Workshops and Special Programs

Overcoming Heartache – A Healthy Guide to Handling Life’s Losses

It’s easy to know you’re grieving when someone you love dies. Or when you go through a painful break-up. But grief happens to us far more than we think.

That’s because we grieve whenever there’s a change in a relationship. That can be a relationship with a person, place or thing. We grieve when a good friend moves away. We’re sad when we can’t visit our favorite place as often. Or we’re upset when we lose a treasured possession. Grief can happen even when the change seems “good.”

• You trade-in your old car for a new one.
• You take on a new job and leave an old one.
• You graduate from college.
• You get married.

Many times we don’t know we’re grieving. We just know we’re not feeling good about the changes. More importantly, we live in a grief-denying society. It tells us a bunch of lies about our grief.

• Replace the loss. We quickly get a new puppy after our dog dies.
• Be strong for others. We push down our pain and “put on a happy face” for others.
• Get busy. We soldier on with life and “forget about” the loss. Yet it continues to haunt us.
• Just give it time. We’re told “time heals all wounds.” But it doesn’t.

None of these myths help us. They force us to behave in ways that deny what we’re really feeling inside. So we stuff the pain down and try to do what’s expected of us – move on. However, wherever we go and whatever we do, that pain stays with us. We have few if any outlets to share it and heal it.

This workshop series guides attendees in how to deal with the pain in a healthy way. It shows that grief is the normal and natural reaction people have to any kind of loss. Yet it’s one of the most neglected and misunderstood human experiences.

The five-part program explores:

• The stages of grief
• Common responses to grief – from others and ourselves
• Myths in our society that block our ability to heal it
• The effects of unresolved grief
• Practical ways to handle loss of any kind

Participants are required to commit to the entire workshop series. Anyone who hasn’t been a client at New Leaf Center is required to meet with the workshop facilitator for an individual session before the workshop begins. An individual session is $150 and is not included in the workshop fee.

WHEN:
Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Dates to be announced

WHERE:
New Leaf Center

FACILITATOR:
Jackie MacKay, M.A., LMHC, NCC, Licensed Mental Health Counselor

COST:
$85 per person per group

Read what past participants
say about this workshop.