What is Degriefing?

Degriefing® is a body/mind process based in the premise that “grief is the most available, untapped, emotional resource for personal transformation”. It integrates the use of both traditional and integrative therapeutic modalities. Grief is the body’s response to loss: any loss.

Fresh grief can stimulate the feelings of previous unresolved grief. Loss is a common experience that every person encounters during his or her lifetime. A grieving person can undergo both significant and subtle changes impacting their physical, emotional, mental and spiritual states. It is necessary to understand the effect that grief has on existing conditions.

Symptoms of distress can be part of simple or complex, fresh or unresolved grief. A variety of somatic complaints can be experienced: fatigue, insomnia, pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, chest pressure, palpitations, stomach pains, headaches, backaches, panic attacks, increased anxiety or depression amongst others. If medicine is to treat the root causes rather than mask the symptoms of these potentially serious medical complaints; thorough evaluation is required to identify and differentiate the roots from the manifestations of actual illness.

Grief related problems are often unrecognized and remain unaddressed by today’s quick-fix health care system. The well trained counselor can provide: supportive verbal communication techniques, nurturing emotional attention, make recommendations and provide referrals for the appropriate integrative therapies (supporting the implementation of important somatic treatments), and embody the personal presence needed to assist clients in coping with grief in a healthy self-supporting way.

The premise of the Degriefing Process is simple. Grief creates a state of physical and mental disharmony. The body and mind are inextricably linked. Therefore, health care techniques that attempt to alleviate the effects of grief must include both physical and mental treatments. Including somatic treatments along with appropriate verbal counseling will greatly promote the healing process. In addition, educating an individual about grief and teaching him or her practical self-care techniques can minimize the potential for developing serious, long term disorders when that individual invariably experiences grief again.

What makes Degriefing different?

Unlike many existing treatment regimes, the Degriefing Process employs both verbal and physical techniques to relieve an individual's emotional distress, mental anguish and physical discomfort.

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