Caregiving & Caregiver Grief Therapy in Ontario

Caring for someone you love can hold many things at once: love, responsibility, exhaustion, worry, guilt, uncertainty, grief, and the practical demands of getting through each day.

When much of your attention is focused on another person’s needs, it can become difficult to notice how much you are carrying yourself.

I offer individual psychotherapy for caregivers and adults experiencing caregiver grief, anticipatory grief, and the changes that can come during or after a period of caregiving.

Therapy for the person who is doing the caring

Caregiving can gradually reshape everyday life.

You may be organizing appointments, making decisions, managing uncertainty, taking on new responsibilities, or trying to remain steady for other people while privately feeling tired, worried, angry, guilty, or sad.

Sometimes there is little space to ask what you need because someone else’s needs feel more urgent.

Therapy can offer a place where your experience does not have to come second.

You do not have to prove that caregiving is difficult enough to deserve support, and you do not have to wait until you feel completely depleted before reaching out.

Caregiver grief can begin before a death

Grief is not limited to what happens after someone dies.

Caregiving can involve losses that happen gradually: changes in a loved one’s health, abilities, personality, independence, routines, or the role they once held in your life. You may also be grieving the future you expected, the relationship as it used to be, or parts of your own life that have become harder to access while caregiving.

Anticipatory grief can bring the awareness that more change may be coming, even while you are still managing what is happening now.

You may find yourself moving between hope and fear, connection and exhaustion, gratitude and sadness.

There is room for all of that here.

If grief after a death is the main reason you are seeking support, you can also read about grief and bereavement therapy.

There can be room for conflicting emotions

Caregiving often creates emotional combinations that are difficult to explain to other people.

You may feel:

• deeply devoted to the person you are caring for and also exhausted by what caregiving requires;
• grateful for time together and frightened about what may happen next;
• sadness alongside anger, frustration, numbness, or resentment;
• guilt about needing rest, boundaries, time away, or help from other people;
• relief when a difficult period changes or ends, followed by guilt for feeling relieved;
• uncertain about who you are outside the caregiving role; or
• lonely even when you are rarely physically alone.

I do not ask you to choose which emotion is the “right” one.

Instead, we can slow down enough to understand what each part of your experience may be carrying.

Caregiver stress, boundaries, and your own needs

Caregiving can make boundaries feel complicated.

You may know that you need rest but feel guilty taking it. You may want support but have difficulty asking. You may feel responsible for keeping everything together, or worry that setting a limit will let someone down.

In therapy, we can explore the expectations you hold for yourself, the roles you have taken on, and where there may be room for your own needs without reducing the care you have for someone else.

The goal is not to tell you how much caregiving you should or should not do.

It is to create space to understand what is sustainable, what matters to you, what support is available, and how you want to move through a situation that may not have simple answers.

What caregiver therapy with me can look like

Our sessions are collaborative and paced around what feels manageable.

Some sessions may focus on the immediate realities of caregiving: stress, decisions, family dynamics, guilt, boundaries, or difficult emotions.

At other times, we may spend more time with grief, identity, the relationship you have with the person you are caring for, or the ways caregiving has changed your sense of yourself and the future.

I may draw from Attachment-based Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Internal Family Systems, mindfulness-based techniques, and Somatic Experiencing according to what feels useful and appropriate for you.

My role is not to give you a formula for being a better caregiver. It is to offer a steady place where there can also be care for you.

You can learn more about my background, credentials, and therapeutic approach.

Support after caregiving ends

The end of a caregiving role can bring another major transition.

If the person you cared for has died, grief may exist alongside exhaustion, relief, disorientation, or the sudden absence of routines that once filled much of your time.

If caregiving changes for another reason, you may still find yourself asking what comes next.

A role that demanded so much attention can become closely connected to identity, purpose, relationships, and daily structure. When that role changes, it can take time to understand who you are now and what you need.

My work also includes support for the broader losses and life transitions that can follow major changes in roles, relationships, health, and identity.

Virtual caregiver therapy across Ontario and in-person sessions in Orleans, Ottawa

Virtual psychotherapy is available for adults residing anywhere in Ontario, including people who may find it difficult to leave home because of caregiving responsibilities.

I also offer a limited number of in-person psychotherapy sessions at 1420 Youville Drive in Orleans, Ottawa.

Whether we meet virtually or in person, sessions are individual psychotherapy shaped around your experience rather than a fixed caregiver program.

For practical details about fees, session format, cancellations, and eligibility, visit the psychotherapy FAQ.

A free consultation can be a first step

If you are unsure whether therapy would be helpful while you are caregiving, or you are adjusting to life after caregiving, you do not have to figure that out alone before contacting me.

I offer a free 15-minute consultation where you can briefly share what is bringing you to therapy, ask practical questions, and get a sense of whether working together feels like a good next step.