Bereavement & Grief Therapy
Grief is a shock to the system. It’s a reset to life in many unwanted ways, and can leave us feeling lost, confused, angry, anxious, alone, depressed, and more. Grief therapy is designed to help you face every new day even when you don’t feel ready for it.
You might feel grief in many different ways
In addition to having a multitude of causes, grief can show up in different ways.
Your grief might feel massive—a yawning black hole where your life once was, blotting out what it could be.
Your grief might feel stifling—small and pressing inward, ever smaller as it presses in on you from every angle.
Your grief can grow and shrink depending on the day, hour, or minute.
Your grief is unique—no two experiences are the same, even in the same life.
Grief is unpredictable, radical, and irrevocable. We can’t come back from it. But we can move through it.
Your experience of grief is your own.
You may find yourself tracing the journey of grief in circles, looping over and through so many times you lose count. As a grief educator, I understand that our work together won’t follow a path or a checklist. There’s no expiration date on grief, and the only stages it can be divided into are the ones that forever changed you:
Before and after.
For most people, the truth is that you never go back to who you were before the grief you’ve faced. But we can reclaim the joy of love that laid the foundation for your loss and look toward a new day through the strength of safety and support we can build together in therapy.
Grief can be:
Every grief will bear its own mark in our lives in—we’ll feel it mind, body, heart and soul. Understanding the nature of your grief can help us to hold space for what you need right now.
Chronic
In this case, the power of your grief response and pain you feel does not change or lessen in intensity as you process the loss. When grief becomes chronic, we become stuck in the painful immediate “after” and unable to move in any direction.
Complicated
When you feel trapped within the grieving process or multiple losses at once begin to stack up, you may find that it begins to do loops and knots around itself. You feel tied up in the past and it’s creating overwhelming anxiety in your life. You may struggle to make sense of your behavior, emotions or reactions.
Cumulative
Multiple losses have happened in short succession, and you’ve not had the chance to process any of it. You’re experiencing grief overload and no longer feel you have the ability to distinguish the emotions of each loss independently.
Delayed
When grief is delayed, the acute or shocking impact of a loss remains vivid long after it’s occurred. Emotions that were likely too painful to face when you’re just trying to survive the loss have now surfaced, but you still don’t know how to cope with them.
Anticipatory
You’ve not yet experienced this loss, but you know it’s coming. This could be an impending death, divorce or other such loss. Anticipatory grief is an opportunity to say goodbye but that doesn’t mean you’re ready or able to navigate that.
There is hope for what comes after loss.
Through recognizing the weight of grief and the shape it takes, we can put a name to your journey. We’ll move together toward grasping the hope that feels attainable now so you can harness a hold on your healing that remains through it all.
Grief weighs as much as love but is infinitely harder to express. However, I believe that every grief brings with it the incredible power of resilience. You may feel lost, defeated and yearning for a past that is not possible, but you are still moving forward even if it doesn’t always feel that way. That is an incredible strength that deserves to be recognized.
We are all deserving of grieving what once was while finding our way toward a life worth living, full of the whole range of emotions.
Grief therapy can help
We all need a safe space where we can show up without a filter for our feelings or the ways we feel them. Grief therapy provides a supportive environment in which our most painful, vulnerable, and authentic feelings can be expressed and witnessed.
We can talk about the pain of grief and loss. Then, we can figure out how to help you connect with what you’re grieving as you make strides to move forward in this new world.
I utilize a variety of therapeutic approaches and tools to help you heal in the ways that work best for your grief. I believe in a person-centered approach to therapy, so at the heart of healing from grief is your story. You will lead the way, and I am happy to support you in having the therapeutic experience you need. When it feels too dark, too heavy, or too much, I will be with you to reflect back the light of your strength, and we will keep moving at your pace.
Are you ready to find comfort in the chaos?
Grief can be a long and difficult journey, but we don't have to go through it alone. I provide a supportive and understanding environment where my clients can explore their emotions and find comfort in the chaos.
Grief therapy can also help us find meaning in the midst of grief. It can provide the tools to create a new life narrative and work towards finding hope and purpose.