Grief occurs whenever there is an unwanted loss.

Individuals often experience grief after the death of a loved one, during the course of a terminal illness, when a pregnancy ends in miscarriage or termination, when a relationship ends, when a child leaves the home, or when one faces the end of one's career.

Grief is often hard to distinguish from depression, as both involve a pervasive feeling of sadness. The sadness that occurs during a period of grieving, however, is normative. Only when the normal working- through of grief gets "complicated" does grief deteriorate into depression.

Many factors influence recovery from grief. Grief counselling can help guide an individual through the stages and experience of grief, helping to ensure that grief does not become "complicated." Counselling can also aid in the recovery from complicated grief, resolving both the complicating factors, as well as facilitating the healthy expression of loss, leading to recovery.