A Place to Bring Your Grief

picture of sky. this could represent the space to find meaning and reckon with loss. Search grief therapist in los angeles.

There has been a wave of deaths and losses in my personal life recently. The passage of these loved ones has naturally brought about a deep sense of heartbreak. It has also stirred in me much thought about the realities and challenges of processing grief, particularly in the context of these distressing times, and how therapy might offer a supportive container for such experiences.

When there’s loss, whether through death or a loss of relationships, abilities, culture, family, home, and so on:

We are plunged into reckoning and sense-making, and we are called to sit with deep uncertainty. We lose not only their physical presence but also the psychological and symbolic roles that they have played in our sense of self and understanding of our world.

Despite what we might have heard or internalized about grief, grieving holds many emotional and psychological potentialities, sadness, anger, numbness, guilt, longing, fear, tenderness, confusion, relief, and so on. These feelings can be disorienting and overwhelming, arriving in waves that sometimes overlap or even contradict each other.

I know that many of us are also feeling immense loss amongst the violence and uncertainty of this moment in our world and grieving in ways that extend through, and far beyond, our personal lives and communities.

In this corner of the world, there remain very few spaces reserved for communal practice and care around grief. Death and loss have, in large part, been pushed out of our conversations and social practices. As a result, many of us find ourselves without any shared language, rituals, or community spaces to make sense of our grief. Outside of a memorial service, we are largely left to navigate these losses on our own.

a shadow of a person taking picture. this could represent the nature of working through grief and the shadow side of loss, uncertainty, and loss of identity. search grief therapy in highland park or los angeles.

In a recent essay titled “Glitter,” Sophie Strand wrote, “Grief is a landscape. A territory. You must walk through it. You must press your feet to its contours and devote your own shape its foreign topography.”

I see therapy as a place where grief and loss can be explored and honored as central, meaningful, and transformative experiences in our lives. In diving into these losses in a safe, curiosity-led space, we are offered the opportunity to deepen our relationships with, and understanding about, those people, possibilities, and parts of self that have passed on, departed, or been immeasurably and irreversibly altered.

In grief therapy, you are invited to:

  • Build tools and capacity to experience the full spectrum of emotions and parts of self-emerging in your process of grieving

  • Explore your connection with those departed and develop rituals in your life to honor these passings

  • Author and re-author stories about those who have been lost

  • Imagine into and explore the legacy of your dear ones

  • Make meaning of these endings in the context of your own life

Start working with Grief Therapist in Highland Park and Los Angeles

Therapy with me is a depth-oriented space where individuals can slow down and attend to their losses. Together, we learn to listen for the tender parts of self that are trying to make themselves known in your process of grieving and explore avenues to integrate and make meaning of these endings. If you are struggling with grief and loss in your life and longing for a relational space to explore these experiences, I invite you to reach out and schedule a brief initial consultation.

Reach out to schedule a free 15-minute consultation. You deserve that gentleness. And the world benefits when you are able to show up as your truest self.

Other Services Offered at Therapy on Fig

At Therapy on Fig, we provide therapy services tailored to the unique needs of couples and individual adults and teens. We offer Neurodivergent Affirming Therapy, IFS Therapy, Therapy for Empaths, Trauma Therapy, Couples Therapy, Teen Therapy, ADHD Therapy, Group Therapy, Therapy for Entrepreneurs, Anxiety Therapy, Therapy for Autistic People, and Therapy for Asian Americans. Whether you're seeking support for a specific issue or looking to strengthen your relationship overall, our therapists are here to help. Reach out today to learn more about our services!

 

Emily Gaston is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist #155211 and Registered Associate Professional Clinical Counselor #19502, supervised by Philip Chang, LCSW #92156. She practices from a relational, depth-oriented, and IFS-informed perspective that welcomes queer individual adults and teens and couples navigating relational and family-system trauma, moving through grief and loss.

 
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