I won’t lie to you, the next part of the Grief Recovery process may be a difficult & intense one & for me it was a tearful process too. However it was a task I realised was absolutely necessary in helping me along the road to recovery. This is because as the Grief Recovery Handbook advises;

“If you want to avoid bear traps, it’s a good idea to know what they look like”

In sitting down to review the losses I’d experienced during my life, I had a box of tissues to one side & used several as I started to write down all I could remember. Strangely enough it was trickier than I had imagined perhaps because I had tried hard to bury the painful feelings I had & so I didn’t remember everything to begin with. However, as I began to write down some of the key ones, inevitably lots of things came into my mind & surprisingly, some happier times as well the bad ones. Then there were others, I hadn’t really recognised as a loss, such as moving house & being made redundant.

Once I had completed my review & recorded it on paper, it made me really appreciate just how much I had been through & I discovered that I was much stronger than I had ever given myself credit for; indeed, had I been listening to someone else listing all these things, I probably would have offered them a big hug, because it would have shocked & saddened me to learn about all the losses experienced, as well as having kept them inside for so long.

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In session 5, we will be reflecting the losses we have experienced to the others in the group without commenting or passing judgement before each individual will move on to focus on one or more of these losses in more detail as outlined by the Grief Recovery Method.

 Lisa Richards: Certified Grief Recovery Specialist