Grief, Loss & Suicide Bereavement Counselling Bendigo
Hi, I am Frederikke Jensen, a narrative therapist and counsellor. I provide dedicated grief counselling in Bendigo for those experiencing complicated loss, welcoming clients in person at my practice room in Kangaroo Flat (just 6 km from Bendigo CBD) as well as online across Australia. My experience supporting people through suicide bereavement whilst working at StandBy has given me a deep understanding of how differently grief can be expressed and that grief counselling is not isolated from other psychological struggles such as trauma, depression, and anxiety. Equally, loss is rarely isolated from family dynamics, historical attachments, or relational harm.
How I work with people who are bereaved
The types of bereavement and loss we may explore
Whilst this is not an exclusive list of areas I work with, I hope you get a sense that I invite you to speak about any loss that evokes sorrow and grief for you:
Relationship loss: The loss of a relationship through divorce, separation, or family estrangement.
Death: The loss of a person or animal due to death, including the devastating loss of a partner, child, parent, or close friend. My space offers an alternative to short-term bereavement support in Bendigo from organisations who typically offer 8-10 sessions.
Disability: Coming to terms with the pain of a loss of physical ability or cognitive functioning following an accident or chronic illness, including the experience of living with a different body or brain.
Traumatic loss: Experienced in suicide bereavement, I offer a containing and regular time in the middle of something incomprehensible. If you are dealing with the aftermath of a shattering loss of a person to suicide, violence, accident or illness, you can read my therapist's perspective on making sense of suicide bereavement.
Anticipatory loss: Living life with a loss that is happening slowly but inevitably, such as a parent or supporting a parent or partner being taken by dementia.
Loss of country: The loss of a homeland due to migration, war or conflict, which can be an experience that may have left you unsettled inside due to a fractured sense of belonging.
Unlived life regrets: Being middle-aged or older and feeling grief about an unlived life, missed paths and lost opportunities.
Grief can touch something deeper that was lost long ago
Often, grief counselling is seen as something counsellors specialise in, and the counselling people expect to receive s mostly focused on the loss. However, it is my experience that with complicated grief and traumatic grief, we often need to touch on something deeper than the particular incident or loss that might have led you to seek therapy.
Touching on something deeper could look like thinking about other areas of life or early experiences of neglect and abandonment, as present loss can bring up emotions and experiences of early loss when we were infants or children.
I am, of course, guided by what you want to talk about and what unfolds naturally in sessions, and nothing is ever forced. Grief work, just like therapy for other psychological struggles, should be approached with sensitivity to trauma.
Loss can make you feel lost, but it helps finding an emotional home for it
The deep sorrow coming from the loss of a loved one or the shock after a traumatic loss can, for some, feel like it grips you tightly and won’t let go.
It can feel like being overwhelmed, as though nothing else exists except the pain and longing that envelop you. For others, it may feel like a persistent numbness or fear of another loss happening.
The benefit of finding an emotional home for the painful grief and sorrow that follows a loss is not always given the space that it needs. Parts of our culture, our family systems and how we learned to cope earlier in life may also impact how we think we should deal with grief.
You may have arrived here due to a traumatic loss or because your grief is disenfranchised and not welcomed by others. Or you feel like you should not burden others with your pain—there are many ways to come to this space.
How psychotherapy helps you understand grief and loss from a relational perspective
In narrative therapy, we see grief and loss as something to be invited in, and all the feelings related to a lost person and your relationship are welcome.
Listening to the sorrow and pain is important, and saying ‘hello again’ to what has been lost, whether our relationship to the person was a loving one or a complicated one—and finding an emotional home for the grief is a crucial part of mourning, as it frees us up to live again.
Please note that when I say a ‘complicated one’, referring to the relationship you had with a person you lost. I am well aware that sometimes a person lost was violent or abusive to you, and sometimes you might have both loved and hated them.
The process of mourning, if given the time and attention it needs, can leave people with a deeper knowledge, or skill, if you will.
After a while, resilience can form as a deep existential knowledge that loss, although it can be frightening and shattering, is part of life, and that we can work through it again when we have to, in ways where we are more connected to ourselves and others.
Whether you’d like a call back for a brief talk or have a specific question, feel free to get in touch.
There is no charge for a brief initial conversation.
No need to share sensitive information by form, if we decide to meet in person or via telehealth, I set aside the first three sessions to understand more about what you’re going through.
You can read more about me and how I work before you reach out.
Warmly
Frederikke
E: frederikke@throughlinecounselling.com
M: 0427 043 171