Loss comes in many forms, from the death of a loved one to the ending of a relationship or job role. Whatever the type of loss, grief is the inevitable consequence.
Rituals are a time-honored way to come to terms with grief, from attending funerals and visiting gravesites to sharing stories about the loss. Rituals benefit mourners by helping them accept loss, process their emotions, establish a meaningful routine, and move toward healing.
In our video on Creating a Grief Ritual, Woody Schuldt, LMHC, offers an easy-to-follow blueprint for designing a grief ritual tailored to clients’ specific loss, beliefs, and setting. The video guides viewers through five steps to aid them in the creation of a ritual:
- Choose a meaningful object,
- Make it sacred,
- Incorporate movement,
- Interact with the chosen object, and
- Create closure and repeat.
Use this video to support your work with clients who are struggling with loss. The recommended steps are research-based and flexible enough to be relevant to many loss types and client backgrounds. You can also share this with colleagues interested in novel and interactive ways to work with grief.
If clients’ loss is very recent and especially acute, you may want to help them cope with their emotions before suggesting a grief ritual.
To explore related resources, see our Grief Rituals article and Grief Myths worksheet.
