The ultimate reality of grief is it forever tied to love. Love creates attachment and loss breaks that attachment. The greater the love, the greater the grief. It is within this fallen construct of reality that we see the cruel paradox of life. Do we not love because of this? Of course not, we accept the realities of life and properly understand that death plays as much as a role in life as birth. Many hope to ignore death and loss but this is unhealthy. It is important to discuss life but also death. In doing so, one can better understand the losses that eventually find everyone. Part of being alive is experiencing loss. We need to understand loss, help others through it and adjust.
There is a reason there is no true recovery in grief. Since love is forever, so is grief. The only difference is that when grief is properly handled, the acute grief becomes integrated into our life. Unfortunately, some experience complications in grief and are unable to integrate. Hence the grief response which is both healthy and natural becomes distorted.
The video below covers many basic grief ideas and can serve as a great educational tool.
Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Training Program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals.