Grief Therapy | Grief Counseling for Women
Grief is not just about death. It is about loss, and loss takes many forms. The relationship that ended. The version of your life you expected. The mother you needed but did not have. The years given to something that did not love you back. The parts of yourself that had to go quiet in order to survive. Grief is often unacknowledged, interrupted, or rushed, especially for women of color, for whom strength is often required and softness is rarely given permission. We are Shades of Healing, a trauma-informed practice for high-achieving women of color. If you are carrying grief that has not had a place to land, you are in the right place.
What is grief, and why does it need its own space?
Grief is the emotional and physiological process of adapting to loss. It is not linear, it is not predictable, and it does not follow a timetable. Grief that is acknowledged, witnessed, and allowed to move tends to integrate over time. Grief that is suppressed, interrupted, or carried alone tends to become stuck, showing up as depression, numbness, anger, anxiety, physical illness, or an unexplainable heaviness that does not seem connected to anything current. For many women, grief has never been given full permission to exist. You were taught to be strong. To keep going. To be there for others. To process fast and function faster. Grief therapy creates the space to do what grief actually needs: to be felt, witnessed, and moved through, at your own pace, without performance.
Most common forms of grief that bring women to therapy
- Bereavement: The death of a loved one, including losses that were complicated, sudden, or unresolved.
- Relationship grief: The end of a marriage, partnership, or deep friendship, and the mourning of what was and what was hoped for.
- Ambiguous loss: Grieving someone who is still alive, a parent with dementia, an estranged family member, a relationship that ended without closure.
- Disenfranchised grief: Losses that are not publicly recognized or validated, a miscarriage, a pregnancy loss, the end of a non-traditional relationship, the grief of estrangement.
- Accumulated loss: Grief that has built up over time without being processed, loss upon loss, often held alone.
- Grief for the unlived life: Mourning versions of yourself or your life that did not happen, the childhood you deserved, the opportunities lost, the self you suppressed in order to survive.
How do I know if grief therapy might help me?
Do I carry a loss that has not moved, that feels as raw or heavy now as it did when it happened? Grief that does not shift over time often needs support to begin processing. Do I find myself minimizing my own grief, telling yourself it was not that bad, that others have it worse, that you should be over it by now? Minimizing grief does not make it smaller. It makes it louder in other places. Do I feel a sadness or heaviness that does not seem connected to anything specific in your current life? Unmourned losses often surface as a generalized weight that has lost its name. Have I never allowed myself to fully grieve something because I needed to keep going? Many women reach a point where the things they pushed through begin to push back.
Who this support is for
Grief therapy at Shades of Healing is for women who are carrying loss that has not been witnessed or processed, who have been told (explicitly or implicitly) that their grief is too much or should be over by now, who are experiencing grief that goes deeper than bereavement, grief for relationships, identities, or unlived possibilities, or who want a space where their full emotional experience is welcome, without being managed or minimized.
How we approach grief therapy
Grief at Shades of Healing is held with deep respect and without a timetable. There is no stage you are supposed to be in, no place you are supposed to arrive by a certain point. The work involves creating enough safety that grief can actually move, which often means the early work is about building the capacity to feel without being overwhelmed. Sessions draw on trauma-informed approaches including somatic awareness, EMDR where grief has traumatic dimensions, and relational attunement, the experience of being fully witnessed in your loss. We also hold space for the complexity of grief: the relief alongside the sorrow, the anger alongside the love, the parts of loss that do not feel safe to name.
Steps to work with us
Schedule Your Consultation
We'll start with a conversation about what's bringing you to therapy, the patterns you're noticing, and what you're hoping to create in your life and relationships.
Begin The Healing Work
Together, we'll explore the experiences, wounds, and survival strategies that have shaped how you relate to yourself and others, using trauma-informed approaches and inner child work tailored to your needs.
Return To Your True Essence
As healing happens at the source, you'll begin letting go of patterns that no longer serve you and reconnecting with the version of yourself that feels more grounded, authentic, and free.
Grief therapy specialist
Jamie Fowler, LCSW, brings warmth, steadiness, and full presence to grief work. She understands the particular grief that comes from carrying too much for too long, and she creates space for the parts of loss that have never been allowed to speak.
What topics can we work on in grief therapy?
- Processing bereavement, death, loss, mourning
- Working through relationship grief and the loss of what was hoped for
- Grieving the childhood or caregiving you needed but did not receive
- Naming and honoring ambiguous and disenfranchised losses
- Processing accumulated grief that was never given space
- Releasing grief that has been held in the body
- Moving toward integration, carrying loss differently, living alongside it rather than beneath it
We are Shades of Healing
A therapy practice dedicated to helping women of color move beyond survival mode and reconnect with the truest version of themselves. Through trauma-informed therapy, EMDR, and intentional healing, we create a space where emotional patterns can be understood at their source, making room for deeper healing, self-trust, and lasting change.
Investment
Individual Therapy Sessions
$200 per 50-minute session
Therapy is an investment in your healing, your relationships, and your overall well-being. Sessions are personalized to your unique needs and may incorporate trauma therapy, EMDR, and inner child work depending on your goals.
Questions about scheduling or getting started? We'd be happy to help.
FAQ about grief therapy and grief counseling
What is the best therapy for grief and loss?
Research supports several effective approaches including trauma-focused therapy for grief with traumatic dimensions, somatic approaches that address the body-level experience of loss, and relational approaches that emphasize being witnessed and held. The most important factor is often having a therapeutic relationship with enough safety and attunement that grief can actually move rather than be managed or bypassed.
When should I seek grief counseling?
Consider grief counseling if your grief is not moving over time, if it is significantly affecting your daily functioning, if you are using substances or other behaviors to avoid feeling it, if the loss has a traumatic dimension, or if you have never had a space where your grief was fully witnessed. You do not need to be in crisis to benefit from grief support.
What is the difference between normal grief and complicated grief?
Normal grief, while painful, gradually integrates over time. Complicated grief, also called prolonged grief disorder, involves grief that does not move, remaining as intense and disruptive months or years after the loss as it was initially. Complicated grief often benefits from specific therapeutic intervention rather than time alone.
How does grief therapy work?
Grief therapy provides a relational space where loss can be acknowledged, witnessed, and processed without being rushed or minimized. Depending on the approach, sessions may involve talking about the person or situation that was lost, working with the body's experience of grief, processing traumatic elements of the loss, and developing the capacity to integrate the experience over time.
Can grief be connected to trauma?
Yes, frequently. Sudden loss, violent death, complicated or ambiguous loss, and grief that was denied or interrupted all have traumatic dimensions. EMDR and other trauma-informed approaches are particularly helpful when grief and trauma are intertwined.
