Grief & Loss Counselling

You might recognise this

Something has happened, and it feels as though everything is lost. A death. The end of a relationship. A health diagnosis. A career disruption. If you've lost someone to suicide, that grief carries its own particular heaviness.

Grief can begin before the loss itself. When someone close has been told their time is short, you may be grieving while they are still here. If you are the one caring for them, it can be confusing that while they are still present, the sadness is already weighing on you.

The feelings come in waves, and sometimes all at once. Sadness one moment, guilt and regret the next. Angry, then anxious about whether this heaviness will ever lift. Some days you cannot bring yourself to do anything at all.

People around you may not know what to say. Some say something that lands badly. Some avoid it altogether. The silence can be lonelier than the grief itself. You wonder if you'll be able to move forward. That's a very human thing to wonder.

What coping can look like

Pulling back from people. Staying busy so you don't have to sit with the pain. Scrolling, drinking, overworking. Anything that creates distance from what you're feeling.

When something hurts this much, you look for ways to turn it down. The feelings don't go away when we push them down, though. They tend to come out later in ways that are harder to manage.

What our work together looks like

Grief needs space. I'll sit with you in it. We'll go at your pace. We'll stay with where you are now, not where you think you should have reached by this stage.

Your grief will be witnessed here. We'll work through what the loss means to you. The relationship, the role it played in your life, what's changed.

There will be room to remember, to speak about who they were, and to tell the stories. Slowly, there will also be room to meet the reality of what has happened.

Over time, many people find they're able to carry their loss differently: not forgotten, but no longer consuming. They find ways to honour who or what they've lost while building a life that has meaning again.

Common questions

How long does grief last?

There's no timetable, and no point at which you “should” be over it. For many people the intensity softens over months, though waves can still return for years, often around anniversaries and other reminders. Grief becomes a concern not because of how long it lasts, but when it stays so consuming that daily life can't resume.

Counselling can help you carry it differently, at your own pace.

Do I need grief counselling, or is what I'm feeling normal?

Most grief is a natural response to loss, not a problem to fix. Counselling helps when you feel stuck or alone in it: when the heaviness isn't shifting, when there's no one you can really talk to, or when you're avoiding the loss just to get through the day.

You don't have to reach a crisis point before seeking support.

Is grief counselling only for the death of a loved one?

No. Grief follows many kinds of loss: the end of a relationship, a health diagnosis, a career disruption, or grieving for someone who is still here. If you've lost someone to suicide, that grief carries its own particular weight, and it has space here too.