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If you’ve lost a loved one or are undergoing another form of personal trauma, seeking grief counseling can be a helpful way to process your thoughts and overcome anxiety and feelings of depression surrounding your hardship. There are many types of grief counseling available depending on your needs.

Here are some of the basic categories of grief counseling, from licensed counselor Sondra Sexton-Jones in Juneau, AK:

  • Individual Counseling: Individual counseling refers to one-on-one sessions with a therapist during which treatment and counseling can be tailored to meet that person’s particular needs. Depending on the individual’s personality and what they respond to, the therapist can suggest ways of coping with grief through creative expression, consistent dialogue, or soothing rituals.  
  • Couple Counseling: When couples undergo a loss together or are in another way sharing grief, they each may have different ways of dealing with their bereavement. Each partner’s modes of expression in relation to their grief may clash with the other’s, and neither may feel validated in their behavior. These couples will benefit from seeking grief counseling together, where a counselor can help them maintain healthy communication and find strength in moving on as a team.
  • grief counselingFamily Counseling: When families experience grief together, seeking grief counseling as a unit may be an effective route. Because each person has their own way of responding to grief, having a counselor act as a mediator and facilitator of conversation between family members can help everyone better understand each other. They can then become better at overcoming communication problems and interpersonal conflict that can sometimes arise as supplementary issues.
  • Parent-Child Counseling: Similar to family counseling, parent-child grief counseling can be beneficial to fostering understanding between the younger and older members of a family. The therapist can help the parent to become more in tune with their child’s coping mechanisms. As a result, the bond and connection between the parent and child can be strengthened through the grief.

For more information on grief counseling, or to make an appointment with a leading licensed counselor, call Sondra Sexton-Jones’s office at (907) 586-3313 or visit her website.  

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