Free guide to finding a therapist for bereaved parents
If you have lost a child you might be wondering whether seeing a therapist or a counsellor would be helpful.
— Something momentous has happened in your life and it might feel impossible to make sense of it, or even to fully believe it has happened.
—Your thoughts about what you or others did or didn’t do, or what you or they could have done differently are incessant and disturbing.
— People around you might find your grief difficult to witness and this can mean you feel you need to keep your feelings to yourself.
— Other family members may have very different ways of finding their way through their own loss and this can cause tensions between you. So you might be feeling very alone in spite of outward appearances.
— In addition you may be experiencing anxiety, fear, flashbacks or nightmares. There might also be physical symptoms such as panic attacks or exhaustion.
How might seeing a therapist help?
In therapy or counselling sessions you will be offered a regular safe space where your emotions and thoughts can be expressed without fear of others' reactions.
Your therapist can support you as you develop your internal ability to be with your feelings and the demands of a drastically changed life situation. They can also support you to heal the trauma held in your body.
It is so important that you find the right therapist for you and my free downloadable booklet guides you through the process of looking for and finding that person.
Who am I to offer this information?
In addition to my experience as a psychotherapist, I know this territory intimately as I lost my own son when he took his own life aged nineteen. At the time, nearly two decades ago now, I was a counsellor and I suspect that I would have been seriously out of my depth if I had tried to support a traumatically bereaved parent at that time.
I also know what I valued in the therapists I saw after my son died and I have talked to many other bereaved parents about the counsellors and therapists they have seen. Many were helpful and some simply weren’t. And we deserve only the best!
The therapy guide is a printable pdf. If you print it from Adobe Acrobat, choose the booklet option.
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