Grief & Bereavement Therapy in Ontario

When someone you love dies, the world you knew can suddenly feel like a place you no longer know how to live in.

Grief can affect much more than sadness. It can change routines, relationships, identity, concentration, sleep, the way you imagine the future, and your sense of where you belong in everyday life. There is no single correct way to respond to a loss.

In our work together, I offer a steady place where you can begin making sense of the reality of their absence, the memories that can feel both comforting and painful, and the changes grief has brought into your life.

Grief therapy can make room for what changed

I do not believe that you have to grieve in a particular way or reach a certain place in the process before your experience deserves support.

Grief does not follow a prescribed timeline. I will not ask you to rush toward closure, leave an important relationship behind, or force yourself to simply “move on.”

Instead, we can make room for grief as it is while also paying attention to what daily life is asking of you now.

People use different words for this kind of support — grief counselling, bereavement counselling, or grief therapy. I provide individual psychotherapy for adults, including older adults, with an approach centred on grief, loss, and the transitions that can follow.

Support for bereavement, anticipatory grief, and sudden loss

You may be grieving the death of a partner, parent, child, sibling, friend, family member, or another person who mattered deeply to you.

You may also be living with anticipatory grief while someone you love is seriously ill, adjusting after a sudden or unexpected death, or finding that grief has become more present around an anniversary, milestone, family event, or change in routine.

Sometimes the loss is recent. Sometimes months or years have passed and something about life now has brought the grief forward again.

There is no deadline for when support is allowed to be useful.

You do not have to wait until grief feels unmanageable

Some people reach out because grief feels overwhelming. Others are functioning day to day but feel alone with what they are carrying.

You may notice that you are:

• trying to care for other people while leaving little room for your own grief;
• feeling disconnected from people who expect you to be “doing better” by now;
• carrying guilt, anger, relief, numbness, anxiety, tenderness, sadness, or several emotions at once;
• struggling with how a death has changed your identity, relationships, routines, or sense of the future;
• wanting a place where you can talk about the person who died without worrying about making someone else uncomfortable; or
• simply unsure how to live alongside a loss that still matters.

You do not need to wait for a crisis or have the right words before beginning therapy.

What grief therapy with me can look like

Our sessions are collaborative and paced around what feels manageable for you.

We might spend time talking about the person who died, what the relationship meant to you, what happened around the death, or what life has been like since. At other times, our work may focus more on relationships, boundaries, identity, caregiving, routines, difficult memories, or the practical task of moving through a world that feels different.

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.

I do not work from the assumption that grief needs to be solved. My role is to walk alongside you while you make sense of what has happened, honour what has been lost, and find a way to live alongside grief without erasing its importance.

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

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

Virtual psychotherapy is available for adults residing anywhere in Ontario. This can make grief therapy accessible from home whether you live in Ottawa, elsewhere in Eastern Ontario, the Greater Toronto Area, or another community in the province.

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, the work is individual psychotherapy and is shaped around your experience rather than a fixed grief program or timeline.

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

A free consultation can be a first step

If you are unsure whether grief therapy is the right fit, you do not have to decide everything 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.