A problem shared is a problem halved
Ever felt relief after sharing your troub
les with a friend? Talking therapy works similarly; speaking out loud helps clear and make sense of our thoughts.ย While talking to a good friend or family member can help, it often isn't enough. The other person may have conflicting views, or you may not want to burden them, especially if theyโre going through a tough time themselves or are involved in the same issue that you are experiencing. Sometimes, you simply might not have anyone to share your struggles with.
Bereavement and the processing of grief
One difficult time to talk to someone close is after experiencing a loss. Although everyone faces loss, it can be hard to discuss it with others, even family members. Grief is unique to each person, and no two people experience it the same way. Our grief reflects the unique bond and attachment we had with the person we've lost.
Even with a supportive family and network, it can be challenging to talk in-depth because you don't want to distress others who are also grieving. You recognize the need to express your thoughts and feelings to begin healing, but holding them in becomes heavy and painful.
A counsellor offers a space to explore all your feelings without judgment or bias. They listen deeply and focus solely on you, without interjecting personal views or advice. Research shows that a client-centred approach, which helps clients normalize and reflect on their emotions, can be beneficial for those who are bereaved (Simonsen & Cooper, 2015). Being heard, understood, and offered empathy in a safe, confidential space is extremely supportive (Simonsen & Cooper, 2015).
When we lose someone it can affect us profoundly and although some may not, others will want to get some help during this time (Simonsen & Cooper, 2015).
- ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฃ๐ช๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ค๐ถ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด.
- ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ
- ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ท๐ถ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ
- ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด
- ๐๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ
- ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด
- ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด
- ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ.
(๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ & ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ, 2015)
I have lost my animal, can counselling help with processing my grief?
Absolutely, yes. The bond you share with your animal is unique and significant, and losing them can bring about a profound sense of grief. While not everyone seeks professional support, many find it helpful. You may lack access to support or feel misunderstood by those around you. Each family member's connection to the animal is unique, resulting in different needs and reactions to the loss.
Losing an animal can impact you in unexpected ways, evoking emotions similar to those felt when losing a significant person. These feelings can sometimes be even more intense, leading to confusion. Many people grieve in silence, fearing they won't be understood or that others might not grasp the depth of their loss because it involves an animal, not a person. Animals become intertwined with our lives, providing constant companionship, unconditional love, and shared life milestones. Their loss can significantly affect anyone, regardless of their circumstances, impacting relationships, work, and social life. You may feel so sad that you no longer recognise yourself, you may have lost your joy to take part in the things you once did.
Seeking bereavement support from a counsellor for the loss of your animal can help you process your grief, reflect on your feelings, and find a way forward. A counsellor who understands and validates your loss truly listens to you and provides a safe, confidential space that can aid in healing. They help you understand the grieving process and support you in navigating it at your own pace.
Additionally, knowing you are losing your animal after a diagnosis can also be challenging. Just like with anticipated human loss, preparing for the loss of your animal can be difficult to manage emotionally. You may be experiencing a lot of anxiety, feeling terribly sad and even panic. Counselling can offer support during this time, helping you regulate and navigate your feelings.
โPet bereavement counselling can provide that space, that time and that lending ear. It can give a person going through this loss that space and what they need to get through a difficult time.โ BACP, 2024
I offer a safe and confidential space for you to process your loss. I work with those who have lost a significant person in their life but also those who have lost a significant animal. Please do get in touch to arrange an initial call if you feel you would like my support.ย