Ep229: On Grief and Grieving after Loss, Separation or Endings (Part 1) with Clinical Psychologist Verena Kacinskis

<p class="p1">This episode, which I like to think of as: two friends walk into a bar and talk about grief, is raw, honest, and it is meant to bring you support if you are grieving, if the passing of a loved one is near, if it has been a long time since you lost someone and have had a difficult and prolonged grieving process, and it is also for anyone grieving any type of loss other than from the death of a loved one. It could be that you are grieving the end of a relationship, are going through a divorce or through the loss of a friendship, estrangement from family members, your kids moving away from home, the loss of a job or business, that you are grieving a dream that hasn’t come to pass or that didn’t happen for you, the loss of youth, the loss that comes from seeing your body change through the years through the process of ageing, the loss of health, and any other circumstance where grieving can take place.</p> <p class="p1">As you know I’ve had a lot of losses due to the death of loved ones, most happened in the span of a few short years at a very young age, and Verena comes to this conversation with the most candid and open hearted vulnerability, talking about her divorce after 13 years of marriage, right before the pandemic. What I loved about this conversation, was that even though I have experienced grief first hand, and I feel I’ve grown to understand it more and more with every loss, Verena explains grief from that perfect intersection between lived experience and her incredible professional experience as a therapist, and I learned so much from this conversation.</p> <p class="p1">We talk about:</p> <ul> <li class="p1"> <p>The meaning of grief and the grieving process, what this process is and what it feels like.</p> </li> <li class="p1"> <p>The 5 stages of grief, what they are and examples for each of them.</p> </li> <li class="p1"> <p>Traumatic and problematic grief.</p> </li> <li class="p1"> <p>The wavelike&nbsp;cycle of grief with all its ups and downs.</p> </li> <li class="p1"> <p>What c