The way out of grief is to go through it.
The H.E.A.L.I.N.G. program works with individuals, groups, schools, agencies, and organizations to validate, normalize, and educate their process through grief.
Grief and Loss
Grief and loss are part of every human’s experience. Grief is complex, personal and unique to our experience, loss history and what we have been taught about how we should be managing it. Who among us has never been impacted by the death of someone, or suffered a psychosocial / non-death loss that could be as powerful as a death (divorce, catastrophic injury, job loss)? Grief and loss do not recognize age, race, religion, culture, gender, or socio-economic group. However, these are factors in how grief and loss are processed.
At the time of loss there is a natural tendency to protect ourselves by denying, minimizing, or repressing our feelings. We may hope that by moving on we will outlast the period of mourning and bereavement. However, grief over any meaningful relationship does not end. What we are tasked to do is remake the relationship and integrate the loss into our lives going forward. When we neglect our feelings around grief the impact of the loss may surface in us behaviorally, cognitively, physically, socially and/or spiritually.
About
Ken Barringer, M.A., LMHC has worked in the field of mental health since 1984 and is the Director of the Academy in Newton. He is also an Adjunct Faculty member at Lesley University, Division of Counseling and Psychology where he designed and teaches a graduate level course in grief. In addition, he is a member of the American Counseling Association, Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association, Association for Counseling Education and Supervision, and the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development.
- Grief practice since 1996: Individual, group, family counseling , adolescents, and adults
- Consultant since 2001 for schools and businesses in aftermath of community tragedies (suicide, homicide) and national tragedies (mass shootings and its impact on their community)
- Clinical consultant Camp Erin® Boston: National bereavement summer camp /children & adolescents
- Adult support facilitator – Heartplay℠ , monthly bereavement program
- Developed grief support groups at several high schools private and public
- Monthly consultations for hospice workers
- Consultant with local community theater groups on plays involving grief and trauma
- Host of the Grief in Brief Podcast
- Speaker at professional and community events
- Developed the Taste of Healing events open to the public. (Click here to see past events.)
VIDEOS
FEATURING KEN BARRINGER
How Managers Can Collaborate with Grieving Employees
A Grief and Loss Responsive Community
READY TO CREATE A MORE COMPASSIONATE, GRIEF RESPONSIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT?
Ken offers assessment and planning for businesses, schools, or other organizations in the aftermath of loss.
Services Offered
- Individual and family counseling and consultation
- Grief support groups (please see below)
- Assessment and planning for businesses, schools, or other organizations in the aftermath of loss or in developing a more compassionate, grief responsive work environment (Learn More)
- Teaching and training
Groups
Ken currently offers 3 different grief support groups. Read below to learn more and see if participating in one is right for you.
Monthly Caregiver Group
The term caregiver encompasses a range of people. One could be a parent caring for their child or parent; grandparent raising a grandchild; aunt and uncle raising their nephew; a friend who has been asked to care for a teen; a foster couple with temporary custody of a child. Whatever the situation, caregivers can find themselves feeling taxed working in the aftermath of trauma and loss that has left them in a new role. This monthly group creates space for caregivers to receive validation, support, camaraderie and normalization of their experience.
This group meets in-person.
Confirm your interest to
Ken Barringer KBarringer@healingforgriefandloss.com
Monthly Adult Grief Group
Age 22 – 35
While some important tasks of those in early adulthood can be achieving financial independence, committing to a significant relationship, or negotiating many next-step decisions, it doesn’t make them immune from grief. However, viable, appropriate groups often are not available. Group services tend to be specialized for children in school, hospice related or for a specific type of loss. There are few spaces for people in this age demographic to get supported by their peers regardless of the type of loss they have experienced. H.E.A.L.I.N.G.’s Adult Group is just such a place. This monthly group creates an opportunity for participants to receive validation, support, camaraderie, and normalization of their experience.
Groups meet one time per month, on Mondays or Tuesday nights, in-person (Newton, MA) and are limited in size.
Confirm your interest to
Ken Barringer KBarringer@healingforgriefandloss.com
Monthly Health Care Professionals Group
Healthcare professionals have always been on the front line. Being present, available, and responsive to others in their time of need is often what has drawn people to their chosen professions. However, where do you get your support? Where and how do you get your experience and the range of emotions validated? Health care professionals ranging from hospice workers to nurses, private counselors to agency directors, can find respite and reward through the normalization inherent in a group experience.
Groups meet one time each month, in-person and are limited in size.
Confirm your interest to Ken Barringer.
Blog
All My Sides and Roles
What is the counterbalance to what we are feeling in this moment, and can we experience paradoxical feelings simultaneously? Huh? People sometimes include in the description of…
May 2, 2025
What is Helpful is Hard to Do, What isn’t Helpful is Easy to Do
“Well that sounds great, why don’t I just do that?” This snarky reply came from a client who was told by a doctor, upon learning of his partner’s life limiting diagnosis, he…
March 3, 2025
5 Years Later
I recall being out the evening of March 10, 2020. The restaurants, stores, streets, and offices were empty. There was high levels of tension and uncertainty amidst the calm and…
January 18, 2025
“Cancer Ghosting”…Really?
When I first heard a story being promoted on NPR about “cancer ghosting” I was puzzled. The story was part of NPR’s series on Life After Diagnosis and the title paused me. I know…
January 18, 2025
Where Lies Grief?
If you asked most people to define grief, they would say something to the effect of, “a thing you go through when somebody dies”. Do we ever think grief occurs wherever there is…
January 6, 2025
Between Hope and Fear
In Pema Chodron’s seminal book Comfortable with Uncertainty, teaching number 28 on cultivating fearlessness and compassion is dedicated to Hope and Fear. While it may not seem it…
December 4, 2024
THE GRIEF IN BRIEF PODCAST
Listen now!
Grief in Brief is a podcast hosted by Ken Barringer, LMHC a mental health counselor with a specialty in grief and loss. In each episode you will hear a conversation with someone sharing a deeply personal story about their loss, or an expert discussing ways to manage the intense feelings and emotions that can accompany grief and loss, or a talk with a professional working in an area where we may not think of loss. Most episodes are between 15 – 20 minutes in length. There is also great irony in the title as Grief is NOT Brief. In fact, it's a marathon in a world that loves sprints!
Listen to the podcast now by searching, "Grief is Brief with Ken Barringer" on Spotify, Apple Itunes, and most other networks!
HEALING is a division of The Academy of Physical and Social Development, Inc.