The Grief Recovery Method
About Harold Kirby | Certified Grief Recovery Specialist
Harold P. Kirby is a certified Grief Recovery Specialist utilizing the Grief Recovery Method®. He is devoted to helping people move beyond the pain of loss and regain their ability to lead a fully engaged life. Harold works with individuals in addition to co-leading a Grief Recovery Group. He is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist with over 26 years experience. Other treatment modalities for non-grief related issues include E/RP, EMDR, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and DBT).
What is grief?
Grief is the normal and natural emotional reaction to loss. It is not limited to death, divorce, and tragic events. We can grieve a multitude of things small and large, such as the loss of a job, a loss of health, or the loss of a pet. We can grieve ending school, moving, retirement, financial changes, loss of trust, and loss of safety, to name just a few. I’m sure you can imagine many things not on this list that you have lost. In fact, grief can occur in any circumstance where you experience the end of or change in a familiar pattern of behavior. Humans attach to things and other people very quickly, and we experience the loss of attachments deeply.
People learn to acquire things in our culture. We get an education, friends, a job, a car, a romantic relationship and countless other things. Though we are able to move past loss, we often struggle during the experience of loss. Humans possess an innate ability to grieve. Often, we get stuck because we lack the knowledge of how to work through loss.
How do we grieve?
Take for instance a five-year-old boy. A friend’s birthday party has just been canceled, so the child won’t be able to attend an event he was looking forward to. The child, if permitted, will be sad and perhaps cry. If he is held and encouraged to express his this sadness—which is natural, normal, and healthy—he will dry his tears, finish being sad, and re-engage with the next moment in his life. But what happens if he doesn’t grieve? What happens when you don’t have the skills to deal with your own broken heart?
The Grief Recovery Method® works to help people complete their grief and developing the essential skills to move beyond loss. Each person is unique. and Harold’s wide range of skills allows him to design treatment that complement the unique needs of each individual, including not only grief but also OCD, PTSD, BFRBs, anxiety, and depression.
Contact Harold Kirby at 610-517-3127 to schedule a consultation or appointment to discuss grief recovery. Harold provides telehealth treatment for clients in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas of Pennsylvania and New Jersey (Main Line, Montgomery County, Camden, Cherry Hill), as well as in the South Carolina Lowcountry (Hilton Head, Bluffton, Beaufort, Colleston County, Dorchester County, Berkeley County, Charleston).