Grief and Life Transitions
Time to make sense of a loss, a change, or a life that looks different now.
Loss and Change
There Is No Single Way to Grieve
Grief can follow a death, the end of a relationship, or the loss of something you expected your life to include. A life transition can also bring mixed feelings, even when the change was something you wanted.
Therapy gives you room to describe what the change means to you without a schedule for how you should feel.
Many Kinds of Loss
What Can Bring You into This Conversation
People come to this work after a death in the family, a divorce or breakup, a job loss, a move, retirement, a health change, or becoming a parent. Some losses are widely recognized, while others are harder to name out loud.
A transition does not have to be dramatic to be worth talking about. If it has changed your routines or sense of yourself, it is a reasonable topic for sessions. If you have been telling yourself a loss is not significant enough to discuss, that judgment does not need to apply here.
What Shifts
Talking About What Has Changed
You can discuss the routines, roles, and relationships that have shifted because of a loss or change. Sessions can also be a place to talk about feelings that are difficult to share with the people closest to you.
When a loss or transition affects the household, family therapy may offer a way to have those conversations together.
Topics Clients Bring In
Conversations People Often Want to Have
These are common areas people choose to talk through, though your sessions will reflect your own situation rather than a fixed list.
- A death and the practical and emotional changes it brought
- A relationship ending and what comes next
- A new role at home or at work
- Mixed feelings about a change you chose
- Feeling out of step with people who expect you to have moved on
Including Family
When a Transition Affects the Whole Household
A loss or change often reaches beyond one person, affecting partners, children, or the household as a whole. Family therapy can give each person a chance to describe their experience and hear from others. People in the same household may have different questions about the same change.
Ask during the consultation who should attend and what kind of conversation would be useful for your family.
Choosing Care
Ask About the People and Approaches
Our practice offers individual and family therapy. Approaches available at our practice include family systems and existential therapy, along with CBT, DBT, and EMDR. You can ask how these options relate to a loss or transition, rather than trying to choose from unfamiliar terms.
Let us know if you would like English or Spanish sessions. The phone consultation can include questions about a clinician’s areas of focus and current availability.
A First Step
Ask Before You Decide
A free 15-minute phone consultation gives you a chance to describe your situation and ask questions before scheduling a session.
Session fees are shared during your free consultation.
The First Conversation
Bringing a Changed Routine into a Session
A first session might begin with a routine that now feels different: dinner without someone, a new workday, or a role you did not expect to have. You can talk about what you miss, what feels uncertain, or the parts you have not wanted to say aloud.
Choose in-person care in Brentwood or ask about video appointments while you are in California.
Common Questions
Is This Only for Grief After a Death?
Counseling can also address relationship endings and changes in roles or routines. You can ask about the change that matters to you.
What if Other People Expect Me to Have Moved On?
That expectation can be part of what you discuss. Your feelings do not need to match another person’s schedule.
Can We Ask About Family Therapy for a Shared Loss?
Family therapy is available. The consultation is a place to discuss who might attend and what your household wants help talking about.
