What is grief?
This page is about grief and loss. What grief is, how it moves through us, and how psychological support at Integro Health can help you carry it in a safe, non-judgemental environment in South West WA.
Grief is the natural response to losing someone or something we are attached to. Most often we think of it after a death, but grief can follow any significant loss, including the end of a relationship, a serious diagnosis, the loss of a job or a home, a miscarriage, or the loss of a future you had imagined. Grief is not a problem to be fixed or an illness to be cured. It is love with nowhere to go. Support is not about making it disappear, but about helping you carry it and find your way forward without leaving what you lost behind.
How grief moves through us
Grief rarely follows neat stages, despite what we are often told. It tends to come in waves, easing and returning, sometimes triggered by an anniversary, a song, or an ordinary moment that catches you off guard. It can bring not only sadness but also anger, guilt, relief, numbness, and exhaustion, sometimes all at once, and that mix is completely normal. Many people moving through grief also experience depression, anxiety, or difficulty with sleep.
What we often see in practice is that people worry they are grieving wrongly, too much, too little, for too long, or in the wrong way. There is no wrong way. Grief is as individual as the relationship it comes from, and part of the work is giving yourself permission to grieve as you actually do, not as you think you should.
At Integro Health, we do not try to hurry your grief along or push you toward closure. We walk alongside you, at your pace, and help you find a way to hold both the loss and a life that can still hold meaning.
How we work with you through grief
There is no single correct way to grieve, and there is no timeline you are failing to meet. What we do is walk alongside you, at a pace that feels manageable, using approaches grounded in psychological evidence and shaped by your individual story.
Understanding your experience
Your first sessions are about building a picture of you, not just the grief, but your history, your relationships, your emotional world, and what you are hoping life might look and feel like. There is no rush here. We ask questions because we genuinely want to understand.
Making room for what you feel
Grief needs space more than it needs fixing. Together, we make room for whatever you are feeling, including the parts that feel confusing or unacceptable, such as anger, relief, or guilt. Being able to bring all of it somewhere safe is often where the weight begins to ease.
Working with the underlying layers
For some people, grief becomes complicated by trauma, an unresolved relationship, or a sudden or traumatic loss. Where that is the case, we can gently work with those layers using approaches like EMDR and grief-focused therapy, tailored to you.
Building new ways of responding
Over time, we help you find a way to carry your loss that lets life hold meaning again, not by moving on from the person or thing you lost, but by carrying them with you differently.
Ongoing support at the right pace
Change rarely happens in a straight line. Sessions are spaced to suit where you are, more frequent during difficult periods, stepped back as you gain ground. We are here for as long as the journey needs us to be, whether that is a few months or considerably longer.
Meet the Team
At Integro Health, you do not just book a clinic. You choose a practitioner who understands you. Our team of experienced psychotherapists brings clinical depth, genuine warmth, and a broad range of specialisations together under one roof. Take a moment to read about each of our practitioners and find the right fit for where you are right now.
Dr Paul King
General Practitioner
MBBS Bachelor of Medicine/ Bachelor of Surgery
FRACGP Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Jools Fordyce
Social Worker & Family Therapist
Bachelor (Hons) – Applied Social Science with Diploma in Social Work
Postgraduate Diploma in Family and Relationship Therapy
Brooke Eden
Psychologist
Bachelor of Psychology
Graduate Diploma of Education
Member of the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc.
Nicholas Kerr
Psychologist
Masters of Psychology (Organisational)
Bachelor of Arts
Member of the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc.
Carli King
Office Administrator
As Practice Manager, Carli keeps the daily operations of Integro Health running smoothly, ensuring our clients always receive the highest standard of care.
What you can expect when you reach out
No judgement, ever
However you are grieving, and whatever you are feeling in it, you will be met with warmth and genuine care. Not a lecture, and not a checklist.
A whole-person lens
We look at every part of you, your mental, emotional, physical, social, and spiritual wellbeing, because grief rarely lives in just one part of a person’s life.
Evidence-based approaches
We draw on grief-focused therapy, ACT, and EMDR where trauma is involved, depending on what fits you. Not a one-size protocol, but a genuinely tailored response to your loss.
In-clinic and online options
Whether you can get to our Eaton clinic in Bunbury or you need the privacy and convenience of telehealth, we can work with you wherever you are in South West WA and beyond.
What people get wrong about grief
One of the most persistent myths about grief is that it moves through tidy stages and ends with closure. In reality, grief is rarely linear, and for a significant loss it often does not end so much as change shape over time. Expecting yourself to be finished by a certain point usually adds guilt to grief that is already heavy enough.
Another common misconception is that staying busy and being strong for everyone else is the healthy way through. Suppressed grief does not disappear, it waits. Giving grief room to be felt, with support, is what allows it to soften, not pushing it down.
We also see many people in South West WA who reach out months or years after a loss, unsure whether they are allowed to still be struggling. You are. Grief has no expiry date, and delayed or reawakened grief is very common and very workable.
Finally, many people assume grief is something you simply have to endure alone until time does its work. Time helps, but it is not the whole story. Individual therapy and counselling, delivered privately one-on-one at our Eaton clinic near Bunbury or by telehealth to locations like Margaret River, gives you a space to grieve that does not depend on protecting anyone else.
Is it normal to still be struggling with this?
It is common to wonder whether your grief is normal, whether you are taking too long, or whether you have any right to be this affected. The honest answer is that grief is deeply personal, and there is no standard against which you are failing.
If your loss is affecting your sleep, your ability to function, your relationships, or your sense of meaning, or if the grief feels stuck, overwhelming, or impossible to speak about, even some of the time, then it is worth exploring with a psychotherapist or counsellor. You do not need a certain kind of loss, and you do not need a certain amount of time to have passed, to deserve support.
When grief becomes complicated
Grief is a natural process, but sometimes it becomes harder to move through:
Prolonged grief is when the intensity does not ease over a long period and continues to dominate daily life, making it hard to function or imagine the future.
Traumatic loss follows a sudden, violent, or shocking death, where trauma and grief become tangled together and may involve features of PTSD.
Complicated or disenfranchised grief can arise when a relationship was difficult, when the loss is one that others do not recognise, or when guilt and unresolved feelings make the grief especially hard to carry.
At Integro Health, we are not here to rush you toward being over it. What we care about is helping you carry your loss in a way that lets you keep living meaningfully. You can read more about what the first session looks like here.
Your questions answered
Yes, in many cases. A Mental Health Treatment Plan from your GP provides access to a Medicare rebate for up to 10 individual sessions per calendar year with a registered psychologist. Your GP will assess your eligibility, and your sessions at Integro Health can be structured to make the most of those rebated appointments. It is worth speaking with your GP in Bunbury, Busselton, or wherever you are located to get a referral in place before your first session.
Not at all. Grief can resurface months or years later, often around anniversaries, new losses, or life changes, and sometimes it simply takes time before you are ready to face it. Seeking support whenever it feels right is completely valid, no matter how long it has been.
Yes. Everything you share in sessions is confidential. There are narrow legal exceptions, for example if there is an immediate risk of serious harm to yourself or another person, but outside of those circumstances your privacy is protected. We will explain these boundaries clearly in your first session so there are no surprises.
Yes. We offer telehealth sessions across South West WA and Australia-wide, which means you can access support from anywhere, whether you are in a regional area like Manjimup or Collie, or simply prefer the privacy of attending from home. Telehealth sessions work in the same structured, safe way as in-clinic appointments.
There is no set timeline, and anyone who promises one is not being honest with you. Grief tends to soften and change rather than simply end. Many people find that support helps the weight become more bearable within a number of sessions, while allowing space for grief that will, quite naturally, stay with them in some form.
Yes. Grief often brings feelings that surprise or trouble us, including guilt, anger, and relief, especially after a long illness or a complicated relationship. These feelings do not mean you loved the person any less. They are a normal part of grief, and having somewhere safe to speak them can be a real relief in itself.
No referral is needed to book a session. If you wish to access Medicare rebates through a Mental Health Treatment Plan, you will need a GP referral first, but you are welcome to contact us directly and we can guide you through that process if needed.
We tailor the approach to you and to your loss. Grief-focused counselling gives your grief room and helps you find a way to carry it. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can help you hold loss alongside a meaningful life. Where a loss was sudden or traumatic, EMDR can help process the trauma so grief has room to move. There is no pressure and no rush.
Medically reviewed by
General Practitioner
The clinical information on this page has been reviewed for accuracy by Dr Paul King, General Practitioner at Integro Health. It is general information, and not a substitute for personal medical or psychological advice.
