Melton Health Hub is launching a supportive grief education group next month, designed to help people understand and navigate grief following the loss of a loved one.
Held across six weekly sessions, the group is facilitated by two experienced counsellors and is aimed at supporting adults at any stage of grief onset.
Western Health counselling and family violence manager Dylan Aldous said that the sessions will explore the emotional, physical, and psychological impacts of grief while providing a safe space to share experiences with others who are also grieving.
“We had counsellors run a bereavement lunchtime group, and that’s been very helpful to clients, but we run a predominantly [individual-based] counselling service for a variety of mental health based adjustment and adjustment issues,” he said.
“We realised we were getting a lot of clients presenting with grief and bereavement as their primary presenting issue.”
Mr Aldous said the impact of grief and bereavement is wide-ranging and is very personal.
“It can affect individuals emotionally, physically, socially, even spiritually … we recognise it’s a very difficult thing to process and to deal with and we believe that through this group, we can support individuals to build their coping strategies, provide a safe space where they can share their experiences with others who are experiencing similar things,” he said.
“We anticipate that they will be able to find connection, validation, and comfort through this.”
While the program begins in August with the six weekly sessions and places are limited to 12 members in the group, Mr Aldous said there could be a further group grief education program in the future.
“We are also available for individual counselling and social support as well,” he said.
Details: 9747 7609
