Grief counseling in plain terms
Grief counseling is psychotherapy centered on loss. You meet regularly with a trained professional and talk about the person or thing you lost, what the loss has changed, and how you are coping. The National Institute on Aging notes that some people find grief counseling makes it easier to work through their sorrow, and that regular talk therapy with a grief counselor or therapist can help people learn to accept a death.
It is not only for losses through death. People seek counseling after divorce, pregnancy loss, a move, retirement, estrangement, or a diagnosis that changes the future they expected. The common thread is that something important is gone and life has to reorganize around its absence.
The American Psychological Association describes psychotherapy in general as a collaborative relationship built on dialogue, where you and a trained professional work together to understand what is troubling you. Grief counseling applies that same relationship to loss.
How it differs from a support group
Support groups and individual counseling can both help, and many people use both. They offer different things.
- A support group brings together people who have had a similar loss. Its strength is connection: hearing others describe what you feel and knowing you are not alone. The NIA notes that groups can be general or specialized, for example for people who lost someone to Alzheimer's disease, and that hospitals, hospices, faith communities, senior centers, and funeral homes often know of local groups.
- Individual grief counseling focuses entirely on you. There is time to go into your particular relationship with the person, the circumstances of the loss, and the feelings you may not want to share in a group, such as anger, guilt, or relief.
- A psychologist can also look at how grief is interacting with other things, such as anxiety, depression, family conflict, or earlier losses, and can recognize when a different level of care would help.
The American Psychiatric Association notes that bereavement support groups and peer support can reduce isolation. If a group feels right, it can sit alongside individual work rather than replace it.
What sessions may involve
There is no single script. Early sessions usually focus on the loss itself, what happened, and how you have been since. Over time the work may turn to guilt and "what ifs", unfinished conversations, practical changes in daily life, and how the loss connects to your history and your other relationships.
Grief counseling does not ask you to let go of the person or stop missing them. Many people find the work is less about closure and more about finding a way to carry the relationship forward while taking part in life again. Pace is set together, and you decide what to talk about and when.
Some sessions may feel heavy, and some may feel surprisingly ordinary, spent on sleep, a hard conversation with a sibling, or getting through a family event. Both kinds are part of the work. It is fine to say when something feels too much for today, and to come back to it later.
Dr. Lehmann describes her approach as insight-oriented and integrative: looking at history, family dynamics, and current functioning, while also offering practical feedback and coping strategies. The grief counseling page describes how she works with adults in person in Franklin and by telehealth for clients located in Michigan.
When grief counseling might help
Not everyone who grieves needs therapy. The National Cancer Institute notes that common grief may not need treatment, and the American Psychiatric Association says most people's grief eases over time without mental health treatment. Counseling is still open to anyone who wants it. It may be especially worth considering if:
- You feel you have no one to talk to, or the people around you are grieving too.
- The loss was sudden, violent, or complicated by conflict or estrangement.
- Grief is making it hard to work, sleep, eat, or look after yourself or others.
- You notice guilt, anger, or regret that keeps returning without easing.
- Grief seems to have merged with a low mood that will not lift. Grief Has No Fixed Timeline explains how clinicians think about grief that stays intense.
- You are having thoughts of not wanting to live.
When grief stays intense and disabling over a long period, the American Psychiatric Association recognizes prolonged grief disorder as a diagnosis, and it notes that specific treatments are available. A psychologist can assess whether that is part of the picture. That is a conversation to have with a clinician rather than something to decide from a list.
Grief counseling and medical care
Grief can affect sleep, appetite, and energy, and it can make existing health conditions harder to manage. The NIA recommends keeping up with visits to your healthcare provider while grieving. If depression develops alongside grief, medication may be discussed with a physician or psychiatrist; psychologists in Michigan do not prescribe, but a psychologist can coordinate with your doctor with your written permission.