Melanie Green is a Bereavement Counselor at Hospice of Washington County and she shares some of the common struggles her clients go through when they've experienced intense loss. People sometimes feel like they're abnormal for showing so much emotion and for crying all the time, but this is a perfectly okay thing to do. We each navigate through our grief journey differently. Melanie shares how each of her clients differ and how they've been able to overcome some of life's challenges/differences after losing someone they care about.

Key Takeaways:

• What drew Melanie into grief counseling?
• What are some of the common questions or issues that grievers struggle with?
• Crying and sadness is an absolutely normal response to tragedy and loss.
• How can people better navigate social media when dealing with loss?
• There's pressure from family that after a year you should be 'better', but how does Melanie feel about better managing timelines?
• Coming to terms with the fact that your life won't be the same is the biggest hurdle people face.
• People felt that Susan's daughter was 'grieving wrong' because she had a different way of handling loss.
• How can mindfulness help those who are grieving?
• The most important thing is to be with yourself and surround yourself with a good family while going through cancer or life-threatening diagnosis.
• Strength comes in many different forms after a loss.
• If you need help with a specific thing, ask! People want to help you during this challenging time.
• The best gift Susan's grief counselor gave her was the permission to give Susan a chance to be a human being again.
• There is no correct answer. The way we handle grief is different for each one of us.

Quotes:

"I can't think of a better reason to cry than losing someone you love."

"People feel they're abnormal when they're expressing very real and human emotions."

"There is absolutely no timeline. You grow a little stronger and adjust to this new life that you have."