Inside My Mind: A Therapist’s Blog
I hope you find something in here that helps you live a more confident life.
Supporting Your Neurodivergent Loved One Through Grief and Loss: A Practical Guide
Grief is universal human experience, and its expression is unique and depends on our personality, trauma, and brain wiring. For those supporting autistic or neurodivergent loved ones, understanding and respecting this expression is so important. This guide is for you, the ally, the friend, the family member, seeking to support your loved one during times of loss, in all its complex forms. Read on to discover practical tips and advice for offering genuine support.
A Therapist's Guide to Grieving Early Menopause
Early menopause isn't just a physical shift - it's an emotional journey that might include grief. You might feel confused, sad, scared, angry, guilty or a whole range of different emotions. Read this post to understand the multifaceted losses, find practical tools, and know you're not alone in navigating this unexpected farewell to a chapter of your life.
Stigmatized Grief: Loss to Suicide, Addiction, or Violence
The world acknowledges certain heartbreaks, we have offerings of comfort and rituals for mourning. But what about the losses carried in silence or met with judgment, like those from suicide, addiction, or violence? This is disenfranchised grief – the pain that feels unseen and unsupported by society. This post helps you understand and validate this unique grief experience.
The Unexpected Places Grief Hides: Quick Read
We often think of grief as just deep sadness after loss, but it's also a helpful process our minds and bodies use to navigate intense emotions. This "grief capsule" is important to our process. Feelings like irritability or fatigue can be disruptive. Recognizing these less obvious signs is a step towards healing. Grief is deeply personal, deserves compassion.
Unsatisfying Relationship?: How Grief Reshapes Romance
Grief doesn't just affect individuals - it impacts our relationships, especially our romantic connections. Discover how different grieving styles, communication struggles, and shifting responsibilities can strain the bond you share with your partner. Learn from a personal experience about finding comfort in simple connection and learn how to navigate these challenges with empathy and expert guidance.
The Long Goodbye: How to Navigate Anticipatory Grief
Anticipatory grief is the unique hurt we feel when we sense a loss is coming, like a shadow casting across the present. It's the complex and often heart-wrenching experience of grieving while our loved one is still here. This post explores the many emotions that can arise during this time, from sadness and anxiety to anger and helplessness. Learn about the unique challenges of grieving before goodbye and understand this process as a step towards healing.
Finding Peace with Mortality: What is Death Therapy and EMDR in Bereavement
Facing our own mortality or grieving the loss of someone dear can bring a whirlwind of complex emotions. Death therapy offers a specialized path of support, and powerful tools like EMDR can help process trauma and intense feelings. Explore what death therapy is, how EMDR can be beneficial in bereavement, and other supportive therapies that can help you find peace.
Lost? Disrupted? Struggling?: Understanding Grief and How to Get Help
Grief hits hard. It disrupts the brain's emotional control center, scrambling the circuits for happiness and connection. This throws a wave of raw emotions – sadness, anger, emptiness – at you after any loss. Even the dread you feel when you know a loss is coming, like caring for a terminally ill loved one, can trigger this emotional storm. And for some, the intensity lingers. Read on for the science behind grief and tools and resources to help you cope.
Death Therapy: Grief Counseling that Isn't "Moving On"
Many people believe grief fades with time, neatly tucked away in the past. But loss can leave you struggling to function in the present. You might feel blindsided by a wave of emotions you don't understand, impacting your daily life in ways you can't control. As a grief specialist, I know death therapy, or grief counseling, isn't about “moving on” or pretending you're "over it." It's a space to explore your feelings, make sense of your experience, and develop helpful coping mechanisms. We'll work together to find ways to integrate your grief and navigate this difficult time.