Bereavement Recovery II
by Maurice Turmel PhD

When we enter bereavement we are aware of its beginning, but we cannot anticipate how long it will take to reach the end. At this point the consolidation of appropriate helping resources will dictate how long bereavement recovery can take. Your feelings, such as sadness, anxiety or depression, need to be accepted and worked through or else recovery efforts can be adversely affected.

Following a well laid out bereavement recovery program that requires you to deal with your feelings and emotional reactions will get you through quickly. And by this we mean weeks, or at most, a few short months. Grief recovery should never take years, not in this day and age. 

With my clients, reading assignments and journaling were essential to the recovery process. Dealing with their grief and bereavement was not exclusively reserved for the consulting room. Grief sufferers were given homework which they had to report on from session to session. Aside from their pain, which itself is always a strong motivator, the hourly rate for my services also helped spur them on.

My bereavement recovery program came out of these experiences. After hundreds of cases of grief, loss and bereavement, I noticed a particular group of strategies began to emerge as essential to the recovery process. Taking these lessons and adapting them to mythical stories and poetry, along with the more literal instructions, helped drive the lessons home.

The written word can only be strengthened by adding audio narration. The author puts feeling into the words on the page and the bereaved gets a stronger sense of what is being conveyed. Bereavement sufferers report better results with this two pronged approach. The sensitive therapist can combine their training and knowledge with the real experiences of clients to create a powerful tool for them and for future sufferers. Narration strengthens the impact of the lessons and clients are more likely to take them to heart.

Today we know more about grief recovery and bereavement than at any other time in our human evolution. Generations ago mythology served the purpose of guiding individuals through important life lessons by couching them into stories that were passed along verbatim.  Every culture had them and every period of our human history reveals their presence. Todays psychology was yesterdays mythology and actually rests on that foundation. 

Even in mythology, it becomes clear that a feeling based approach to bereavement recovery is the treatment of choice. With today's understanding of emotional dynamics, defense mechanisms and other survival strategies the point is driven home.  A heart-centered and feeling based approach will deliver the best results in the shortest amount of time.  The debilitating effects of grieving and bereavement can be turned around in a few short weeks.

Stories, poems, reflections and music selections  are designed to put you in touch with your feelings.  As each piece is read, listened to and digested, you are ready to start journaling and put those feelings down on paper.  This is where bereavement recovery begins in earnest.

Your broken heart will benefit greatly from your growing acquaintanship with your feelings and emerging self-awareness. Dealing with emotions and feelings is not just for bereavement; it holds much broader consequences for your life as a whole. But in this instance, it is the treatment of choice for the bereavement experience. Many grieving individuals have recovered using this approach and so will you!

Click Here for <a href="http://www.howtocopewithgriefandloss.com/bereavement-audio-ebook.html">bereavement recovery</a>help.