ABSTRACT
Helping clients make sense of a loss is a difficult challenge. Wagener asserts using metaphors facilitates cognitive and emotional processing by representing feelings and interpretations that help produce understanding for both the client and the counselor. Kok et al. further posit metaphors transfer concepts, thoughts, feelings, and fears and create a narrative. This chapter will show how the concept of metaphors is central in re-creating the “experience” through words, visions, and insights and bringing shared meaning to the therapeutic experience. Metaphor utilizations assist in dispensing difficult feelings into a language that communicates the complexity of pain, confusion, denial, and acceptance. Metaphors are a form of storytelling of a personal experience that constructs stronger therapeutic expressions and understanding.
