The way out of grief is to go through it.
The H.E.A.L.I.N.G. program works with individuals, groups, schools, agencies, and organizations to validate, normalize, and educate their process through grief.
Grief and Loss
Grief and loss are part of every human’s experience. Grief is complex, personal and unique to our experience, loss history and what we have been taught about how we should be managing it. Who among us has never been impacted by the death of someone we cared about (and the response to that is grief), or suffered a psychosocial / non-death loss that could be as powerful as a death (divorce, catastrophic injury, job loss)? Grief and loss do not recognize age, race, religion, culture, gender, or socio-economic group. However, these are factors in how grief and loss are processed.
At the time of loss there is a natural tendency to protect ourselves by denying or repressing our feelings. We may hope that by moving on we will outlast the period of mourning and bereavement. However, grief over any meaningful relationship does not end. What we are tasked to do is remake the relationship and integrate the loss into our lives going forward. When we neglect our feelings around grief the impact of the loss may surface in us behaviorally, cognitively, physically, socially and/or spiritually.
About
Ken Barringer, M.A., LMHC has worked in the field of mental health since 1984 and is the Director of the Academy in Newton, as well as an Adjunct Faculty member at Lesley University, Division of Counseling and Psychology. He is also a member of the American Counseling Association, Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association, Association for Counseling Education and Supervision, and the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development.
- Grief practice since 1996: Individual, group, family counseling , adolescents, and adults
- Consultant since 2001 for schools and businesses in aftermath of community tragedies (suicide, homicide) and national tragedies (mass shootings and its impact on their community)
- Clinical consultant Camp Erin® Boston: National bereavement summer camp /children & adolescents
- Adult support facilitator – Heartplay℠ , monthly bereavement program
- Developed grief support groups at several high schools private and public
- Monthly consultations for hospice workers
- Host of the Grief in Brief Podcast
- Author: Monthly email newsletter on grief and loss
- Speaker at professional and community events
- Developed the Taste of Healing events open to the public. (Click here to see past events.)
VIDEOS
FEATURING KEN BARRINGER
How Managers Can Collaborate with Grieving Employees
A Grief and Loss Responsive Community
READY TO CREATE A MORE COMPASSIONATE, GRIEF RESPONSIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT?
Ken offers assessment and planning for businesses, schools, or other organizations in the aftermath of loss.
Services Offered
- Individual and family counseling and consultation
- Grief support groups (please see below)
- Assessment and planning for businesses, schools, or other organizations in the aftermath of loss or in developing a more compassionate, grief responsive work environment (Learn More)
- Teaching and training
- Free monthly newsletter with articles, resources, book and film recommendations, and more. CLICK HERE to subscribe and join the email community of over 200 others!
Groups
Ken currently offers 3 different grief support groups. Read below to learn more and see if participating in one is right for you.
Monthly Caregiver Group
The term caregiver encompasses a range of people. One could be a parent caring for their child or parent; grandparent raising a grandchild; aunt and uncle raising their nephew; a friend who has been asked to care for a teen; a foster couple with temporary custody of a child. Whatever the situation, caregivers can find themselves feeling taxed working in the aftermath of trauma and loss that has left them in a new role. This monthly group creates space for caregivers to receive validation, support, camaraderie and normalization of their experience.
This group meets in-person.
Confirm your interest to
Ken Barringer KBarringer@healingforgriefandloss.com
Monthly Adult Grief Group
Age 22 – 35
While some important tasks of those in early adulthood can be achieving financial independence, committing to a significant relationship, or negotiating many next-step decisions, it doesn’t make them immune from grief. However, viable, appropriate groups often are not available. Group services tend to be specialized for children in school, hospice related or for a specific type of loss. There are few spaces for people in this age demographic to get supported by their peers regardless of the type of loss they have experienced. H.E.A.L.I.N.G.’s Adult Group is just such a place. This monthly group creates an opportunity for participants to receive validation, support, camaraderie, and normalization of their experience.
Groups meet one time each month, in-person and are limited in size.
Confirm your interest to
Ken Barringer KBarringer@healingforgriefandloss.com
Monthly Health Care Professionals Group
Healthcare professionals have always been on the front line. Being present, available, and responsive to others in their time of need is often what has drawn people to their chosen professions. However, where do you get your support? Where and how do you get your experience and the range of emotions validated? Health care professionals ranging from hospice workers to nurses, private counselors to agency directors, can find respite and reward through the normalization inherent in a group experience.
Groups meet one time each month, in-person and are limited in size.
Confirm your interest to Ken Barringer.
Blog
Sadness is not necessarily a problem that needs a solution.
Grievers may not experience their sadness as a problem so much as recognizing it’s a state they’re in. When grievers get concerned about their sadness it’s due in part to others…
May 28, 2024
It’s That Time of Year
It always seems like “it’s that time of year”. We can make a case for the summer being that time of year if we like to feel relaxed and slow down a bit. We can make a case for…
May 6, 2024
Has Grief Changed Me or Expanded Me?
I recently attended a Ravi Coltrane concert, and he said something that has stayed with me. He was talking about his father’s (John Coltrane) music and its evolution over time.…
April 1, 2024
Succinct and to the Point
Is it possible to describe our experience and our relationship to grief in brief form? Is it possible to pinpoint where we are at in our grief process in as few words as we can?…
March 7, 2024
Change is Loss and Loss is Change 2 – The Sequel.
(Part 1 was May 2021) Where were you when you got the news? Who did you hear it from? What was your initial reaction, and did you have any variability of emotion (anxiety,…
January 27, 2024
Should I be Feeling Bad Because I Feel Good?
The short answer is please don’t. There is nothing wrong with feeling good. It might mean you’re developing new perspectives on your grief, not that you’re grieving less. There…
December 28, 2023
THE GRIEF IN BRIEF PODCAST
Listen now!
Grief in Brief is a podcast hosted by Ken Barringer, LMHC a mental health counselor with a specialty in grief and loss. In each episode you will hear a conversation with an expert about the management of intense feelings and emotions that can accompany grief and loss. Most episodes are between 15 – 20 minutes in length. There is also great irony in the title as Grief is NOT Brief. In fact, it's a marathon in a world that loves sprints!
Listen to the podcast now by searching, "Grief is Brief with Ken Barringer" on Spotify, Apple Itunes, and most other networks!
Guest on The Grief in Brief podcast are leaders in their fields and range from:
Those using mediation and shamanic practices, breath work and compassion to;
Those using energy psychology, music as therapy, and understanding pet loss to;
Those using landscape design, theatre directors, writers, and nutritionists;
.... and many more
HEALING is a division of The Academy of Physical and Social Development, Inc.