Grief and Loss Counseling in Richmond, CA.

If you are suffering from grief or loss such as the end of a significant relationship or the death of a loved one, individual counseling can help you to move through the stages of grief, give you a safe place to talk about your feelings and help you to identify what you want for your future and move towards it with a sense of hope and anticipation.

Experiencing a loss, whether is a death or a relationship, can be one of the most difficult and life changing events one might go through in life. Grief comes in waves and can be overwhelming. Having a safe place to go express this grief and experience it can be very healing. Understanding how you might experience the grieving and loss process can be helpful when it feels like it is consuming you. Therapy can be a start to working through some of the feelings, emotions and thoughts about your loss. I will be able to support you through this process.

Learning to feel and manage the variety of feelings that come up around death, loss, and endings is an integral part of life. I will support and guide you through this process. It can be very healing and renewing to consciously and creatively meet one's grief and loss. I will help you to reflect on and release the past, to open simply and directly to the loss, and to find peace and grounding in your deeper connection to the truth.

Grief and loss are universal human experiences, though few of us are given the tools or the support we need to express our grief, or, when the time is right, make our way back to life after loss. We are each unique in our response to the loss of people and things that are dear to us. Nevertheless, it does not serve us well either to try to ignore our experiences of painful loss or to keep them at the center of our experience for the rest of our days. I help people move through their grief at a pace that makes sense to them, and I help them, over time, to value the many gifts from who or what has been lost for their ongoing experience of life.

More than 35 million Americans are living with some form of chronic mental or physical illness or disability. The vast majority depend upon their families for care. Caring for a family member who is ill can have a dramatic effect upon a family. Although it can provide opportunities for closeness, it can also be stressful. If you or someone you love is ill, you may need psychological support to continue to live life as optimally as possible. You may also need help in processing your grief, especially if your loved one has become debilitated or has died. Please call me to discuss your particular needs and how counseling can help. I can be reached at 415-533-9724.

Have you recently experienced a death, the loss of a partner, a friend or pet? Grief, anger and difficulty functioning are normal but very challenging responses to loss. Most people tell themselves they must reach closure, but this takes more time than most people realize. Don't isolate or just tell yourself to be strong- lets work it through together.

Loss, whether sudden or not, is often one of life's most challenging experiences. Many people enter therapy with me grieving the loss of a family member, or the end of a relationship, or a difficult change in a work situation. The grief that can follow such losses has its own rhythm and timeline; as much as we would like to "get over" our pain, it is often our effort to do so that stunts our own healing. As a therapist, I have seen again and again that the more we can lovingly attend to our suffering, the more we are able to move through it, and grow as people in the process. I have helped many people find their way through the grief process to a place of healing and peace.

The good news is that there is effective therapy for grief, loss, and bereavement in Oakland. Therapy begins with having a safe place to be able to talk about how you really feel, with someone who can accept your pain without judgement or fear and with whom you can be yourself. EMDR and somatic interventions are excellent for those times when grief, loss, and bereavement involve complicated grief, anxiety, depression, and trauma. CBT offers research based help for depression and irrational thoughts about grief, loss, and bereavement. I offer these therapies to people who are grieving in Oakland. Call 415-820-1487 for a free phone consultation.

You may be in the throws of it right now. Perhaps it is a death. Perhaps it is the end of a relationship. Perhaps it is a job or abandonment. There are many things that trigger our grief and loss. I carve out a sacred space that is just for YOU. You may need to cry. You may need to yell. You may need your pain to be seen. You may need to bargain or to blame yourself for a while. We can do this together while making sure you are on a path towards transformation. Having somebody that really listens and really gets it is the first step towards healing. If you are experiencing a deep grief or loss in your life, you owe it to yourself to go through this painful process supported.

Grief and loss is, unfortunately, a normal part of living. There is no single "correct" way to grieve: different cultures and even individuals from the same culture grieve differently. The only consistent feature is that grief takes time. The most effective thing anyone can do for someone grieving is to be there—to listen, to empathize, to walk along with the grief. There is no "fixing" grief. But counseling can help prevent normal grief from developing into major depression or other mental health conditions.

The experience of grief and loss, while expected at various life stages, can result in physical pain, and the emergence of symptoms that lead to experiencing a slow downward spiral in overall wellbeing, and perhaps desire to withdrawal from personal and professional commitments. Many clients seek compassionate and sensitive guidance to navigate through the ups and downs of any number of losses, ranging from diminishing health, to ending a relationship, or other life transition. Together, clients and I develop a transformative plan to stabilize, heal, gain insight and to enhance their proficiency to improve the strength needed to reconstitute their skills and hopes for today and the future.

I personally experienced a great deal of grief and loss in my 20's so feel I bring my own personal experience to helping others deal with this. Losing people we love is one of the hardest things we will face in our lives, and getting help and support can be invaluable. I will help you process your feelings, feel cared for and supported through the process, and guide you.

"Why can't I seem to shake this grief & loss like other people can?" you ask yourself. Chances are you have other unresolved losses that are being triggered. When you come to me, I will do an assessment, identify the unresolved losses and use Lifespan Integration or EMDR to help you get relief. On average my clients see me 10-12 sessions and are able to function again.