Laura Perkins

In our first session, I invite the client to share with me a little about their loss. There are no expectations as to what is shared, I simply want to get to know what led them to seek grief counseling. Once I have a good understanding of whom or what is being grieved, I gauge where the client is at in their grieving process. While many are familiar with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross' stages of grief, this is a widely misunderstood model that was based on the experience of hospital patients working through their own impending deaths. I instead come from the framework of William Worden's tasks of grieving. These tasks include 1) Accepting the reality of the loss, 2) Processing the pain of grief, 3) Adjusting to a new world without your loved one, and 4) Finding a way to move forward in your life journey that remembers your loved one. Grieving is not a linear process, and clients often move back and forth between tasks, depending on what the day brings. There is no one correct way to grieve, and through getting to know you and being a witness to your story, I incorporate exercises into talk therapy that will help you as an individual process your unique loss. I believe in transparency and psychoeducation in grief counseling, so I often interject explanations into the session to let my client know why I'm asking certain questions, or how a specific exercise could help them grieve. My priority in session is to be with my client in their grief, whatever that may look like.