Compassion and Care While Navigating
Loss, Death, and Transformation
Listen to me speak about loss on NPR here!
I am a Grief Counselor with a private practice in Lexington, Massachusetts. I support individuals, schools, companies, and communities who have suffered a loss or are navigating end-of-life issues. I meet in person and, in some cases, over the phone. I believe grief and the pain of loss is a testament to what is most important, meaningful, and even wondrous in our lives. I see grieving as a way of praising what we’ve lost.
I am a Certified Thanatologist (the study of death in life) with more than 12 years of experience supporting people while they grieve. The certification creates a standard for thanatology practice, while helping professionals develop and demonstrate their mastery of knowledge of issues related to death, dying and bereavement. I am a practitioner whose experience has taught me that the organic and transformative process of grief can best be met with compassionate support and a listening and reflective ear.
I understand that this praise and pain over loss is different for everyone, grieving is a deeply individual process. Over time, I have developed skills to help people through the pain. The first of these skills is my willingness to sit in mystery with people. I feel comfortable suspended in a space in which there are no answers or certainties. People who are grieving often feel restless and want answers. Why did this happen? How will I get through it? How will my life change without this person in it? I help them ask these questions and get through the Not-Knowing.
I hold their hope that they will find space to live first inside, then beside their grief. I hold their hope when they cannot, but I never force it on them. There is always a little torch inside of me that I tend carefully. Sometimes I hold that torch for a long time.
I am a Certified Thanatologist (the study of death in life) with more than 12 years of experience supporting people while they grieve. The certification creates a standard for thanatology practice, while helping professionals develop and demonstrate their mastery of knowledge of issues related to death, dying and bereavement. I am a practitioner whose experience has taught me that the organic and transformative process of grief can best be met with compassionate support and a listening and reflective ear.
I understand that this praise and pain over loss is different for everyone, grieving is a deeply individual process. Over time, I have developed skills to help people through the pain. The first of these skills is my willingness to sit in mystery with people. I feel comfortable suspended in a space in which there are no answers or certainties. People who are grieving often feel restless and want answers. Why did this happen? How will I get through it? How will my life change without this person in it? I help them ask these questions and get through the Not-Knowing.
I hold their hope that they will find space to live first inside, then beside their grief. I hold their hope when they cannot, but I never force it on them. There is always a little torch inside of me that I tend carefully. Sometimes I hold that torch for a long time.
How Can Grief Counseling Help Me?
The modern world is not friendly to those who have suffered loss. We are told that we make others uncomfortable in our sadness, that there is a timeline that we must follow, that there are right and wrong ways to remember our loved ones. Our work together will be free of those expectations.
I am a Certified Thanatologist (the study of death in life) with over 15 years of experience supporting people while they grieve. I am a practitioner whose experience has taught me that the organic and transformative process of grief can best be met with compassionate support and a listening and reflective ear.
Our time together will be centered around helping you find the most comforting and comfortable ways to honor and remember your loved one, and to move forward into a life that has been transformed by grief.
I provide Grief Counseling for:
• Individuals and Couples
• Adolescents
• Family (including extended family sessions)
• Ongoing bereavement support groups that include loss of spouse/partner, child, and parent loss, among others
• Small and medium sized businesses who lose an employee
• Members of the LGBTQ+ community, and all cultural and religious communities
Grieving is a wholly natural process, and it can be a rigorous and exhausting one. When we grieve, we do not need to be fixed, but we do need empathy and support. Let me walk with you on your journey.
I am a Certified Thanatologist (the study of death in life) with over 15 years of experience supporting people while they grieve. I am a practitioner whose experience has taught me that the organic and transformative process of grief can best be met with compassionate support and a listening and reflective ear.
Our time together will be centered around helping you find the most comforting and comfortable ways to honor and remember your loved one, and to move forward into a life that has been transformed by grief.
I provide Grief Counseling for:
• Individuals and Couples
• Adolescents
• Family (including extended family sessions)
• Ongoing bereavement support groups that include loss of spouse/partner, child, and parent loss, among others
• Small and medium sized businesses who lose an employee
• Members of the LGBTQ+ community, and all cultural and religious communities
Grieving is a wholly natural process, and it can be a rigorous and exhausting one. When we grieve, we do not need to be fixed, but we do need empathy and support. Let me walk with you on your journey.