One of the most painful experiences in the world can be losing somebody close to you. The pain and intensity of the situation in the coming months and years can freeze you in your tracks. It’s hard to prepare for an event of that magnitude. Time doesn’t heal wounds; it just distances us from them. Find out how working with an individual therapist near you can help you heal from the pain of grief.
Understanding Grief in Fathers
Grief is a natural process for when we lose someone that we care about. It’s noted to be a process because we cycle back-and-forth between various emotions and memories as life moves on. Sometimes people can get caught in the grief and loss process. This is where individual therapy for fathers can be extremely helpful.
It’s not that we can rush through the grief process or even the healing that it needs. But we can support you, your body, and your nervous system with the painful emotions that accompany the grief and loss process. As fathers, we are sometimes looked at to be stoic in times of stress and pain. However, it’s also ok to be in your emotions, as this facilitates healing within the body.
The Importance of Acknowledging and Processing Grief
Like many things in life, we can choose to avoid the pain or lean into it. Avoidance typically leads to short-term peace with long-term consequences. These consequences can look vastly different for each person. For example, after avoiding the emotions associated with grief and loss, some may turn to using alcohol or other substances, some may withdraw from the ones that they love, or even their social networks. Some fathers even get trapped in their thought process as it circles around the loss. The most difficult thing to do here is to lean in and notice the grief. By leaning in, we can support your body and naturally process through the emotions held in the body.
Support Systems for Grieving Fathers in Racine, WI
Fathers can find support after loss in many different ways. For some, they will reconnect with social networks, friends at the gym, or even their church or spiritual group. Others may seek out professional support. It could be from a counselor or therapist near you. There are also support groups that men can use to support their grief process. Some groups are unique to specific needs, such as hospice loss or family loss. You’ll need to find what works best for you and if one thing doesn’t work, keep looking.
How Individual Therapy Helps Fathers Cope and Heal
Individual therapy for fathers who have lost someone in their life can be extremely beneficial to your healing process. Individual therapy allows you a safe place to voice your thoughts, your concerns around emotions, and allow your body to release pent-up energy and stress that are still held within the body. Again, grief and loss is a natural process. However, sometimes the grief lingers. This typically happens because our thoughts or memories reflect on things that we could’ve done differently, we should’ve done, or maybe something we missed. Individual therapy specifically works with these types of situations because it is those specific experiences where we could’ve done something differently that stops us caught up in healing.
Individual therapy also increases your body’s emotional resilience. Now, what is that? Emotional resilience is your body’s ability to tolerate emotions in the short and long-term. Grief can rock and destabilize your internal world. However, if we can find ways to regulate the nervous system and increase your capacity to tolerate uncomfortable emotions, you will begin to heal and continue living life. Emotions don’t have to paralyze you any longer.
Taking the First Step Toward Healing in Racine, WI
Grief and loss is a painful experience for any person, especially fathers, noted in this blog post. We don’t have to trap our emotions inside in hopes of them disappearing. Research says this doesn’t work. Begin healing with individual therapy near you today.
I am currently accepting new clients for both in-person and virtual therapy sessions. In-person therapy sessions are held on the weekends, whereas virtual therapy sessions are held on weekday evenings as well as on the weekends. In-office therapy sessions work best for those who live near Kenosha, Bristol, Somers, Franklin, and Racine, Wisconsin. Online therapy works best for those who live throughout the State of Wisconsin.
If you would like to learn more about individual therapy and would like to start the process of healing, call me at 720.295.6703, or submit a form by clicking here. We will schedule a free 15-minute consultation call to ensure a good fit to work together. If we are a good fit to work together, we’ll schedule our first appointment during that call. I look forward to hearing from you.
By: Daniel Gaspard, LCSW
