What can you expect in grief counselling?
Grief counselling isn’t about “getting over it” or pretending everything is fine when it’s not. It’s about showing up for yourself with honesty and kindness, learning how to move through a painful chapter of your life, and discovering how to carry the weight of your grief.
Grief can take many forms, and it’s important to recognize that it’s not just about loss through death. Whether it’s the end of a relationship, a life-changing diagnosis, or a major transition, grief can show up in unexpected ways. Below, you’ll find some common types of grief people experience:
Grief from the Loss of a Loved One: Coping with the death of a family member, partner, or pet.
Grief After Divorce or Breakup: Healing from the emotional pain of separation or divorce.
Job Loss Grief: Navigating grief after losing a job or career.
Grief After Miscarriage or Infertility: Coping with pregnancy loss and fertility struggles.
Chronic Illness Grief: Dealing with grief from a chronic illness or disability diagnosis.
Empty Nest Grief: Coping with the grief of children leaving home.
Grief from Betrayal or Broken Trust: Processing grief after betrayal in relationships
Grief is not something to fix. As Megan Devine eloquently says, grief is something we learn to carry. It doesn’t go away or disappear, but over time, we figure out how to live with it, how to let it exist alongside us without it defining every part of our lives. In counseling, we’ll work together to help you understand your grief—not to eliminate it, but to help you find the tools to process your emotions and navigate this profound loss.
Grief counselling is about giving yourself permission to feel all of your emotions, without shame or judgment, and still finding a way to move forward in your own unique, resilient way. It’s not about “letting go” but about learning how to carry your loss with love, understanding, and courage.
Grief will surprise you, and it may shake you to your core, but it also calls you to slow down, to feel deeply, and to grow into a more fully human version of yourself as you learn to navigate life alongside it.
Practical Support
After a Death: Get Support When Someone Dies – BC Government Online Resource
Grief Support and Groups
Lower Mainland Grief Support Society – serving Vancouver and Lower Mainland
British Columbia Bereavement Hotline
Living Through Loss Counselling Society of BC – professional grief counselling and emotional support to anyone who is experiencing stress due to life change or loss.
Support for People Living with Loss – Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention
MyGrief.ca – an online resource to help people move through their grief from the comfort of their own home, at their own pace.
The Canadian Virtual Hospice – provides support and personalized information about advanced illness, palliative care, loss and grief, to people living with illness, family members, people working in healthcare, educators, and researchers.
Refuge in Grief: Grief Resources
Supporting Kids with Grief
Lumara Grief and Bereavement Care – counselling and support for children, youth, individuals & families impacted by life-threatening illness, grief & loss.
KidsGrief.ca – free online resource that helps parents support their children when someone in their life is dying or has died
A list of books for children on loss and dying – compiled by the Children’s Grief Foundation
Loss Related to Substance Use
Gone Too Soon: Navigating grief and loss as a result of substance use
Healing Hearts Canada – offers groups across BC and has an excellent resource page including books and online supports
Perinatal Loss
Butterly Run – supporting individuals who have experiences fertility, pregnancy loss and infant loss
Empty Cradle – parents support group for those who have suffered pregnancy or infant losses
Empty Cradle has also put together a comprehensive resource page of articles about grief, losses and healing
Postpartum Support International – loss and grief in pregnancy and postpartum
Grief Books
It’s Okay that You’re Not Okay: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture that Doesn’t Understand – Megan Devine
How to Carry What Can’t be Fixed: A Journal for Grief – Megan Devine
Nothing to Fear: Demystifying Death to Live More Fully – Julie McFadden (aka Hospice Nurse Julie)
