u/Electrical_Bread_989

I am a relatively seasoned therapist (practicing 15 years) and have a good amount of experience with grief and loss in my own life and with working with clients actively grieving the loss of partners, children, parents, you name it. I have run a grief and loss support group and currently have almost 10 widows/widowers on my caseload. So I can't figure out why I am feeling so useless, almost to the point of being paralyzed, with this one client. She lost a partner a number of years ago and the grief has not abated. She is doing a lot of the "right things"- networking with other widows, exercising regularly, talking to family and friends, and nothing seems to be providing relief. She is clearly clinically depressed but is adamantly against seeing someone to potentially prescribe medication, and when I bring this up in session she gets defensive. I can tell she doesn't think therapy can help with what she's going through, and by the end of each session I start to believe her! I have had plenty of other clients who still struggle with intense grief after long periods of time, but seem to find having a supportive space to express the depth of their feelings extremely helpful- she does not. Any thoughts on how to navigate this type of case would be appreciated!