Grief and Traumatic Bereavement Counseling


YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

WE HAVE BEEN THERE - AND SURVIVED!

Dr. URSULA WEIDE
Licensed Psychologist (MD)
Licensed Professional Counselor (VA)
Certified Thanatologist (Death, Grief and Bereavement Specialist)

Serving the Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas
Offices in Old Town, Alexandria, VA 22314, and in Rockville, MD 20852

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of Dr. Weide

Please contact Dr. WEIDE for additional information or an appointment:
  • By phone: (240) 229-1893 in Maryland and (703) 548-3866 in Virginia.
  • By email at: DrWeide@coping-with-loss-and-grief.com

    • Nationwide Loss and Grief Telephone Support Network
    Please click on Telephone Support







    My personal experience    :
    When I received the phone call at five o’clock in the afternoon that my 47-year old husband had died of a heart attack, all of a sudden I was in a place I had never been to before. And in a dimension only I knew - and no one near me. I did not sleep nor eat for three days. But I still had enough sense to wait until 4 a.m. on the first night to call my closest relatives, living in France. Four o’clock in the morning here is ten o’clock in the morning over there.


    My message to you:
    If you're looking for someone who will reassure you that what you're going through now - after the sudden, untimely, or violent loss of a spouse, child, sibling or other loved one, or after having witnessed their terminal care - will be over in just three months, I'm not the right person. (I know that your environment wants you to move on and be done after five months, at the most!) Also, I refuse to make any promises using terms such as healing, recovery, stages, "letting go" or “grief journey." Coping with grief is too complex for that, and there are no 21-day miracles.


    What I can assure you of:
    Since I lived through It and came out of It the other end, you will too. Most of us do (we will discuss how to take care of yourself so that you can beat the statistics). How you will cope, how long it will take, and what your life will be at the other end can not be predicted in detail and with precision. Nor what sense you will eventually make out of your experience. Only that you will.

    What I can tell you is that the It holding you in Its grip right now will eventually let go. No, you are not going crazy. And whatever you may do, think, feel or perceive – as different as it may be from your earlier self – is typical for living through trauma. Whether it is memory loss, difficulty concentrating, irritability, perceiving things which turn out not be there, involuntarily reliving time and again the worst moments, possibly flashbacks and disturbing dreams – not to mention loss of appetite, sleep and energy – is, unfortunately, a natural component of your experience. And so are the reactions and actions on the part of your ENVIRONMENT - even the most well intentioned individual JUST DOES NOT KNOW what you are really going through. We will discuss how to best respond.

    What I can also assure you of is that you are not alone. One of the amazing things I discovered after my husband died was the world of survivors. It had never occurred to me that a young spouse could die. And that a child could die before you had been inconceivable!

    But all of a sudden I realized that we are a group out there, bound by a common experience and with an intuitive understanding of what the other person is going through. We are linked by a bond known only to those WHO HAVE BEEN THERE. Whether you are a WOMAN or a MAN does not matter. We understand each other, and there is comfort in not being alone. Even without words.

    Because I have experienced the comfort of not being alone, I have established the Grief and Traumatic Counseling Program offering individual counseling, the Adult Bereavement Support Group, help for adolescents, families, and the Nationwide Telephone Grief Support Network.

    These are the goals and subjects of adult and adolescent INDIVIDUAL and GROUP grief counseling:
  • Identify where you are at
  • Recognize the symptoms of trauma and grief
  • Understand that they are normal and universal for everyone in your situation
  • Discuss what to do about the symptoms
  • Understand the importance of the mental health aspects of grief and of working with a mental health expert
  • Discuss the course of grief over our lifetime
  • How to create a support system
  • Discuss the importance of physical health (morbidity and mortality rates among the bereaved are three times the national average for the first three years)
  • Grief and trauma-related health problems, recent or as aggravation of earlier conditions (cardiac, neurological, orthopedic, gastrointestinal, endocrine, blood pressure, cholesterol)
  • Discuss how to take care of yourself
  • The importance of exercise
  • The use of alcohol or drugs
  • What is depression? What to do?
  • The myths of anti-depressants and sleep medication
  • Discuss the misconceived expectations and assumptions of your environment and how to handle them
  • You have the right to be assertive with others!
  • Discuss what working through and managing grief means
  • The importance of retelling your experience based on hearing the experience of other group members
  • The importance of being in a group with members who are further along
  • The questions which have no answer and how to live with that
  • The FUTURE (often a threatening concept) and how to approach it
  • Differences in coping with grief between WOMEN and MEN.

    Please contact Dr. WEIDE for additional information
    or an appointment:

  • By phone: (240) 229-1893 in Maryland and (703) 548-3866 in Virginia.
    Offices in Old Town, Alexandria, VA 22314, and in Rockville, MD 20852
  • By email at: DrWeide@coping-with-loss-and-grief.com
    • YOU ARE NOT ALONE - WE HAVE BEEN THERE!

    Photos ©Dreamstime.com

    Dr. Weide provides services for the following
    communities and zip code areas:
    Rockville, Bethesda, Cabin John, Chevy Chase, Colesville, Gaithersburg, Garret Park, Germantown, Glen Echo, Kensington, North Potomac, Potomac, Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Alexandria, Arlington, Annandale, Belle Haven, Fort Hunt, Chantilly, Frankonia, Great Falls, McLean, Mount Vernon, Reston, Merrifield, Seven Corners, Woodbridge, Falls Church, Fairfax, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Montgomery County, Prince William County, Washington, D.C. 22301, 22302, 22303, 22304, 22305, 22306, 22307, 22308, 22309, 22310, 22311, 22312, 22313, 22314, 22315, 22320, 22321, 22331, 22332, 22333, 22334, 22336.