IFS Therapy for Grief
Do you feel raw, naked, barren – lost in your grief?
Do you feel as if you are gripped by grief?
Has your sense of time been suspended or is it more like a being in a time warp?
The grieving process can unfold naturally, and some people find healing through rituals and community support. But not all losses are the same, and feelings of grief can become complicated, lasting much longer than people might expect or feel able to tolerate. Sadness, irritability, disbelief or numbness and complete exhaustion are just some of the ways we may experience grief.
It hardly matters that grief is a universal experience – when it hits, it hits hard, and like any traumatic experience, significant losses can leave you feeling like a stranger to yourself.
Some losses are obvious, like the death of someone close to you. Others are more ambiguous – a break up, relocation, a health crisis, aging, or losses resulting from this pandemic. Just as often, unattended sorrows from long ago that were never grieved are held inside as a vague but palpable suffering that gets triggered at the most unexpected times.
Grief may result in some or many of the following experiences:
Shaming and disqualifying the “right” to grieve
Delaying the experience of grief for fear of becoming overwhelmed
Displacing grief onto other experiences, such as feeling emotions while watching a movie or targeting anger toward another person or event
Minimizing or dismissing feelings of grief
Physical distress – migraines, stomach pain, neck and shoulder pain
Sleep disturbance
Protest, rage, anger at the injustice and unfairness of loss
Missing and yearning for what is lost
Sadness heightened by previous experiences of loss
Guilt or regret about how the connection may have been different
Guilt about feelings of relief
Powerlessness, despair, helplessness, hopelessness, and/or resignation
Feelings of not belonging
We’ll help you get back to your Self and honor the losses that have shaped you.
Get started with a free 20-minute consultation.
Internal Family Systems therapists trust the natural grieving process of each client and can help you to heal from painful losses without feeling overwhelmed.
The depth of your loss is held by different parts of you in different ways. Those parts need to be witnessed – and appreciate your attention. When grief is raw, many people fear that their pain will be endless. Parts may fear going anywhere near that pain and may be highly skeptical that there is a way out of it. Therapists at the IFS Telehealth Collective will collaborate with you, earning trust and getting permission to move deeper through the healing process. IFS therapists hold compassion and hope for the fears of your protective parts, with full confidence in your ability to take the journey inside.
Your skilled IFS therapist knows how to navigate the process so that the deepest pains won’t flood you with overwhelming emotions. You don’t have to get bogged down in grief in ways that have you avoiding the fullness of life. You can move through it one wave at a time.
What if I’m still experiencing the loss of how life was before the pandemic, even as the world seems to be recovering?
Internal Family Systems therapy offers you a safe space to process losses at any point in your grieving process. Since COVID-19, we’ve experienced a shared, collective experience across the globe, and a shared grief that has hit on every level. Millions of lives were lost suddenly and in isolation. For many the isolation continues as a “new normal” even as life begins to open up again. Most have not even begun to integrate all that has changed, and some feel as if the losses continue to mount. Most everyone’s relationships to time and daily routines were substantially disrupted by a very real threat and fears. Some of those fears were already there.
Begin IFS Therapy for Grief at The IFS Telehealth Collective Today!
Witnessing grief in our communities connects us, and yet endless news cycles can add to feeling overwhelmed and numb. The pandemic struck amidst existing social, political and environmental issues impacting us all, with some people having less voice and choice to change their circumstances. IFS is an approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of personal, social and environmental systems. When so many are impacted by these layered struggles in the world, it’s even more important to find ways to reconnect to our Selves and reach out to others. Connectedness within leads to connections outside. Even the deepest pain can feel some relief when we’re less alone with it.
Stronger together
Grieving with a skilled IFS therapist ensures that you are not alone with your pain – and offers an opportunity to transform that grief and to reconnect with your life on every level.
If you want to begin your healing journey and live anywhere California, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, or Oregon, please contact our Client Care Coordinator or call 503-447-3244 to help you get matched with an IFS trained therapist. We are here to support you as you feel and heal your grief.
Let one of our skilled IFS therapists help you on your healing journey.
