grief & pet loss

Grief is emotional, not logical.

The grief that comes with any emotional loss can be overwhelming and also very isolating. Often people find that those they normally count on for emotional support are at a total loss when it comes to offering effective and meaningful assistance. This is particularly true when it comes to the loss of a pet. Most people would never consider telling someone who had lost a child or a parent to “go out and get a new one,” but that is often what they tell someone who has just lost their very special pet companion! Pet owners (guardians) often find that the emotional pain of their loss is totally discounted by others around them.

Other friends and family may try to offer logical sounding suggestions why a pet griever should not feel sad. The problem is that Grief is emotional and not logical! You are suffering from a broken heart, not a broken head! The fact that you are seeking help in dealing with that emotional pain is not a sign of weakness, but rather a recognition on your part that you are interested in taking recovery action!

Grief Recovery Method^® For Pet Loss

Our 6-meeting Grief Recovery Method Support Groups For Pet Loss are designed to help you address all of those emotional feelings that are unique to your individual loss and grief. You can choose to work in-person or online. A Grief Recovery Method^® Specialist who has used the exact same tools to deal with loss in his or her own life leads each group. Our program will take you through a number of steps to help you fully discover and address those things that you wish might have been different, better, or more in your relationship with your beloved pet. It is this “unfinished business” that often gets in the way of enjoying fond memories. Doing this work will allow the griever the chance to say “good bye” to their relationship with this special pet, thereby making it comfortable to build a relationship with a new pet, if they choose to do so! If you don’t find someone in your area for in-person work – please consider the online option.

The loss of a pet can be emotionally devastating. Sadly, the impact of the heartbreak of this type of loss is often downplayed or ignored by friends and family. This 6-meeting program is focused on offering pet owners an effective mechanism for taking action to move through and beyond their grief.

What the Grief Recovery Method for Pet Loss has to offer:

These groups are pet loss specific, which means that you will be surrounded by others who have also lost pets and have an understanding of the depth of that kind of emotional pain.
This approach allows you to work with a Grief Recovery Method Specialist, certified and trained by The Grief Recovery Institute, in a group setting
Each of these six meetings will last roughly two hours.
Your Specialist will take you through each step of the Grief Recovery Method, utilizing the materials spelled out in “The Grief Recovery Handbook For Pet Loss.”
While you may come into this program with a specific loss in mind, your Specialist will lead you through the process of looking at all of the pet losses that have touched you throughout your life, so that you can be focused on the one that has impacted you to the greatest degree.
Even though you are working in a group setting, your personal focus will be in dealing with the issues of your specific and personal loss.
These groups include a weekly commitment to total honestly and absolute confidentiality, so that you can comfortably share your feelings

The Grief Recovery Method for Pet Loss Support Group is intended groups of 3 or more participants. Optionally, I offer the individual one-on-one program online that utilizes the Grief Recovery Method^® to address the loss of a pet. Contact me for details or refer to The Grief Recovery Method^® page here on my website.