Understanding Grief: A Journey of the Heart

Grief is a profound, deeply personal, and often exhausting journey. It is not a set of predictable stages to complete, but a non-linear process of learning how to live in a world fundamentally changed by loss. Grief impacts your mind, body, and spirit, leaving you feeling chaotic, depleted, or disconnected from the future.

Grief is not something to "get over," but is a necessary form of unprocessed love. Our work is to help you integrate the memory of what was lost and find a way to maintain a healthy, internal relationship with the person, pet, or thing you are missing.

There Are Many Versions of Grief

Bereavement (Death of a Loved One)

• The Experience: This is the pain and disorientation following the death of a partner, family member, friend, or beloved pet. This may include wrestling with complicated grief, where intense feelings make it difficult to function long after the loss.

• The Impact: Intense sadness, difficulty sleeping, feeling overwhelmed by simple tasks, and the struggle to adapt to the absence of the person who died.

Ambiguous and Non-Death Losses

• The Experience: This includes loss where there is no clear social acknowledgment or "closure." Examples include the loss of a relationship through estrangement or divorce, the loss of health or ability due to chronic illness or diagnosis, or the loss of a dream (e.g., fertility, career).

• The Impact: Profound feelings of isolation, feelings of shame and/or disappointment, lack of validation, confusion about one's identity, and difficulty making future plans when the present feels uncertain.

Loss of Identity and Self-Structure

• The Experience: Grief over the loss of who you once were, such as the loss of your role after a major life transition (retirement, becoming a caregiver, moving), or grieving the self you thought you would be (e.g., being the good daughter or son - or child). This also includes grief over lost opportunities due to past trauma.

• The Impact: Feelings of being lost, disconnected from self-worth, feeling shame and/or disappointment, and struggling to accept or integrate a new, evolved identity.

Our Work Together

Let us create space for you to mourn fully and integrate the memory of what you've lost. Move yourself from being overwhelmed by the pain to finding stability, meaning, and a redefined sense of self moving forward.

Therapy for Grief and Loss California