Grief and Loss Support Services

05/08/2022

https://conta.cc/3MZgDb3

One at a time "All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." ― Anatole Franc

04/15/2022

https://conta.cc/3EhZ8Q6

One at a time Even after all this time The Sun never says to the Earth, "You owe me." Look what happens with a love like that, It lights up the whole sky. ― Hafiz Releasing Poetry Into the World In Pa

03/02/2022

I am a board certified interfaith chaplain and counselor in Philadelphia specializing in brief solution-based counseling for those navigating loss, illness or life transitions. The focus is to help individuals develop stronger coping tools, and find the steadiness, and inner and outer resources needed to meet often difficult or overwhelming circumstances. Are there individuals who are suffering and might find support particularly meaningful at this time?

Five areas of service are listed below each followed by a link to a short online description.

• Counseling When Facing Illness (https://griefandlosssupport.com/counseling-when-facing-illness/)
• Counseling for Medical Professionals (https://griefandlosssupport.com/counseling-for-medical-professionals/)
• Counseling for Caregivers (https://griefandlosssupport.com/counseling-for-caregivers/)
• Counseling When Navigating Change (https://griefandlosssupport.com/counseling-when-navigating-change/)
• Grief and Loss Counseling (https://griefandlosssupport.com/grief-and-loss-counseling/)

Find the inner strength and capacity to identify and cope with pressing emotional and spiritual challenges. Develop skills and insight to be in the position of caring for yourself and living life with
increased confidence, clarity and levity.

Click on the following link to schedule an introductory call:
http://tiny.cc/BookCallNow
(You'll be taken to an automated calendar.)

Neil David Beresin, MEd, BCC provides online and in-person counseling in Philadelphia, PA to help individuals struggling with stress and low energy.

01/26/2022

https://conta.cc/3AxYyfh

One poem at a time "The poem, the song, the picture, is only water drawn from the well of the people, and it should be given back to them in a cup of beauty so that they may drink—and in drinking unde

09/17/2021

This week Grief Dialogues―STORIES reposted an essay that I wrote titled, "Poetry and Silence: Toward Creating a Healing Space." A few excerpts from it include:

"I would like to suggest that poetry read aloud also functions, perhaps counter-intuitively, to open radical space for silence. When we don’t have immediate access to the dramatic quiet found on a remote mountain trail, accessing silence can take heightened concentration and the ability to be reasonably still in our body and mind. Poetry provides an immediate object, i.e., the words and sounds of the poem, for the listener to turn towards. It can serve to pull the listener away from the throbbing ruminations of the self. There are multiple and implied silences: the silence right before the poem is read, in between the words, at a transition between stanzas, and immediately after the poem is read."

•••

"...healing work requires some form of silence to be effective, whether poetry is used or not. Silence allows our embodied experience—what is “sensed” in our head, heart, bellies, limbs, in our whole body—to more easily emerge. This is a necessarily precondition for making meaning of what is sensed there."

•••

A quote from the brilliant poet, Ada Limón: “I love poetry for numerous reasons, but one very essential reason is that poetry is the only creative writing art form that builds breath into it. It makes you breathe. It not only allows for silence, it demands it. We enter the poem with our own breath….”

Rediscover Your Resilience: you can face and carry loss with increased perseverance, equanimity, and grace. Step into a lighter place.

09/03/2021

The writer's insight, composure and grace about the larger notion of protection is stunning.
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The poem is from Ada's collection in The Carrying (Milkweed Editions, 2018)
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In his private practice, Neil helps individuals disentangle the complicated web of emotions and inevitable life changes connected to loss, and begin a process of integration and re-imagination. He helps his clients develop additional coping tools, and rediscover increased energy and resilience towards building a durable emotional and spiritual foundation. More about Neil's counseling practice can be found at griefandlosssupport.com. To schedule an initial complimentary call without picking up the phone: tiny.cc/BookCallNow

"...nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know." ― Pema Chödrön

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09/02/2021

The indomitable and wise, Jane Kenyon. Jane died one month before her 48th birthday in 1995.

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08/31/2021

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07/09/2021

[After an absence that was no ones's fault
we are shy with each other,
and our words seem younger than we are,
as if we must return to the time we met
and work ourselves back to the present...]..

[I had forgotten
all the old business between us,
like mail unanswered so long that silence
becomes eloquent, a message of its own.]

I love the way Linda Pastan writes about . It feels so eloquent and elegant, filled with humility, grace, and compassion. I love the way her poetry is laser-focused -- it's able to explore a particular theme in layered and sophisticated ways. And the pace, so steady and methodical, yet never too slow.

Thank you, Linda, for this gift.

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07/06/2021

The metaphor of rocking your pain in your arms until it sleeps is very powerful. To find ways to soothe or comfort the self that is in pain, anxious or fearful, this is one the most important questions to be asked. What have you called upon for your strength? What has been your "holding place" that allows you to continue to move with your life? How do you come upon a rhythm, ritual, or practice to soothe your self in times of need? We may not always have others around to be a comfort source.

I help individuals begin to understand, cope with, and endure a world that has been turned upside down and made strange by loss. Compassion for self, ways to understand and process loss, and strategies for reparation and redemption may be part of the process.

My job is to help you find effective ways to become a nonjudgmental observer of yourself, in all your glory and untidiness, and for you to use this information to inform and guide your path forward.

Indulge in your sorrow as if your life depended on it.

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07/01/2021

[...you have your own story
you know about the fears the tears
the scar of disbelief

you know that the saddest lies
are the ones we tell ourselves
you know how dangerous it is
to wear dark skin...

have we not been good children
did we not inherit the earth

but you must know all about this
from your own shivering life]

The brilliant words of Lucille Clifton -- true brilliance and so humble.

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06/28/2021

The work of self-awareness and increasing self-knowledge often involves noticing flashes of particular feelings such as disappointment, irritation, resentment or fear, for instance -- what may be called sensation fireflies. Nothing needs to be done with what is noticed, at least initially. And, to ask "why" or be too heady about it may only interfere; why is a conditioned language of blame, typically. Instead, the task may be to find a way to hold onto what has been noticed. These are the "messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we're stuck," as Pema states. This is the art of building an inner life and wisdom. What is our heart teaching us about this moment, and about ourselves? It is an opening to fierce self-appraisal mixed with humility, courage, and compassion for self.

Indulge in our sorrow as if your life depended on it.

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