No I am not a counsellor – yet I had the opportunity recently to listen to a wonderful talk by Dr. Ashley Mielke on Carrie Doll’s Inner Circle, on grief and the stages of grief that individuals are going through currently.
To not discount those feelings but to recognize them in most cases as normal as life as we know or experience it has been redirected.
As humans we are meant for connection – face to face time – engagement – and when we don’t have that there are feelings of loss, confusion, sadness, anger, acceptance and so many layers
These are normal – depending on the individual and the age someone will respond and react differently – they may respond with anger/confrontation/resistance cause they can’t put what they are feeling into words. This is common in our teenagers, and youth but not limited to this age group.
Having a young adult in one’s family whom at this time in their life is used to their social life being a high value to them and having their entire social life be forced to be placed on hold – especially summer time activities – pool parties perhaps, patio season, beach time, volleyball, whatever it may be.
A key for some is to share how you are feeling and with time perhaps they will associate their feelings with the season they too are going through and open up – some may withdraw, sleep patterns may change, appetite.
I am writing this to help you recognize some patterns of where you can support your loved ones or reach out to someone like Ashley Mielke and her team for help. Keep the conversations going – keep sharing your feelings and why you think you are having them.
Did you know boys are told 23,000 times by the age of 15 to not share their emotions – our young men are being most impacted!
Don’t ignore it as who knows how long this season or current environment will continue and how long-standing these emotions will affect an individual short and long term. Work on them now.
Ashley’s contact is ashleymielke.com or Grief and Trauma Centre.
