck or lost - and this is where counselling can help. My understanding of attachment theory, emotionally focused therapy, and the human experience provides a map to guide us through, together. We all suffer in life, but suffering is made more tolerable when we don't have to do it alone.

When losing someone or something important to us, it can take lots time to adjust and learn to live our life without that person, thing or way of life. Either it is the death of a loved one, loss of a relationship, loss of a pet, loss of a job or important possessions, change to your way of life, grieving is a normal response to a life event and bottling it up can create damage or even harm to a person. It can take time to adjust and accept to learn to live life without that person, thing or way of life. When it gets too challenging or overwhelming, or if it gets in a way of living a healthy life, sometimes turning to professional support can help getting through this challenging event.

Often people can become overwhelmed with grief where you might feel shut down low energy states or highly activated states. This is due to the fact that the grief is so large the nervous system does not have the capacity to process it so it either gets stuck on high or shuts down into low energy states. Robin first works to effectively help to build the capacity to process emotions in your body. Then she titrates into the grief allowing it to process slowly and release out of the body .

Grief is a healthy and normal process. This does not however, make it an easy process. It is said we each grieve in our own individual way. It is also said that we grieve in the degree that we have loved. While both of these statements may be true, grief is a bewildering time. A time of coming to terms with a harsh reality while moving forward to a newly defined reality. This is often done best with a trusted guide, someone who has walked this path with others, learnt from them and now offers that learning to you. Call a little chat may be helpful.

Grief and loss can be overwhelming, confusing and debilitating. There are often overpowering feelings of sadness,fear, anxiety, guilt and anger as well as thoughts and stories that we tell ourselves and others tell us. Sometimes there are other people to support and many responsibilities beyond the work of grieving that seem to preclude the possibility of meeting our own needs for personal support. I use reflection and empathy in a person centered approach to create a haven of safety that facilitates a sense of clarity and self connection in the journey of grief.

As isolating and overwhelming as grief can be, you will find a sense of support in counselling with Molly. You will be encouraged to take your time and process your loss at your own pace. When you're ready, Molly can introduce methods like CBT, EMDR, or mindfulness to help with sorting out complex emotions, finding meaning, and beginning to heal as you move toward a renewed sense of connection and purpose.

Giving the client the chance to discuss the loss they have experienced is how I approach grief and loss therapy. I provide a safe, judgement-free environment for them to talk to me about their emotions and an opportunity to express what they have been holding inside. By offering coping mechanisms that could be useful during the mourning process, I hope to assist the client in managing their bereavement. My main objective would be to help the client get through the normal emotional phases that follow a loss.

When we experience loss, we can become stuck in a pattern of negative feelings and emotions. It can be hard to more forward in the healing process. EMDR can help by targeting and reprocessing the underlying memories and emotions associated with the loss, thus allowing us to move through the stages of grief in a more healing and adaptive way. By reprocessing the negative experiences, we reduce the negative symptoms and increase our sense of emotional resilience and well-being.

The pain of loss comes in many forms. Everyone experiences grief differently and there is no "right" way to do it. Often there is not only the loss of a specific person or situation, but also the pain of the loss of hopes, dreams and future visions. Healing from loss and separation takes time. Therapy can provide a safe place to explore emotions, understand one's sense of loss/ grief and find ways to manage feelings. The human heart holds a great capacity for both sorrow and joy.

When you lose a part of your life it can impact every part of who you are. Whether what you lost was person, pet, job or ability, it is hard to say goodbye. If your loss was expected or unexpected, the pain and grief that you feel hits hard, sometimes more than we think we can bear. There is no set timeframe to "get over" a loss. Each person has their own journey with grief. I can help you to reflect on the significance of the loss in your life, how to cope with grief, and a future that honours what you had to leave behind.

Grief counseling helps people cope with grief and mourning following the loss of a loved one or due to major life changes that trigger feelings of grief (i.e. job loss or divorce). It provides a space for individuals to work through and process the complex emotions surrounding loss. Healthy grieving results in remembering the loss with a newfound sense of peace, rather than searing pain.

Grief and loss are unavoidable. We may think that time alone will enable us to heal, but this is rarely the case. Although time does help in the healing process, to truly heal, we need to work through our losses and the grief they bring. I can help you to do just that. I do not believe we were meant to shoulder our grief on our own. So if you find yourself somehow "stuck", and unable to truly move on, please contact me.

When we are facing grief and loss, there is often a complex web of emotions and many layers of meaning-making to encounter in our healing process. The path is never linear. The timeline requires sensitivity and nuance. Compassion, patience and the ability to hold seemingly contradictory feelings are paramount. With gentle presence, we can hold the magnitude and the subtleties of this experience moving step by step towards healing.

Navigating through the intense emotions of grief and loss can be overwhelming and often lonely. Grief and loss is something that every single human is going to navigate at some point in their life, the challenge is that it is experienced very differently for everyone. Through our connection, my primary goal is to support you in understanding how to navigate through the intensity of it and acquiring some tools to move through the journey.