Grief or Loss

You keep trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but mostly you end up just feeling angry. And alone. You’ve never needed people more, and yet here are you, feeling isolated and all alone. Grief is such a lonely place to be. You want real connection, so you can candidly share. You want to figure out how to actually manage all these overwhelming emotions that just keep coming, wave after wave after wave. You’re ready to figure out what your life can look like moving forward.

Many clients find me by searching for support after a miscarriage or stillbirth. I've worked with many people who have experienced this uniquely painful loss. This kind of grief is not only about the loss of your baby, but also the loss of all of your dreams for your child, the loss of the idea of what your family would look like, the loss of a part of you, and the loss of your expectations for your pregnancy. It takes as long as it takes to move through grief, so don't rush yourself.

Grief is one of the most crushing human emotions. It has a way of opening our eyes to what is important in life, but does so in incredibly painful ways. Grief counseling focuses on honoring the grief journey and all the emotions that come with it. I join you on the road you never wanted to walk and listen as you process your hurt, sadness, anger, and loneliness. Though grief does not have a final destination, I walk with you as its weight eventually eases as it becomes part of your story.

As an individual who has lost a parent at a young age, I understand how traumatic this experience is and how it can affect us even years down the line. You may be feeling anger, confusion, or just unsure how to move forward. I'm passionate about working with those who have experienced loss and struggling with grief. Together, we can explore your story and grief and find new ways to maintain connections with those you've lost while learning strategies to increase feelings of calm and acceptance.

As a former hospice volunteer who also has a person loss history, working with those who are experiencing grief is a natural fit. I believe we must first acknowledge the loss, explore the why, and then gently move to how to move forward. We will never forget, nor would we want to forget. Instead, we learn to have a different relationship with those who have died that we still love.

Every grief journey is individualized. So, it’s key to find what works for you. Working together, my goal is not to move into a space where you “get over it” – that’s just not how grief works. Rather, to arm you with the tools to carry your grief, bring comfort back to your memories, and give yourself grace for what each day ahead may bring. You don’t have to continue living in this in-between. Healing and a way forward are possible. Let’s get there together.

The experience of grief is universal and there is no avoiding it. However, we are not taught the harsh reality of grief - the small details that can set us into a tailspin, the length of time it lasts, and how to navigate others' discomfort with our experiences. I am here to give you the space to process loss, to work through grief, and to offer hope that it doesn't feel this bad forever.

Loss is painful and complex. It can be accompanied by feelings of guilt or despair, and behaviors including avoidance, difficulty identifying your needs or setting healthy boundaries, irritability or angry outbursts, or isolation, to name a few. Grief and loss manifest so differently from person to person it’s impossible to predict its path. But you don’t have to work through it alone. With support, you can find a voice for your pain, overcome obstacles to joy, and move forward with confidence.

Grief is an intense emotion but one that we must experience before healing can occur. Grief can include death of a loved one - including pets, divorce or other break-up, a friend or family member moving away, empty nesting, miscarriage, and infertility. Grief can also visit with positive changes. When we experience a change and we are forced to let go of familiar patterns, our nervous system needs to adjust as well, often causing conflicting emotions.

No one prepares you for the process of walking through a sudden loss or grief complicated by other issues. As a trauma specialist, I am uniquely qualified to walk with individuals through the grief process. Having experienced my own journey with sudden and expected losses, I am uniquely able to understand the complexities and hold space for children, teens and adults struggling with loss.

Most people have experienced grief over the loss of a loved one. There are many more types of losses that we experience grief over. The loss of a job, from divorce, chronic health issues, aging are some examples of other things that we grieve. Recognizing the losses and learning healthier ways to grieve can free us to live our lives with more ease.

I have experience with death-related grief & loss through my work in hospice, as well as experience in ICU, oncology, and emergency settings. It is my firm belief that grief & loss are inherent in many parts of life, including but not limited to: loss of independence, relationship breakdown, grieving former identities, life transitions, and more. I am also currently Certified in Thanatology through the Association of Death Education and Counseling.

I am passionate in working with clients struggling with grief or loss. Loss may include the death of a loved one, as well as other types of losses such as the loss of an important piece of your identity, the loss of a friendship, the end of a particular phase of life, etc. With any type of loss, I believe that allowing space to grieve is vital to our healing and ability to move forward. I also have a particular love for helping adults process the death of a parent early in life.

I have experience both personally and professionally with grief and loss. Unresolved grief is persistant and will come back in waves when you least expect it interferring with your life and often times morphing into anxiety and depression. I have experience helping with grief and loss in many settings including hospice, ICU, inperson and online. I currently hold the Certified Grief Counseling Specialist certification.

Having lost someone close to me from cancer, I feel prepared to guide you through the confusing and conflicting experience of grief. I will help shine a light for you, so you can attend to these feelings effectively as you recover from loss.

Grief is not a disorder, so grief support in therapy is not about fixing something that is wrong. Instead, grief work is a process of reconstruction, creating & coming to terms with a meaningful life in "the after." Coming alongside you in this space is my sacred privilege. We'll collect the broken bits of memory, belief, & stories linked to your loss, & treat them as a precious raw material. When you’re ready, let’s discover what new thing you create from these exquisite shards of love.