Traumatic Grief Group
The Traumatic Grief Group has been specifically designed for those who have lost a loved one in an unexpected or untimely way. This can include loss due to suicide, homicide, loss of a child, loss following an accident, etc. These kinds of losses come with additional layers of struggle over and above the grief that generally accompanies a loss. These addtional layers can include things like an uncertainty around what’s happened and many unanswered questions, an outpouring of people wanting to know what happened, people uncomfortable with the topic and avoiding you, or even significant media attention.
This group is a five-day clinically facilitated program that makes use of the most current research on traumatic grief. It uses structured exercises, within the support of the group, to allow clients to engage with the memory of who their loved one was. It provides education on how brains respond to traumatic grief and supports the development of greater self awareness. This program teaches about the purpose of emotions and how to both make sense of them, and coexist with them in a more helpful way.
Group members then tell the story of their traumatic loss in a way that allows them to give and receive feedback from others who have experienced similar losses. Next, the group moves through an exercise exploring the client’s relationship with their loved one and their life today without them present in the same way. This exercise, and by extension the group as a whole, allows clients to identify future-focused wants and needs. The group provides a new framework for understanding relationships after a traumatic loss and allows members to explore how their own relationships may have shifted or changed following the loss.
The design of the group allows participants to process the trauma that accompanies this kind of loss, so they can allow their grief to move. Often people struggle with not being able to feel the grief, despite knowing it is there so profoundly, or with feeling like the grief just won’t stop. This group seeks to support clients in procssesing their loss in a way that allows them to co-exist with their grief in a more helpful way.
The small group format allows a high level of clinical support and an interconnectedness between group members who have similarly lost loved ones, thus facilitating a reduction in shame and isolation.
If you’d like to learn more, please email reception@lavendercounselling.com to set up a complimentary intake call with one of the Program Facilitators.