In honor of National Social Workers’ month, TRU’s Director of Volunteers and Grief Support Services, Raegan Gyorffy, LCSW, shares on bringing people from despair to hope.

Death is as universal as birth. No one escapes its reach. This includes Grief Counselors. What draws most to this profession is the touch of death itself in our personal lives. It sets us on a path of exploration and slogging forward, until ultimately we find some comfort and peace. That was it for me.

When death touched my life, the thing I came back to was Hope. This is what sets my practice apart, and what I infuse into my work with others journeying through grief.

Paul E. Miller captured it perfectly when he wrote:

What’s the point of love if the journey ends in despair? Love is what you do on the journey. Faith is how you make it through the journey. But hope is the end of the journey. Without hope, love makes no sense. – Love Walked Among Us

Helping people find their way back to hope from despair is a true joy for me. Everyone’s hope is different, but it is the essential ingredient to a life well lived and a life well memorialized. Walking with my clients as they seek to find a hope to anchor them to the “land of the living” again is a sacred journey.

Grief often muddles our brains. Grief makes life difficult to navigate. Grief feels like swimming in the middle of an unending pool. You get tired. You go under water. You have to find the energy to somehow fight to get your head back above water.

This is where grief counseling is helpful. We strive to help you find your strength again when you feel depleted. Our counselors work with you to find your Hope.

Sometimes this journey is a short one, sometimes it is longer. Honestly, no one’s journey to hope is the same. At TRU Community Care we’re here to guide you as you integrate the loss of your loved one into your everyday life for however long that takes. We have different ways of providing that support, from individual counseling to support groups, informational mailings and periodic phone calls, there are many ways to provide just the right support for you. We strive to tailor the grief support experience to the individual’s needs so that you have just what you need when you need it.

– Raegan Gyorffy, LCSW

Please share about your journey through grief and learn more about TRU’s grief support services.