Coping Strategies

Grief is the intensely personal emotional, cognitive, behavioural, and physical response to a loss, most commonly the death of someone dear, but also experienced after divorce, job loss, or other major life changes. It is more than just sadness—grief can feel like a tangled web of anxiety, guilt, relief, and shock. As the world continues moving, the bereaved often feel disconnected, like life should have paused but didn’t. Models such as Kübler-Ross’s five stages—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—offer a framework, but grief rarely follows a linear path. Dr. Richard Wilson’s metaphor of the “Whirlpool of Grief” captures the unpredictable emotional turbulence: life shifts from a calm river to a chaotic swirl of emotions. Over time, with self-compassion and support, people often find themselves drifting back into steadier waters, while still honouring the memory of their loss.