Grief and Loss

When someone or something important is gone, the rest of life can continue even when part of you feels like it shouldn't.

Grief can follow the death of someone you love, but loss takes many forms. The end of a relationship, changes in health, the loss of a role or career, a significant move, or other changes in the life you expected can leave you grieving something that mattered deeply.

Some days the loss may feel overwhelming. Other days you may function almost normally—and then a memory, a place, a song, or an ordinary moment brings everything back.

You may also find that the people around you begin returning to their lives long before your experience of the loss feels finished.

There Isn't a Right Way to Grieve

Grief doesn't follow a predictable schedule, and it doesn't always look like sadness.

You may feel anger, guilt, relief, numbness, loneliness, fear, or even moments of happiness that are followed by guilt for feeling okay. You may want to talk about the loss constantly or find that talking about it is the last thing you want to do.

Relationships can change too. People may not know what to say, may try to make you feel better before you're ready, or may grieve the same loss very differently than you do.

There isn't a timetable that determines when you should be “over” something that changed your life.

Grief Can Change More Than How You Feel

A significant loss can affect the way you understand yourself and the life you thought you were going to have.

You may find yourself asking questions you didn't expect: Who am I without this person? What does my life look like now? What do I do with plans we made together? Why does everything else suddenly seem less important?

Loss can also bring unfinished feelings to the surface—things you wish you had said, things you wish had happened differently, anger about what happened, or questions that may never have satisfying answers.

Therapy provides room for those experiences without requiring you to resolve them before you're ready.

Moving Forward Doesn't Mean Leaving Someone—or Something—Behind

Therapy isn't about helping you forget, finding a positive side to the loss, or reaching a point where it no longer matters.

It's a place where you can talk honestly about what you've lost and what the loss has changed, including feelings that may be difficult to share with the people around you.

Over time, we can work toward finding ways to carry the loss while also making room for relationships, experiences, meaning, and a future that may look different from the one you expected.

Moving forward doesn't mean that what you lost matters less. It means discovering how to keep living while allowing it to remain part of who you are.