How to access therapy

The death of a son or daughter is one of life’s most tragic and stressful events. Whilst grief is inevitable, everyone is different in how they react to grief. Men and women often grieve differently. Some couples can adjust and begin to integrate the loss into their relationship and lives, while for others the feelings of grief felt immediately after the death of a child persist or become more intense or complicated. Their healing process is difficult and can even stall, resulting in difficulty with everyday functioning and problems with their relationship. Like a wound that does not heal, this grief can adversely impact the individual, but it can also lead to relationship difficulties. Such grief is the subject of significant research and is described as prolonged grief and is often not recognized or understood. While resources exist to support individuals soon after a loss, there are limited publicly available services to help couples deal with prolonged and complicated grief.

The mental health charity Penthos was founded to meet this gap in services. The specialist couple therapy is provided free of charge as the Penthos Intervention Program and is fully funded by donors who understand the real cost of grief to couples and their families.

You may self-refer to Penthos by contacting our Program Coordinator who can provide further information and answer your questions. Please contact us at admin@penthos.org.au or ring 0416 341 005.