Grief & Illness

Episodes of loss may challenge our ability to handle extreme levels of emotional pain. A certain period of adjustment, when we are not at our best, is to be expected. However, sometimes we feel overwhelmed by the demands of the transition and remain paralysed in our grief, unable to pass through bereavement to resume a satisfying life. Coming to terms with serious illness likewise focuses us to review our priorities and adjust our self-concept to a new reality.

Kenneth Demsky received training as a hospice counsellor from the Omega Hospice programme of Somerville-Cambridge Catholic Charities and worked with dying patients and their immediate families for two years.