Grief has a way of rearranging everything. One moment your life made sense, and the next you are standing in a world that feels fundamentally different. Maybe you lost someone you love. Maybe a relationship ended, or a chapter of your life closed in a way you didn’t expect. Whatever brought you here, I want you to know that there is no right way to grieve, and you don’t have to navigate this alone. As a therapist in Manassas, VA with over 19 years of experience, I have walked alongside many people through loss, and I would be honored to walk alongside you.
Ready to talk? Call (571) 229-3418 or book your first session.
What Is Grief?
Grief is the natural response to loss, and it touches every part of who you are: your emotions, your body, your thoughts, your relationships, and your sense of meaning. While grief is most commonly associated with the death of someone close to you, the truth is that grief can accompany any significant loss.
Divorce. Estrangement from a family member. The end of a friendship. A miscarriage or infertility. A job or career that defined part of your identity. A health diagnosis that changes what your future looks like. The loss of safety after trauma. Even the death of a beloved pet. Each of these losses is real, and the grief that follows deserves to be acknowledged and honored.
Grief is not a problem to be solved. It is a deeply human response to loving and losing something that mattered. But when grief becomes overwhelming, when it begins to interfere with your ability to function or connect with others, or when it feels like it has no end, professional support can make a real difference. Here in Northern Virginia’s Prince William County, I provide a safe space to bring your grief without being rushed, judged, or told how you should feel.
Types of Grief
Grief is not one-size-fits-all. Understanding the form your grief takes can help you make sense of what you are experiencing and recognize that your response is valid.
Anticipatory grief is the grief you feel before a loss actually occurs. It is common among people caring for a loved one with a terminal illness, watching a parent decline, or facing an inevitable life change. This grief can feel confusing because the person or situation is still present, yet the loss has already begun.
Complicated or prolonged grief occurs when the intensity of grief does not ease over time and significantly interferes with your daily functioning. If months or years have passed and the pain feels as raw as it did at the beginning, you may be experiencing complicated grief. This is not a sign of weakness. It often indicates that the grief has become intertwined with trauma, attachment wounds, or other factors that need professional attention.
Disenfranchised grief is grief that others minimize, dismiss, or fail to recognize. This can happen when the loss involves a pet, an ex-partner, a miscarriage, an estranged family member, or a relationship that others didn’t understand. The isolation of not having your grief acknowledged can make the pain even harder to bear.
Ambiguous grief arises from losses that lack clarity or closure. A loved one who is physically present but emotionally absent due to addiction, mental illness, or dementia. A relationship that ended without explanation. A missing person. These ambiguous losses can leave you grieving without a clear endpoint.
Cumulative grief occurs when multiple losses happen close together, before you have had time to process any single one. This layering of grief can feel crushing and disorienting, as if you cannot find solid ground.
Understanding these different expressions of grief can be the beginning of giving yourself permission to feel what you feel and to seek the support you need.
Signs You May Benefit from Grief Counseling
Grief affects everyone differently, but there are common signs that working with a therapist could help. You may benefit from grief counseling if you are experiencing:
- Persistent sadness or crying that does not ease with time
- Difficulty functioning at work, at home, or in daily responsibilities
- Withdrawal from people you care about, even when you know isolation makes things worse
- Emotional numbness or a sense of going through the motions without feeling anything
- Guilt or regret about things said or left unsaid, decisions made or not made
- Anger at the person you lost, at yourself, at life, or at a higher power
- Physical symptoms such as fatigue, changes in appetite, sleep disturbance, headaches, or chest tightness
- Inability to find meaning or purpose since the loss
- Difficulty accepting the reality of what has happened
- Feeling stuck months or years after the loss, as though you cannot move forward
If any of these resonate with you, reaching out for support is not a sign that you are grieving wrong. It is a sign that you are taking your healing seriously.
How IFS Helps with Grief
Internal Family Systems (IFS) offers a particularly compassionate framework for working through grief. Rather than asking you to follow a set of stages or pushing you toward closure on someone else’s timeline, IFS honors the complexity of your inner experience and meets you exactly where you are.
In IFS, we understand that grief involves multiple parts of your internal system. Some parts carry the raw pain of loss: the sadness, the longing, the ache of absence. These are often the parts that IFS calls exiles, the vulnerable parts of you that hold the deepest emotions. Other parts step in as protectors, trying to manage or contain that pain. A protector might numb you out, keep you relentlessly busy, push people away, or tell you to “be strong” and move on before you are ready.
None of these parts are doing anything wrong. Every response you are having to your loss makes sense when you understand the role each part is playing. IFS helps you develop what we call Self-energy: a calm, compassionate, curious presence within you that can be with each part without being overwhelmed by it. From this place, you can gently approach the parts that carry grief, witness their pain, and help them release the burdens they have been holding.
The goal of grief work in IFS is not to “get over” your loss. It is to develop a relationship with your grief that allows you to carry it without being consumed by it. Over time, many clients find that they can hold both the love and the loss, honoring what they had while still being present for what comes next.
My Approach to Grief Counseling
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 19 years of clinical experience and a Certified IFS Therapist who has completed Level 2 IFS training. I also hold a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional credential, which is especially relevant to grief work because loss and trauma so often intersect. When someone dies suddenly, when a loss involves violence or injustice, or when grief reopens old wounds, having a therapist trained in both grief and trauma matters.
My approach to grief counseling is warm, client-led, and unhurried. I do not believe in imposing timelines on grief or telling you how you should feel at any given point. Your grief is yours, and my role is to walk alongside you as you find your way through it.
I also recognize that grief rarely exists in isolation. Loss can trigger or deepen depression, stir up anxiety, complicate relationships, and raise questions about faith and meaning. For clients whose grief intersects with their spirituality, I offer Christian counseling that honors the role of faith in the grieving process. Whatever dimensions of your experience are relevant, we can bring them into our work together.
You can learn more about my background and training to see if we might be a good fit.
What to Expect in Sessions
Your first session is a chance for us to connect and for me to understand your experience. I will ask about your loss, how you have been coping, and what feels most difficult right now. I will also want to understand your history and any other factors that may be shaping your grief. This session is just as much for you to get a sense of me and whether you feel comfortable in our work together.
In ongoing sessions, we work at the pace that feels right for you. Some sessions may focus on building stability and coping: grounding techniques, support for daily functioning, and ways to be gentle with yourself during an incredibly hard time. Other sessions may involve deeper IFS work, exploring the parts of you that are carrying grief and helping them find relief. I integrate mindfulness practices when helpful, supporting you in staying present with your experience rather than being swept away by it.
Sessions are 50 minutes and are available both in-person at my Manassas, VA office and via telehealth for clients located anywhere in Virginia or Florida. Many clients begin with weekly sessions and adjust the frequency as they progress. My fee is $215 per session, and I accept Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance.
You Don’t Have to Grieve Alone
Loss can make the world feel impossibly lonely, even when you are surrounded by people who care about you. Sometimes the people in your life don’t know what to say, or they want you to feel better before you are ready. Grief counseling offers something different: a space where your pain is welcomed, where there is no pressure to perform strength or move on, and where someone is fully present with you in the hardest parts.
If you are carrying a loss and wondering whether it is time to reach out, I want you to know that there is no wrong time. Whether your loss is recent or long ago, whether it is the kind of loss the world recognizes or one that feels invisible, you deserve support.
When you’re ready, book your first session or call (571) 229-3418. I would be glad to walk alongside you.