When you lose someone you love, it’s normal to feel grief. This loss could result from death, the breakup of a romantic relationship or a falling out with someone close to you. Everyone handles grief in their own way. For some, relief from sadness and pain comes a year or more after the event. Others continue grieving indefinitely. At Red Oak Recovery®, our grief counseling program can help you manage your grief without giving up on your life. To learn about the advantages of our grief counseling program for young men, please contact our team today at 866.457.7590.
When Does Grief Counseling Help?
If you have a hard time coping with loss, grief counseling can teach you ways to express your emotions without letting them overcome you. For instance, your therapist may recommend that you keep a journal to record your feelings. Individual and group therapy with others who have lost loved ones can help you understand that eventually, you will feel better again.
Refusing to accept the loss can lead you to a downward spiral, which could eventually lead to self-medication with drugs and alcohol. If you have already gone through a rehab program, grief counseling can help you process your feelings in healthy ways to avoid a relapse.
Three Benefits of Grief Counseling
Grief Counseling is a type of counseling that provides support to people who are struggling with the loss of a loved one. It is specifically designed to help individuals process their thoughts, feelings, and emotions related to the passing of a family member or friend or the ending of a relationship. Grief Counseling can also help individuals adjust to their new life without their loved one and begin to find peace in the midst of a significant loss.
Three of the most significant benefits of grief counseling are:
- Receiving validation and permission to heal: When someone dies or abandons you, it’s natural to feel sad. Because it hurts others to see you feeling bad, they may dismiss your feelings or tell you to accept the loss and move on. That’s great advice, except it doesn’t work without dealing with your feelings first. Denial, anger, negotiation, and depression come before the last stage of healing, which is acceptance. Grief counseling gives you permission to take the time you need to heal.
- Creating a new relationship: In grief counseling, you learn to create a new connection with the person you lost. Your counselor will talk to you about the happy memories you had about the person. At the same time, you can process any unpleasant memories, such as regret, anger, and guilt that you may have. You may even feel guilty for surviving while another person died. Try to remember that these are all just emotions to process and get through.
- Tracking your progress: A professional grief counselor can help you mark your progress in a diary. Alternatively, they may have you remember back to the first week or month of therapy to appreciate your progress.
Let our skilled, highly confident grief counselors get you past the pain and reveal a future of hope and possibilities.
The Importance of Dual Diagnosis Treatment Programs
At Red Oak Recovery®, we offer dual diagnosis treatment for mental health disorders and substance use disorders. When you feel you can’t go on, it’s important to remember that there are alternatives to using alcohol and drugs to numb the pain of loss.
Our dual diagnosis programs include the following therapies:
- Trauma therapy
- Grief counseling
- Anxiety therapy
- Depression therapy
- Substance use treatment
Your therapist may combine grief counseling with other mental health treatment programs to help you move beyond a reliance on drugs and alcohol to face your emotions. Although your therapist has the expertise needed to lead your therapy sessions, you have a great deal of say regarding the approaches that work best for you.
Discover the Benefits of Grief Counseling at Red Oak Recovery®
Dealing with death and grief seems like a very personal struggle. However, sharing your feelings with a licensed grief counselor can help you master coping mechanisms for your thoughts and feelings. There are many benefits of grief counseling, including getting the help you need without turning to drugs or alcohol. Contact Red Oak Recovery® at 866.457.7590 or via our online form today for more information on our programs.
