Grief, Loss and Life Transitions
Making Space for What Has Changed While Finding Your Way Forward
Loss and major life changes can leave you feeling unsettled, uncertain, or completely disconnected from the person you used to be. You may be grieving a loved one, but you might also be grieving an identity, a dream, or a sense of safety that vanished overnight.
When your reality shifts, it can trigger intense uncertainty and even bring past trauma or difficult experiences back to the surface. Therapy provides a safe space to unpack the confusion, honor your grief, and find your footing when the ground beneath you has changed.
Grief Doesn't Always Have a Name
Grief isn't limited to the death of someone you love. You may be grieving:
The death of a loved one
Perinatal loss, including miscarriage, stillbirth, termination for medical reasons, or fertility-related loss
The loss of your former self, independence, or sense of identity after becoming a parent or experiencing a major life change
A relationship that ended or the decision to distance yourself from an unsafe relationship
The childhood, support, or sense of safety you needed but didn't receive
A career, financial stability, future, or life you deeply imagined
Changes in health, ability, family roles, or independence
The uncertainty of being caught between what was and what comes next
Some losses are visible to others. Others can be difficult to explain, leaving you feeling isolated or wondering why you're still affected.
There is no right way to grieve, and no timeline you have to follow.
When Life Changes, You May Feel Like You've Lost Your Footing
Major transitions can bring excitement and opportunity while also creating uncertainty, self-doubt, and unexpected grief.
You may be:
Becoming a parent and navigating major changes in your identity and sense of self
Graduating, changing careers, becoming an empty nester, or entering a new stage of life
Relocating or adjusting to a major relationship change
Becoming a caregiver while navigating changing family roles and responsibilities
Rebuilding after a traumatic birth, medical experience, or other difficult life event
Redefining who you are beyond achievement, people-pleasing, or simply getting through the day
You can be excited about a new beginning and still grieve what you're leaving behind.
How Therapy Can Help
Therapy isn't about helping you "get over" a loss or forcing you to move on before you're ready.
Therapy can help you:
✓ Make space for difficult, complicated, or hard-to-name emotions
✓ Navigate uncertainty and develop ways to cope with the unknown
✓ Reconnect with your identity and sense of self after a significant loss or life change
✓ Understand how current transitions may bring up past trauma, grief, or difficult experiences
✓ Develop grounding and coping strategies to manage stress during times of change
✓ Reconnect with your values and move forward while honoring what—and who—matters to you
What Therapy With Me Is Like
I work with many individuals who are used to being the strong one for everyone else. Often, they have spent months—or even years—carrying grief, stress, or uncertainty on their own.
Therapy provides a dedicated space where you do not have to have all the answers. Some sessions may focus on processing emotions and making sense of what has happened. Other sessions may focus on practical challenges such as decision-making, boundaries, relationships, or adjusting to a new reality.
The goal is not to erase your experiences.
It is to help you carry them in a way that allows you to continue building a meaningful life.
How I Support Your Transition
Grief and big life changes cannot be "fixed" with a quick checklist. My approach centers on helping you carry your new reality without losing your entire sense of self.
Want to learn more about how I use these methods?
-
ACT can be a valuable approach for navigating grief, loss, and life transitions. Rather than trying to make painful emotions disappear, we will work on developing a different relationship with them while identifying meaningful, values-guided steps that help you move forward.
-
When a loss or life transition disrupts the future you imagined, it can leave a profound sense of uncertainty. Together, we will explore who you are in this new chapter, honoring what you have lost while creating a life that feels authentic and meaningful to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Absolutely. Grief is the natural human response to any loss, not just death. Grieving a job, a dream, your independence, a health diagnosis, or your identity before trauma is entirely valid. This is often called "disenfranchised grief"—pain that society doesn't always recognize. Therapy honors these invisible losses and helps you process them without judgment.
-
There is no set timeline for grief because it does not move in a straight line. Therapy isn't about rushing you through a checklist to "get over" your loss. Instead, the focus is on helping you process the heaviest waves of pain so they become less overwhelming. Over time, we work on helping you grow your life around the grief, allowing you to carry it in a way that feels lighter and more manageable.
-
Yes. Grief doesn't have an expiration date. Sometimes, we suppress our pain because we have to stay in "survival mode" to get through the crisis. Years later, a new transition or a calm period in life can cause that old grief or trauma to resurface. It is never too late to unpack what you have been carrying.
-
Because even beautiful changes require us to say goodbye to a past version of ourselves. Choosing to start a family, move, or change careers brings excitement, but it also brings stress, uncertainty, and the loss of a familiar routine. You can be deeply happy about a new chapter and still need to mourn the chapter you left behind. Both emotions can safely coexist.
-
Yes, it is very common for big changes or heavy losses to trigger intense anxiety or a deep depression. When your life shifts unexpectedly, your nervous system can go into overdrive trying to find safety. This shows up as constant worry about the future, panic, or a heavy, numb feeling. Therapy helps by gently calming your body's stress response, giving you practical coping tools, and providing a safe space to sort through the confusion so you can find your emotional footing again.
You Don't Have to Navigate This Chapter Alone
Whether you're grieving a loss, adjusting to a major life transition, or trying to find your footing again, therapy can provide a supportive space to process what you're carrying and move forward at your own pace.