errible befalls a community the assumption should be that such a shared grief is an easier one. But in fact this is probably not often the case, for when an entire community is struck by a tragedy, there are only the emotionally wounded. At a time in their lives when people are most likely to be selfish, most demanding of other peopleÆs time and support and attention, they find that each of these other people is at the same moment reaching out to them for support rather than providing it. This is no doubt one of the most difficult aspects of community tragedies û that there is no one who is not affected and therefore no one to whom one can turn and be selfish and not feel guilty about oneÆs own emotional neediness.
This is one of the most important functions of grief counseling: Bringing in professionals from outside the community ensures that people have someone that they can turn to who is not personally involved, and so someone who does not have to be taken care of in turn. This, perhaps even more than the professional training that grief counselors have, is what makes them so valuable.
The professional training that grief counselors receive also makes them valuable when working with individuals in traumatized communities. There is a fairly common perception that intense grief is a relatively short-term phenomenon, something that affects people for a few months after a tragedy. One of the most useful functions of grief counselors is to educate people about how long it takes for people to recover from a tragedy û often as long as several years, sometimes as long as five years (Harvey, 1998, p. E4). Without the reassurance of a professional that such an extended period of grief is appropriate and healthy, those undergoing such feelings may start to have doubts about their own mental health, a heavy burden for people to shoulder when they are already trying to surmount sorrow.
Grief counselors cannot only assure people that...