Grief in the Workplace

Coping with Loss & Managing Grief in the Workplace

When a death occurs in the workplace it can send shock waves through the various parts of the system. Often times, workers do not get a chance to air their thoughts and feelings about what has occurred with their colleagues and managers in any structured process. Moreover, while they want to continue performing at peak levels, it becomes difficult to impossible. Low productivity and absenteeism are unfortunate but common results of unprocessed grief. On the other hand, managers often do not know what format or mechanism to follow in the aftermath of sudden and unexpected loss in the office.

The Center’s Critical Incident Stress Debrief (CISD) service is designed to help systems slow down their business as usual in order to facilitate the beginning of a healthy grief process. Workers feel accounted for and part of a larger effort of empathic responsiveness on the part of the company. As a crucial part of this larger empathic (and practical) response, the grief counselor becomes your ally and guide through a complicated passage.

Over the years, our grief counselors have met with many kinds of groups after a sudden loss in the workplace. Clients have received both written and verbal guidance about normal reactions to sudden loss, as well as signs of trauma reactions and what to do about them. If you or anyone you know is trying to cope with grief in the workplace, please contact the Center for further information.
Call the Center for Grief Recovery at 773-274-4600 or email us at info@griefcounselor.org.