The Midlands region of the IACP (Irish Association of Counsellors/Psychotherapists ) are holding a workshop on complicated grief in the Tuar Ard Centre, Moate, on October 20, facilitated by Dr Helen Grealley.
Dr Helen Greally works as director of psychology and support services at Cancer Care West which is a not-for-profit organisation based in Galway city, one of whose primary aims is to enhance and promote patient care. It offers a wide range of supports to cancer patients and their families.
In 1998, she completed the first major study of coping with grief and loss in Ireland in a study called the Galway Bereavement Project. She works with many individuals who have experienced loss in their lives.
Dr Greally also lectures widely on this subject to a variety of groups including nurses, doctors, and teachers and other health care professionals. She also teaches in the National University of Ireland Galway and the University of Limerick clinical doctorate courses. She frequently gives public lectures and speaks on radio in relation to this topic. For the past five years she has been a key participant in the Irish Hospice Foundation’s diploma/masters in bereavement studies.
She sees grief as a journey of adaptation over time, which involves different tasks for each individual.
