A cornerstone of grief therapy teaches that being with a person in grief requires active listening, patience, and flexibility. Offering your presence, acknowledging their pain, helping with practical tasks, encouraging self-care, and following up are all important ways to support someone during this difficult time.

Everyone grieves differently. Your experiences of grief and your path forward is as unique as you are. One of the best practices you can do is simply to give yourself the self-compassion that it is okay to feel what you feel. In the first year of grieving, as everything seems so especially hard, please know that you still have an ability to adapt and change.

Nobody experiences grief the same way. We go through the stages of grief differently and never in the same manner as someone else. Grief can come from any loss, not just the death of a loved one. You can grieve for a job loss, moving, or a loss of a pet.