Sooner or later, everyone experiences grief and loss in their life. As a child, you might lose a beloved pet, a relative, or even a parent. As an adult, it’s more common the older you get to lose someone close to you, including friends, family, and children. It’s an unavoidable part of reality.

No two people experience grief or process loss in the same way. It’s undeniable that it affects your life, but the specifics of how and how you can handle it in a healthy way will vary.

That’s why grief counseling is so important. Grief counseling is a kind of therapy, and it’s designed specifically to help you cope with loss.

Fortunately, here in Metro Detroit, we have a lot of options for grief counseling. Before we get into the specific list, it’s worth discussing the benefits of grief counseling, as well as signs you could use it, in case you aren’t sure whether or not it can help you out.

DISCLAIMER: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered medical or psychological advice. The information presented here is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any mental health condition or replace professional therapeutic care. Every individual’s experience with trauma and mental health is unique. Please consult with a qualified mental health professional, therapist, or healthcare provider to determine the most appropriate treatment approach for your specific situation. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or emergency, please contact your local emergency services or crisis hotline immediately.

What Are the Benefits of Grief Counseling?

First, let’s talk about the tangible benefits of grief counseling.

First of all, it helps you understand the process of grief, what it means, and how it tends to proceed. You’ve likely heard of the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance), and while this framework is generally accurate, it’s not clean, linear, or easy. Understanding how grief works, both in general and for you specifically, can help you out both now and in the long run.

The main benefit most people get from grief counseling is learning a set of coping mechanisms to help process loss in a healthy way. Coping mechanisms can range from positive reframing of an experience to practicing mindfulness to activities like journaling to techniques common in CBT. While you can certainly learn about and practice these at home, it helps to be guided through them and how they can help by a professional.

Grief counseling, whether it’s individually with a psychotherapist or counselor, or in group sessions, also gives you a safe space to express emotions. Many people find that they aren’t able to express what they’re feeling and going through. Maybe their family is also going through it. Maybe they don’t trust friends or other family to respond appropriately. Maybe they just don’t have someone to talk to. A grief counseling group or therapist can provide that outlet.

Typically, grief counseling can also help you develop more emotional awareness. Learning to recognize your own emotions and behaviors is a good way to open up healthier responses to those emotions. This is another commonality with standard CBT/DBT, in that it equips you for healthier interpersonal relationships and cognitive processing of emotions along the way.

One of the main characteristics of grief that makes it hard to handle is that it’s not just the sense of loss you feel, but also the loss of control. Having someone close to you taken from you evokes a lot of particular feelings and reactions that can be hard to handle. Grief counseling helps restore your sense of control over your own life, and the acceptance of when you didn’t have control at all.

So, whether it’s building or rebuilding relationships, finding support, finding meaning, or accepting and moving on after a loss, grief counseling does a lot to help you work through and move beyond these feelings.

The effects are lasting, too. Studies have shown that improving your response to grief can also help improve general mental health, reduce the rate of mood disorders, reduce PTSD, and more.

Some Signs You Would Benefit from Grief Counseling

It can be hard to examine your own mental and emotional state in a way that allows you to open up and say: yes, I need help.

The truth is, most people can benefit from grief counseling, though some more than others. If you’re unsure, here are some of the biggest signs that you could benefit from grief counseling.

• You’re feeling depressed or have suicidal thoughts or ideation, especially if it’s persistent.
• You’re experiencing ongoing distress, with symptoms such as crying, loss of appetite, irritability, and insomnia.
• You reject the reality of the loss and refuse to believe that your loved one is gone.
• You find yourself frequently visiting, or avoiding, places where you and your lost loved one spent time or made memories.
• You’ve turned to substance use to try to handle the loss.
• You’re taking more risks and have a decreased perception of the value of your own life.
• You’re withdrawing from social interaction and engagement with friends and family.
• You feel lost and have no one to turn to in your life.
• Feelings of grief and loss are hurting your ability to perform in your job.
• Others in your life are questioning how you’re handling a loss in your life.

These and other signs are all good reasons to explore grief counseling. You don’t need all or even most of them; even just one or two is reason enough.

Grief counseling is also generally free or cheap, low-obligation, and low-responsibility; you can explore your options and, if it doesn’t work for you or doesn’t benefit you, you can try something else. If cost is a concern, there are free mental health services available in the Greater Detroit area worth looking into.

Metro Detroit Resources for Grief Counseling

What options are available to you here in the Detroit area for grief counseling? Fortunately, there are quite a few of them available.

If you’re looking for something we haven’t covered on our list, or if you’re a little further from Metro Detroit, the State of Michigan also maintains a document with grief counseling organizations throughout all of Michigan. It’s a great resource to keep an eye on, and can be found here.

Additionally, general search directories like Psychology Today and FindHelp are also options to seek out grief counseling groups or resources that we didn’t cover on this list. GriefShare also offers a directory specific to grief counseling services.

Experiencing an immediate crisis? Call 988. While you might tend to think of 988 as the helpline for PTSD, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation, it’s so much more than that. Calling 988 connects you to the Michigan Crisis and Access Lifeline, which can help you through any mental health crisis, including grief. They can also connect you to resources and support after the crisis has passed, to continue your counseling. You can also find Metro Detroit mental health crisis lines and walk-ins if you need additional options.

Common Ground

Common Ground is largely a mental health crisis support organization available throughout Michigan. They offer a handful of crisis help lines and services, as well as a mobile crisis recovery team that can come to you in the event of a serious issue.

However, in addition to these more general services, they also offer survivors of loss support groups and a peer warmline that can help. You can learn more about each of their services from their website.

New Hope

The New Hope Center for Grief Support is a peer support organization for helping people handle grief in their lives. Based in Northville, they offer a variety of seminars and workshops centered around grief, including the loss of a spouse, the loss of a child, and specific kinds of loss, including loss to suicide or substance use. They also offer grief sensitivity training to corporate partners. Their support groups are free to attend and do not require pre-registration.

To join their support groups, you will need to complete a First Time Participant form, which can be done online or in person at the group meeting. They host some kind of meeting or seminar nearly every weekday, and often several each day, including both virtual and in-person sessions. You can see the full calendar, as well as handle the paperwork, on their website.

Angela Hospice

Angela Hospice is a hospice care facility, which means they are inextricably linked to loss and grief. As such, they also provide free grief counseling, support groups, and both an eBook and a newsletter for further information.

Counseling is by appointment (call 734.464.3277 to schedule), and their support groups are available on their calendar.

Hospice of Michigan

Hospice of Michigan is another hospice care organization with a grief program. In this case, their Grief Journey Program is staffed by master-level clinicians who are trained specifically to work on grief, and they offer in-person and virtual support groups.

Some of their groups are very specific (such as miscarriage and stillbirth support) while others are focused on general loss. All of them can be viewed on their calendar.

The Compassionate Friends

TCF is an organization originally founded in Warwickshire, England, and has since expanded into an international organization. They have six chapters in the greater Detroit area, including in St. Clair Shores, Rochester, Livonia, Berlin Charter Township, Ann Arbor, and, of course, Detroit itself.

The Compassionate Friends is dedicated specifically to processing and handling grief from the loss of a child, grandchild, or sibling. This is often one of the hardest kinds of grief to process, as it’s both unexpected and difficult to imagine, as it goes against the “order” you would expect. Fortunately, TCF is good at what they do.

Bereaved Parents USA

Like TCF, Bereaved Parents USA is a national-level group with local chapters, focusing on the grief of a parent who has lost their child or grandchild.

They have two chapters in the Detroit area, one in Detroit proper on 3rd Street, and one in Macomb County in the Washington Senior Center. Both have monthly in-person meetings that are free to attend.

SandCastles Grief Support

SandCastles is part of the Henry Ford Health network and offers grief counseling for children, teens, and families.

They cover the Metro Detroit area across six counties and have four locations for programs.

• Detroit (New Center) on Mondays
• Rochester on Wednesdays
• St. Clair Shores on Thursdays
• West Bloomfield on Thursdays

A big part of what SandCastles does is serve as a preventative mode of grief counseling for children. It’s a great way to work with your kids to prepare them for the reality of grief, and help them know that when it happens, they aren’t alone and that help is available. For more tailored support, explore our child and adolescent services at BMC-Troy.

Niche Groups and Resources

There are also some very specialized resources that can be available for specific groups of people. For example:

• Gift of Life. This organization is centered around organ donation, but they offer grief support for the families who have made organ donations on behalf of their loved ones.
• Gilda’s Club. Gilda’s Club centers around loss related to cancer, and the grief support of living with it or having a loved one pass because of it. They also have niche groups within this banner, including groups for specific diagnoses and for caregivers.

Beyond all of this, you can also access telehealth therapy and grief counseling through a variety of different online services, including some likely provided by your health insurance. There are many, many different resources available, so don’t hesitate to start looking for help.

If peer support groups, telehealth visits, or grief-specific groups aren’t quite what you’re looking for, you can also contact us at BMC-Troy. We offer individual counseling, family counseling, group therapy, and a range of other services, which can center around grief or consider any and all mental health struggles you face in your life. Our therapy services are a great option if you want more than just a temporary support group to work through loss, or you need more than just a monthly peer group or a Zoom call to help you through an event.

Grief and loss are often coupled with traumatic and stressful experiences, and can compound with other mental health issues like depression and anxiety as well. It’s always worth seeing a holistic view of your mental and emotional state and seeking therapy for total well-being.

If you’re interested in what we have to offer, you can fill out our new patient intake form directly from our website, or you can call us at 248.528.9000. We are able to assist with grief at any age - children, adolescents and adults - we’re more than happy to help you find the kind of treatment you deserve