Brent Bereavement Services
Answer
Bereavement counselling can help you to explore your feelings and come to terms with your grief by talking one to one with a trained counsellor.
You will probably attend a number of sessions with your counsellor spread over weeks or months, until you are ready to stop. During these sessions you can talk about how you feel and your counsellor will listen and comment, rather than giving you advice.
Bereavement counselling can help to support you through a very difficult time.
Explanation
Counselling is sometimes called a talking therapy. It can help you to explore your feelings and come to terms with your grief in a place where you can speak openly with someone trained to help you.
Counselling takes place in private. You and your counsellor meet, usually once a week, to talk for a set amount of time, normally 50 minutes.
How many sessions you have will depend on what you and your counsellor feel you need.
Counsellors do not give advice and they will not tell you what you should do. What they can help you to do is to see things more clearly and/or assure you that your feelings are normal. Counsellors do this by listening to what you say and commenting on it from their perspective.
During a session your counsellor can help you to explore and express your feelings, talking about them openly in a way that might not be possible with your family and friends. It's easy to bottle up your feelings after a bereavement, especially if you need to 'cope' in order to get back to work or support other family members or your children. These feelings, such as anger, anxiety and grief can become very intense.
Counselling can give you an opportunity to explore your feelings and make them easier to understand. Counsellors see people in your situation often and are used to listening to people who are distressed - they won't be shocked by what you may be feeling or by what you may say. Many people find it a relief simply to talk to a stranger.
Our counsellors
All our counsellors are volunteers and members of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) or the United Kingdom Counsel for Psychotherapy, who are accrediting bodies for this profession. They receive initial and ongoing extensive training to develop their skills and receive regular supervision support, which enables them to review any issues that they may find emotionally demanding.
It's very important that you trust your counsellor from the outset, so you might feel more comfortable knowing that they are registered with a professional organisation and working to established codes of practice.