There is a stubborn myth in our culture that men don’t grieve and that men aren’t allowed to express emotions of sadness, tenderness, and heartbreak. These two myths isolate men in their grief with few healthy ways to process their losses. Loss is a part of every life. Grief is cumulative. If we don’t deal with it we will find it seeping into other areas of our lives, often in messy ways. When most guys think of grief they think of the death of someone close to them, but did you know there are over 40 different kinds of loss that we can experience?
Kinds of loss that many men experience includes:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There are also intangible kinds of loss. These include:
- a loss of a sense of identity and purpose.
- a loss of a sense of belonging, security, trust, approval.
- a loss of control of your body.
Here’s the deal: Grief is the natural, normal emotional response to loss of any kind. Or another way: Grief is conflicting feelings caused by a change (real or imagined) or an end in a familiar pattern of behaviour or experience. Grief is not an illness or a weakness; rather it is the way that human beings are wired to process the emotions and pain of loss. These emotions are not wrong but the natural and normal response to the losses we experience.
March 2022: we will be hosting a grief group just for men. With no more than 10 guys, we will gather once a week for eight weeks via Zoom to explore our own losses and use practical tools and insights for working through grief and healing our hearts.
Together we create a safe space for you to:
- Gain a deeper understanding of the nature of grief, and the kinds of loss that create feelings of grief.
- Understand the physical, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual effects of grief
- Help you cultivate healthy, robust grieving and coping skills
- Uncover beliefs that may inhibit your recovery from loss
- Provide you with the opportunity to express and give voice to your emotional truth regarding your loss in a setting that is free from judgment, analysis or criticism
- Identify the losses that may need to be emotionally completed
- Nurture a deeper sense of self-awareness and awareness of your relationships
- Identify those behaviours that are not helpful towards healing
- Take an empowered new role in your healing and for your life
- Take the steps necessary to emotionally complete a relationship with a person who has died, a person whom you are now divorced, or other circumstances
- Be equipped with practical strategies to complete other losses you have experienced
- Re-energize your life with a fresh sense of hope and vitality
Dates: Tuesday Evenings March 1, 8, 15, 22, 29. April 5, 12, 19. via Zoom
Time: 8pm MST
Cost: $95
