Grief & Loss Therapy

Grief Doesn’t Follow a Timeline—But You Don’t Have to Carry It Alone

Grief isn’t linear. It doesn’t fit neatly into five tidy stages or disappear after a few months.

Sometimes it looks like sobbing on the floor.
Sometimes it’s numbness, fog, or forgetting why you walked into a room.
Sometimes it’s a laugh that catches in your throat—or a wave that knocks you down when you least expect it.

Grief is a nervous system event, an emotional process, and a deep act of love. It’s not something you “get over.” It’s something you learn to carry differently.

And you don’t have to do it alone.

What Grief Actually Is (and Isn’t)

Grief is your body and brain trying to process a world that’s changed—without your consent. It’s not just emotional. It’s physical, cognitive, relational, and existential.

Studies show grief lights up the same brain regions as physical pain (O’Connor, 2019). That’s why it can hurt in your chest, wreck your appetite, keep you awake at 2 a.m., or leave you feeling like a ghost in your own life.

Whether you’re grieving the loss of a loved one, the life you thought you’d have, or a relationship that ended but still lives in your bones, your grief is real.

You are not broken.

You are not grieving wrong.

You are not supposed to “move on.”

You’re learning to live in a new landscape—and we can do that together.

Types of Grief We Support

🖤 Acute Grief: When the Loss is Fresh

When grief is new, your nervous system often enters survival mode. Time gets weird. Simple tasks feel impossible. Emotions crash in and out like waves, or disappear altogether.

You may feel:

• Like you’re floating, dissociating, or watching life happen from a distance

• Sudden outbursts of sadness, anger, or disbelief

• Sleep issues, appetite changes, or forgetfulness

• Unable to focus, remember things, or make basic decisions

💡 If you're barely holding on, you're not alone—and there’s nothing wrong with you.

🌀 Complicated Grief: When You Can’t Seem to Move Forward

Sometimes grief lingers—not just as a presence, but as a roadblock. It stops you from connecting, functioning, or feeling joy.

You might feel:

• Deep guilt or regret that won’t let go

• Stuck in a cycle of avoidance, numbness, or obsession

• Unable to imagine a meaningful future

• Emotionally detached from others, or hyperfixated on what’s been lost

Complicated grief often carries unprocessed trauma, even if that word doesn’t get spoken out loud. It’s not a failure—it’s a signal that your system needs something different.

💡 Grief should change shape over time—not swallow your life.

🕯 Anticipatory Grief: When You’re Losing Someone in Slow Motion

Sometimes grief begins before the goodbye. When a loved one is fading due to illness, dementia, or long-term decline, your heart begins to mourn what’s being lost—even while they’re still here.

You might notice:

• Profound sadness or dread

• Guilt for feeling distant or resentful

• Emotional burnout from caregiving

• Confusion around how to stay present when grief has already started

💡 We can hold space for this kind of grief too—the kind no one knows how to talk about.

🌱 Grief Beyond Death: Loss Comes in Many Forms

Grief doesn’t only come when someone dies. It shows up when a relationship ends, when a dream slips away, when a diagnosis changes your future.

You might be grieving:

• A breakup, divorce, or estrangement from family

• A lost sense of identity, home, or spiritual connection

• Career disruption, disability, infertility, or aging

• Transitions that are necessary—but still come with grief

💡 Just because it’s not a funeral doesn’t mean it’s not a loss. You deserve space to grieve whatever you’ve lost.

How Grief Shows Up in the Body and Brain

Grief can manifest as:

• Tightness in the chest or throat

• Numbness or emotional shutdown

• Brain fog, forgetfulness, and time distortion

• Hypervigilance or emotional flooding

• Physical exhaustion that doesn’t match your activity level

These aren’t just “symptoms.”

They’re adaptations—your nervous system trying to make sense of something it was never built to handle.

Our work together includes nervous system regulation techniques, somatic tools, and grounding practices that help you move through grief with more ease, safety, and self-trust.

The Transition Framework: Making Meaning in Times of Change

Grief is a form of transition—a threshold between what was and what’s next.

Using the Transition Framework, we’ll explore:
🔹 Endings – Naming what’s been lost and honoring its impact
🔹 The Neutral Zone – Navigating the messy, in-between space where old routines no longer fit but new ones haven’t formed
🔹 New Beginnings – Reclaiming meaning, identity, and a renewed sense of possibility (on your own timeline)

This model isn’t linear or prescriptive. It’s a gentle way to understand where you are and what you might need—emotionally, physically, and relationally.

What Grief Therapy Can Help You With

✅ Regulate your nervous system when grief feels like too much
✅ Explore grief-related trauma at your pace—without retraumatization
✅ Understand and process guilt, regret, and unresolved emotions
✅ Build self-compassion when your inner critic shows up loud
✅ Reconnect to purpose, identity, and meaning after profound loss
✅ Do inner child work and reparenting when grief touches older wounds

This isn’t just about the loss itself—it’s about how that loss lands in your life, your body, your relationships, and your sense of self.

My Approach to Grief Work

Grief therapy with me is:
🌿 Somatic and nervous system-informed – because grief is physical, not just emotional
👶 Rooted in inner child work and reparenting – because grief often touches earlier wounds
🌀 Flexible and nonlinear – because healing doesn’t follow a checklist
💛 Compassionate and collaborative – because you shouldn’t have to navigate this alone

Together, we’ll work with your story, your body, and your lived experience—not against them.

Ready to Explore What Healing Looks Like for You?

📅 Schedule a Free Consultation

You don’t have to carry your grief alone.

Let’s figure out how to carry it together—with gentleness, meaning, and care.

References

• Harris, D. L. (2022). Non-death loss and grief: Context and clinical implications. Routledge.

• Nielsen, M. K., et al. (2019). Preloss grief in family caregivers: A systematic review. Palliative & Supportive Care, 17(2), 213-226.

• O’Connor, M. F. (2019). Grief: A brief history of research on how body, mind, and brain adapt. Translational Psychiatry, 9(1), 1-8.

• Shear, M. K., et al. (2011). Complicated grief and related bereavement issues for DSM-5. Depression and Anxiety, 28(2), 103-117.