This is the time of year when a lot of grief may rise to the surface, and a season that should not be about money.
In that regard, when I first started my counseling career over 30 years ago, I did so with the objective to just help folks. Even though I have kept that objective in mind, there are many who could not afford my long-time standard rate of $150 for a 50-minute session, and therefore, it limited the number of people I could reach and help.
So, beginning today and going through January 2, 2017, for the first time ever, I am offering my phone sessions for a “pay-what-you-can rate.” If you, or a friend, or a family member, would like a session with me, just pay what you can, even if that means nothing.
Let’s see if together, we can make this season a little more, if not enjoyable, then at least, bearable.
During my 30 years of counseling and working with men and women, I have been asked so many times: “How do you grieve?” or “How do you begin grieving?”
Here are the five things necessary to do deep grief work around any change, transition, death, loss, break up, or divorce:
- One needs an awareness that grief is the proper response to all loss and change and that it is a doorway into our maturity.
- We need to devote as much time as it takes, letting no one tell us to move on or out faster than we are ready because, as we know, time is the great healer.
- In order to do deep grief work, one must ritualize the process. These rituals move the pain and the sorrow up and out faster than a catch-as-catch-can approach to grief can ever achieve.
- We need a community of supportive people as we go through these transitions and losses because grief is not to be done entirely alone but in a community.
- Having navigated our way through the treacherous waters and shed our tears, we need to employ our community and have a celebration that says we came out on the other side.
Also, one of the seven stages of grief is anger, and the coming holidays can be a time when people feel angry about all kinds of different things. Additionally, it is a season when a lot of folks get depressed, anxious, family histories surface, and loneliness prevails. 
Loneliness can be a precursor to alcoholism, drug addiction, physical illness, and depression. One of the hardest things, especially for men, is to admit to anyone that they are lonely. If you find yourself in this psychological and emotional state, be sure to reach out and tell someone and not suffer silently by yourself.
If you would like to learn more about grief work, or how anger expressed appropriately equals energy, intimacy, and serenity, or if you are in need of help with other issues, please take me up on my offer of a phone or Skype session for the “pay-what-you-can rate.”
Also, please know that I am doing this as much for me, as I am for anyone who feels the need to make an appointment.
Additionally, beginning January, 2017, I will be opening a full-time counseling and coaching practice in Austin, Texas, but we can do some of this work over the phone or via Skype.
So if anyone out there is hurting and needs some help, remember I want to help you whether you can afford to pay my full fee, a part thereof, or nothing at all.
If you or someone you know would like to schedule a session, please call me at 678-494-1296, or email my assistant, Kathy McClelland, at assistant@johnleebooks.com.
Take care of yourself during this holiday season, and please:
- call me if you would like a phone, Skype, or in-person session,
- tell your friends and/or colleagues about my new full-time counseling and coaching practice in Austin, Texas and;
- don’t forget the 2-day Intensives in Austin, Texas or Mentone, Alabama.
Thank you, and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.
