EMDR for grief and loss in Santa Monica and throughout California
Grief Counseling in Santa Monica
Grief doesn’t follow a timeline. It changes form (one day heavy, another day quiet) but it never disappears just because time has passed. Whether you’re grieving the loss of a loved one, a relationship, a version of yourself, or the future you imagined, what you’re feeling is real. Here, your grief gets to breathe.
You’re Not “Supposed” to Be Over It Yet
Grief doesn’t follow a timeline. It changes form (one day heavy, another day quiet) but it never disappears just because time has passed.
Whether you’re grieving the loss of a loved one, a relationship, a version of yourself, or the future you imagined, what you’re feeling is real.
You don’t have to minimize your pain to make others comfortable. You don’t have to keep pretending you’re okay just because people have stopped checking in.
Here, your grief gets to breathe.
You’re in the Right Place If…
You’re tired of hearing “you just need to move on.”
You feel disconnected from life, like you’re watching it happen from outside yourself.
You can’t stop replaying memories, or you avoid them altogether.
You’re struggling with guilt, anger, or numbness and you don’t know what to do with any of it.
You’ve tried to “stay strong,” but inside you still feel broken, confused, or lost.
Grief isn’t just emotional… it’s physiological.
When you’ve lost something or someone meaningful, your nervous system registers it as danger or disconnection. Your body might feel heavy, restless, foggy, or on alert, as if it’s waiting for something that isn’t coming back.
In therapy, we help your body begin to trust that it’s safe to feel again and that you can hold your pain and still experience peace, connection, and meaning.
What’s Actually Happening in Your Body
How EMDR and Talk Therapy Support Grief across California
Traditional talk therapy helps you process your story and find language for what’s happened.
EMDR therapy takes it deeper by helping your brain and body release the shock, helplessness, and trauma that can keep grief frozen inside you.
You might find that your grief is tangled with earlier wounds like: abandonment, guilt, or fear of loss. EMDR allows us to gently untangle those layers so you can experience healing on every level, not just in your thoughts.
If you’re not ready for EMDR, that’s completely okay. We can begin with weekly therapy focused on grounding, emotional regulation, and making sense of what you’ve lost until your body feels ready for deeper processing.
You Don’t Have to Heal Alone
Grief is not a problem to fix, it’s a process to witness.
My role is to walk beside you as you learn how to live with loss without losing yourself. Together, we’ll create space for both your pain and your peace to exist at the same time.
If you’re ready, you can:
Schedule a free consultation to see if we’re the right fit.
Explore EMDR Intensives for immersive grief work.
Visit Shop Essentials for calming, trauma-informed tools to support you between sessions.
FAQs about Grief Counseling across California
Are Considering therapy or EMDR in California?
Here are answers to common questions about my approach, what to expect in your first session, and how EMDR can support healing from anxiety, trauma, and grief.
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I support clients coping with death, estrangement, breakups, life transitions, pregnancy loss, and the grief that comes with childhood trauma or identity changes. Grief isn’t just about death, it’s about any loss that shifts who you are
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Yes. EMDR can help your brain reprocess painful memories and moments of loss so they no longer feel like open wounds. You’ll still remember, but it will feel less raw and overwhelming.
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That’s okay. We’ll start wherever you are. Many clients begin with regulation tools and grounding exercises before moving into storytelling or EMDR processing. Healing doesn’t have to be rushed.
I’ll help you develop emotional intelligence, the practical skill of understanding what you’re feeling, why it’s there, and how to respond to it in a safe, healthy way. Because once you know what you’re feeling, you get to choose what you want to do with it.
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There’s no timeline for grief. Some clients work through acute loss in a few months; others stay longer as they continue integrating new meaning. You get to move at the pace your nervous system can handle.
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My rate it $250/hr.
What Healing Can Look Like With Me
Grief doesn’t mean you’re broken…it means you loved deeply.
And while the world may expect you to “move on,” your heart is simply asking for a gentler way to move through.
In our work together, we’ll slow down enough for your nervous system to feel safe again.
We’ll let the tears, the silence, and even the anger have their place, because everything you feel is a thread leading back to you.
Through EMDR and trauma-informed therapy, we’ll release the moments your body has been holding on to like: the guilt, the helplessness, the disbelief and create new space for peace, meaning, and connection.
You’ll begin to feel life return in quiet ways: a breath that feels lighter, a memory that hurts less, a moment where you realize you’re finally living again.
This isn’t about forgetting what you’ve lost. It’s about remembering who you are even here, even now, even in the rebuilding.