Just because I can carve a mean turkey at Thanksgiving…

…doesn’t mean that I can do surgery (paraphrase of a quote from the brilliant Dr. William Worden)

What is the significance of finding a specialist? First of all, I want to thank a few people for inspiring this blog post – obviously, Dr. Worden for a wonderfully illustrative analogy, and also the Cancer Wellness Group that I am honored to facilitate at Gilda’s Club for discussing this topic frequently. The consensus seems to be that while a generalist may be great, when the going gets really tough, the specialists who focus all of their time and energy on being the most educated and up to date for a very focused area of expertise have an advantage in knowing the most detailed current information as opposed to a moderate amount about many different things. Specializing as a grief and loss therapist allows me this advantage. I am an active member of ADEC (Association of Death Education and Counseling) and also keep current on information concerning loss of health, particularly due to cancer. Loss has a broader reach of course. I do work with people who have losses of self esteem, employment, and other difficult changes in their lives. However, when someone comes to me seeking therapy for a specific issue that is outside of the scope of my focus, I make a referral. People have to be their own advocates, they have to evaluate if their needs are being met or if they need to seek services from a specialist. In order to be able to assess this, people must be aware of the existence of specialists within a particular field. My specialty as a grief and loss therapist is a culmination of my experience from my clients, my active participation in focused organizations, and my continued and never ending education from other professionals as well as from the individuals I work with, to whom I am eternally grateful.