Grief and Loss Counseling in Larchmont, NY.

Dr. Joel Stukalin and Dr. Sara Mandelbaum have guided many clients like you through their grieving processes. Since each client is special and unique, we work with the utmost sensitivity to help you during this emotional period so often filled with many memories and feelings. Some clients also experience unfinished emotional business with the deceased, which we work through with substantial empathic understanding and patience. This sensitive collaboration with Dr. Joel and Dr. Sara is invaluable in supporting grieving clients to achieve a sense of therapeutic closure and relief. Clients have stated that doing this necessary grief work with Dr. Joel and Dr. Sara has restored their lives.

Grief is about loss and the threat of loss. The stronger the bond between us and the person we have lost, the more we will hurt both physically and emotionally. When we are torn from a family member or friend, a part of us dies as well. Our natural need for attachment gets severed, often bringing the return of childhood fears. The world feels like a more dangerous place. As a result, we may feel out of control. We ache to have the loved person back. We know in the rational part of our minds that the person is not coming back, but it also seems impossible to let him go. We will remain emotionally conflicted until we can release our loved ones. Because letting go is so difficult, we must do it slow....

Grief is a deeply painful and often lonely and scary process to experience. Depending on the severity of your loss, it can impact every aspect of your life, like a giant ball in the box that is your life. Every time the ball hits the wall of the box it hurts. Over time, the ball gets smaller and doesn't impact every aspect of your life. However, when it does bounce against the wall it hurts just like it did in the beginning. With the right understanding of how grief it ebbs and flows over time and the space to allow it to be expressed, one can begin to heal.

The way we show up in our relationships is deeply influenced by patterns and experiences from the past. These patterns can lead to feelings of loneliness, fear of abandonment, or anxiety in our connections. You might struggle with setting boundaries or find yourself engaging in people-pleasing behaviors. Core Relationships is on a mission to transform individual obstacles and emotional struggles into opportunities for deeper connection and fulfillment. Through compassionate support, we’ll help you heal past wounds, stay grounded during emotional triggers, improve communication skills, and foster a sense of safety and security in your relationships.

I provide services that support people in loss of previous life style, loss of their own ability due to a disability, and loss of someone they were close to or a colleague. Grief is different for everyone, but one of the most popular models arranges the 5 stages of grief as Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. People take different amounts of time to get through these stages of try to skip over them but they are natural. Since everyone’s grieving is specific to them, my method is adjusted to accommodate my clients. My hope is to support you through this process to build coping skills, listen and be an extra resource.

BREAKUPS . SEPARATION . DIVORCE The end of a relationship brings deep grief and heartache. You aren't just losing a person — you're losing a future you planned, routines that anchored your days, and a part of yourself. Dreams shatter. I help individuals mourn what was lost and process the pain. Whether you're navigating divorce, a painful breakup, or the grief of realizing your partner wasn't who you believed them to be, you deserve space to feel it fully. Healing doesn't mean forgetting. It means reaching a place where the loss no longer defines your next chapter. Peace returns when you've processed the pain.

Individuals struggling with grieving the loss of a loved one can learn how to cope and heal from these painful life experiences and ease the trauma of grief. EMDR can assist in helping to relieve suffering and allow the natural process of grief and mourning to continue in a healthy, adaptive way. Clients can reprocess distressing memories that may relate to grieving process.

Often clients reach out to a psychotherapist when there is a death or separation in a relationship. Chris provides Grief and Loss counseling and Psychotherapy where empathy and caring help clients get emotional closure to help them move forward. A sudden death and loss can causes a person to have increased anxiety and depression and limit functioning. Chris has worked with numerous clients to heal and move forward through effective counseling and psychotherapy in New York. Clients benefit from talking out their feelings where I help them get closure and provide the skills to move on and enjoy life again.

Grief doesn't follow a schedule, and it doesn't always look like sadness. It can show up as anger, numbness, guilt, or even relief, and any of it is valid. Losing someone or something significant can shake your entire sense of self and purpose. I work with grieving clients using a combination of CBT, EMDR, and somatic approaches to help you process what you're carrying, at whatever pace feels right. We'll work through the hard emotions, find ways to honor what you've lost, and rebuild a sense of meaning. Healing from grief isn't about moving on. It's about learning to carry it differently.

I teach my clients about the stages of grief. This often which helps to normalize what they are experiencing. It can be so overwhelming and isolating to lose someone you love. I give clients a safe place to explore all of their emotions around their loss. I work to help clients feeling grounded again and take the steps necessary to find a new normal.

Dealing with grief and loss is thought by most people to be life’s greatest challenge. Whether it be loss of a partner, child, friend, or other important person in one’s life, it is universally a sad and tremendously challenging part of the human experience. I have worked with people who have experienced losses of all types throughout the lifecycle, and helped them to understand the compendium of complex feelings and challenging situations that accompany grieving. Although in the midst of grief, there is often a sense of despair, I have helped hundreds of people resolve grief, and move on with their lives.

All of us experience grief and loss in our lives. There is no escaping it. Unfortunately, there are many times that you will experience a loss that society does not sanction as "grief worthy." Loss of an early pregnancy, miscarriage, loss of a valued career or relationship, and the loss of a beloved pet often hit us hard, and result in feelings of grief. I listen with empathy and concern, and will assist you through the grieving process with sensitivity and support, while offering you effective ways of coping with your feelings.

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.