What are the Stages of Grief?

There are some very helpful models that have been

developed to assist people in understanding the

bereavement process. Ross and Kessler offer this 5 step

framework to help us understand what is happening in our

lives following the loss of a loved one. The stages are Denial,

Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross & David Kessler created the 5

stages of grief to help us to identify what is really going

on in our lives when we lose someone. Death and dying is

such an emotionally messy time of life. We need a handle

to help us manage our time of bereavement. No structure for

the different stages we go through will answer all of the

questions or help with all of our feelings.

When you read these stages know that there is no guaranteed

order for you to follow. Healthy recovery from a painful loss

looks different for different people. The time it takes to move

forward will be different for each of us.

This tool will hopefully help you to get on the other

side of the loss of a loved one. This is only one resource but it can

be an important one. Over time we will look at other tools for healing.

We will explore these stages individually so look forward to the

learning process. Are you ready for the journey?