COUNSELLING

Counselling is the chance to talk in private with someone who will really listen and try to understand you and who will not judge you or tell you what to do. It can be a great relief to talk to someone outside your situation who will not be hurt or upset by what you say. Sometimes the people closest to you may not understand, or you may feel that you don't want to burden them with your worries.

Grief is the price we pay for having loved someone and the death of someone we love might affect us for months or even years. Everyone who is bereaved reacts in their own unique way and there is no such thing as a 'normal' way to grieve. It is quite common for those left behind to experience feelings of shock, pain, anger, guilt, confusion and depression and especially in the period immediately following the death, people talk about an emotional pendulum – swinging constantly between normality and despair.

Bereavement Support and Counselling can help to make sense of all these emotions. It can't bring back those we have lost but it can help people to find their own ways to cope and to move forward.