TRAUMA GRIEF & LOSS

THERAPY

“And sometimes, no matter how clever we are,  we must lose.”

― Judith Viorst

About Trauma, Grief, & Loss

Trauma, grief, and loss are united by the interruptions they create in our capacity to live lovingly. These experiences take their mental, emotional, and physical tolls while also spurring us to re-evaluate our relationships. Impossibly, mourning sometimes puts us at odds with those we love dearest.

At first glance, our lives seem marked by profound instances of mourning and periods of “recovery.” Yet, a closer look reveals more subtle losses that etch themselves into our hearts gradually over time. We might even awaken one day to feel the full weight of our accumulated losses and their complicated effects on our most precious relationships.

Trauma and loss, whether occurring as events or as patterns, jeopardize our ability to get our intimate needs met, and to participate in relationships of significant depth. I support couples coping with loss by helping partners transform their mourning to grow in intimacy, and most importantly, love. I also help individuals maintain open-heartedness in the face of life’s greatest challenges.

I believe life is a spiritual journey that is given meaning through our relationships.  At no point are we more spiritually raw than in the wake of mourning. Painful though it is, this mourning can also be an opening into a deeper experience of love.  My aim is to help you and your family not only survive such upheavals, but to use them as opportunities to live and love more fully.

Benefits of Trauma, Grief, & Loss Therapy

  • Assistance in constructing relationships that better support you in facing trauma and loss

  • Prevent outside trauma from replaying within the relationship

  • Create a secure base with your partner to explore a post-loss world

  • Become sensitive to one another’s trauma histories and avoid repeated wounding

  • Reconstruct meaning and purpose

  • Deal with a partner’s disparate coping style

  • Have relationship experiences that promote health and healing

Common Reasons for Trauma, Grief, & Loss Therapy

  • The death of a parent is among the most stressful life events imaginable. The fact that the vast majority of us experience this loss at some point makes it no less painful or disorienting. A traumatic or untimely loss can complicate matters further, as can the loss of a parent with whom we’ve had a difficult relationship.

    Many of my adult clients tell me that their mourning is initially overshadowed by immediate concerns like funeral planning, writing memorials, reckoning with the estate, consoling children, and managing family interactions. It may be hard to find time to tend to the various feelings of grief, sadness, anger, fear, & more. I provide a safe space for individuals and couples to care for themselves around this unique loss.

  • Reproductive losses are often characterized by anticipation and excitement that gives way to disappointment and grief. This unique “emotional whiplash” can create intense distress for individuals while straining intimate relationships. In some cases, one partner may “feel” the loss more than the other. Other couples may struggle to comfort one another in the ways they have come to expect.

    If you and/or your partner are navigating a reproductive loss, I can help you comfort and sustain one another while processing the loss in a meaningful way. I frequently support individuals and couples dealing with:

    -infertility/sterility
    -miscarriage
    -stillbirth
    -neonatal deaths
    -recurrent pregnancy loss
    -IVF (in vitro fertilization) treatments
    -failed adoptions
    -endometriosis and PCOS

Recommended Resources

Hold Me Tight, Sue Johnson

Resources for Grieving Loss and Death, Tara Brach

  • When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, Pema Chödrön

  • It's OK That You're Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand, Megan Devine

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