Advice on Grief and Loss and Addiction

Many addicts in the early stages of recovery will experience grief and a sense of profound loss. Robert Weiss LCSW, recently published a thought provoking article about the role of grief and loss in addiction recovery. Weiss suggests that addicts and family members in the early stages of recovery may not have considered the strong role that the grief process...[ read more ]

Losing a parent can be one of the most traumatic experiences you will ever face. While some factors may make the grief process more complex, such as unresolved conflict with the parent, or the way in which the parent died, the loss of a parent has a lasting impact in your life. In some situations, this grief may lead to...[ read more ]

Developmental disorder trauma in children has the potential to be disruptive to a child well beyond childhood. These traumas, if unresolved, can pose significant challenges to the adult child in their life, socially, and otherwise. This new approach to looking at childhood trauma helps us understand how interventions can assist children and adult survivors of traumatic events or pasts. This...[ read more ]

For several years I worked for the Department of  Family Services. I worked closely with children who were removed from their homes in order to keep them safe from an abusive parent(s). Some of these children were later returned to their homes, and some went into the foster care system. Some of the children were never removed and some of...[ read more ]

Usually when society thinks of grief, it is thought of revolving around the death of a loved one, a physical being, a physical loss. As we have come to experience so many other types of loss in our lives, society has begun to understand grief differently through the recognition of losses that are not death related. Survivors of domestic violence...[ read more ]

Divorces involving children can be especially challenging- and draining, for all parties involved.  While you may have seen the writing on the walls for some time, a divorce often feels very sudden to the children involved. The sudden breakdown of the family structure after a divorce can be traumatic for children. Children often experience feelings of abandonment, confusion and loss....[ read more ]

There are many misconceptions about the grief cycle and the stages of grief. This visual humorously, yet honestly, illuminates the discrepancies. When grieving there is no template, no order, and no right or wrong way to be experienced. Unfortunately, there are many resources out there, websites and books, that suggest that there is in fact a proper way to experience...[ read more ]