Disenfranchised Grief

Hi everyone, it’s been a while. I want to say thank you for being here and continuing to read my words. I mostly write for myself, but I hope that my words can help others.

A quick life update for me. I am currently working on my last semester of my Masters degree in Social Work. I am currently working on my clinical hours to gain pre-licensure as a CSW (clinical social work) therapist.

For the past couple of years I have grown and have been cultivated into a new person. I feel like my circumstances forced me to become more resilient, independent, thoughtful, careful, and composed. Might I add on good days, lol, I am far from perfect and make a lot of mistakes.

However, what I hope to do as a career is to become a specialized grief therapist. I feel like this is my mission and is what I am called to do right now in my life. For a couple of years, I have had a particular interest in healing and mental health awareness. I am so proud about the person I am becoming, especially because of where I was a couple of years ago, inflicted with grief.

A part of my writings now that I want to share are some things that I have learned in my education, that can hopefully help you as a griever, or helping someone through their grief process, etc.

Everyone experiences grief. Grief is a natural process that comes with the ebbs and flows of life. Everyone will experience loss of some sort in their life.

There are many different types of grief.

“Disenfranchised grief” refers to a loss that is not publicly supported, openly acknowledged, or socially mourned. Examples of disenfranchised grief can be:

Loss of a pregnancy

Loss of functioning or sensation in your body

Loss of a pet

Loss of a limb

Loss of a job or role

Loss of personality from dementia

Loss of a spouse after divorce or separation

Loss of of a child by adoption

Loss of a friendship

There are obviously many other scenarios where losses are disenfranchised or not outwardly acknowledged. I feel that disenfranchised grief is so worth mentioning in our society today. Grief isn’t solely subjective to the loss of a loved one, it can be experienced by any loss that you have. Grief is a normal reaction to a loss. I will discuss the symptoms of grief at a later time, but I feel it is important to honor the losses that others may not see or discuss. I see you and mourn with you.

Let us all be sensitive and careful with the way we treat others. We may not know that they may be experiencing a type of loss that is not outwardly acknowledged or mourned, or deemed socially acceptable. Many of us will experience this in our lifetime. So let us be kind and empathetic!

Thank you for reading, I love y’all!

Marissa