Grief & Bereavement Counseling

Moving through the experience of loss requires courage and support.

How does therapy help?

Navigating the uncertainty of grief & loss.

Often the experience of death or loss disorients and overwhelms. Whether the loss was sudden or expected, it changes the orientation of our lives and can be difficult to navigate. Therapy offers a space to be with the full complexity of the experience of grief. It’s a space for honoring memories, feeling the feelings, and moving towards more moments of peace and acceptance.

While grief is a natural human experience, there are some aspects of loss that aren’t always acknowledged or recognized. There are losses that go unseen, that loom and create anticipatory anxiety and heartache, or that become complex and cause prolonged suffering. These other experiences of grief can feel particularly isolating, especially when there is a perceived pressure to ‘move on’. Having a space to be with these elements of the experience can help us get our footing. make sense of the impact of the loss, and move towards greater self compassion and understanding.

Anticipatory Grief

Grief is not just an “after” experience. It can emerge in anticipation of something possible or inevitable. Often this experience is not composed of sadness alone, but can include anxiety, dread, uncertainty, and anguish.

Hidden Grief

Not all experiences of loss are seen. The loss of an early pregnancy, of mobility or health, or the reemergence of grief that comes at positive life transitions… these unseen experiences are often accompanied with feelings of aloneness and a longing for acknowledgement and understanding.

Traumatic Loss & Grief

The experience of bereavement can become prolonged and complex with sudden or traumatic loss or when supportive factors are missing. Therapeutic care can support the natural grieving process.

Companioning Grief

What if there is another way we can learn to ‘be with’ our grief? What if it’s possible to learn to turn towards it and tend to it with courage and care?

In this touching interview, Anderson Cooper and Francis Weller explore creating a companionship with grief.

Books, Media, & other Resources

  • Crying in H Mart: Memoir, Michelle Zauner

    When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Hard Times, Pema Chodron

    Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief, Joanne Cacciatore, Ph.D.

    The Wild Edge of Sorrow, Francis Weller, Ph.D.

    Come See Me in the Good Light, Documentary

  • The Grieving Brain, Mary-Francis O’Conner

    Life after Loss, Bob Deits

  • Christi Center (Grief Groups)

    Austin Hospice

    The Dinner Party (Young Adult Community)

    What’s Your Grief (Online Hub)

  • "There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love."

    Washington Irving

  • "Grief is itself a medicine."

    William Cowper

  • "Grief is not a disorder, a disease or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve."

    Earl Grollman

  • To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.

    “In Blackwater Woods” by Mary Oliver