Pasadena Grief & Loss Counseling
Death is perhaps the one undiscriminating factor within our human existence. All of us are impacted by grief and loss in varying manners, perhaps we have lost a loved one, perhaps we have lost someone we did not really know or perhaps we have been impacted by the numerous reminders of the loss of life in the media, we are all impacted by loss. Interesting enough death is often something many people scurry away from really discussing, viewing death as a contagious disease.
Through out your grief process you may find yourself feeling as if you can not talk about your loss with anyone, you may find that those friends and loved ones you thought would be there for you are gone. Grief can also bring forth many questions, “is what am feeling normal.” I have even had people ask me, “am I grieving right.” There is no right or wrong in the grief process, and in our work together I will help you determine what is right for you in your process of establishing a new normal.
Clients have often said, “I want to feel normal Melissa,” part of the grief journey means accepting that the old normal incorporated someone who is no longer here and a new sense of normal has to be gradually cultivated. I often say, grief is the process of learning to live in a world without the person you lost.
Grief can have us feeling a range of emotions all at once or in varying periods, we can feel depression, sadness, anger, confusion, guilt, rage, panic. All of these feelings can be overwhelming and without support you may find yourself feeling immobilized. My hope is to work with you to help manage those feelings, to help you release those feelings and give you the space to talk about the death and life of your loved one, to talk about the things you are afraid to tell other people for fear of being judged, “I feel really angry at him for dying,” “sometimes I just want to go out and enjoy myself but I think other people will judge me for not being sad.”
I draw on my professional and personal experience with grief and grief counseling. One of the main reasons why I specialize in grief counseling is because grief is something very personal to me. Having lost my brother and father when I was a teenager and my mother in my twenties I learned first hand the many emotions that grief can take us on. I have experienced the death of friends, colleagues and even clients and each death has helped me grow more in tune with the clients I work with who are grieving. Grief is not something that is understood by all, once experienced it truly changes how you see the world. Working with a therapist who has the lived experience of a loss is helpful in that you are not working with someone who has a textbook understanding of grief.
I will work with you as you navigate these feelings, thoughts and new experiences of loss as you go on in life. I have worked with all types of loss, in addition I have numerous experience working with the unique aspects of deaths occurring with chronic illness, accidental death, suicide and homicide. How someone died can bring forth many different feelings and can impact the grieving process very differently therefore within our grief counseling sessions I work with each person with an understanding of your unique experience.
©Melissa Lopez, LCSW
Through out your grief process you may find yourself feeling as if you can not talk about your loss with anyone, you may find that those friends and loved ones you thought would be there for you are gone. Grief can also bring forth many questions, “is what am feeling normal.” I have even had people ask me, “am I grieving right.” There is no right or wrong in the grief process, and in our work together I will help you determine what is right for you in your process of establishing a new normal.
Clients have often said, “I want to feel normal Melissa,” part of the grief journey means accepting that the old normal incorporated someone who is no longer here and a new sense of normal has to be gradually cultivated. I often say, grief is the process of learning to live in a world without the person you lost.
Grief can have us feeling a range of emotions all at once or in varying periods, we can feel depression, sadness, anger, confusion, guilt, rage, panic. All of these feelings can be overwhelming and without support you may find yourself feeling immobilized. My hope is to work with you to help manage those feelings, to help you release those feelings and give you the space to talk about the death and life of your loved one, to talk about the things you are afraid to tell other people for fear of being judged, “I feel really angry at him for dying,” “sometimes I just want to go out and enjoy myself but I think other people will judge me for not being sad.”
I draw on my professional and personal experience with grief and grief counseling. One of the main reasons why I specialize in grief counseling is because grief is something very personal to me. Having lost my brother and father when I was a teenager and my mother in my twenties I learned first hand the many emotions that grief can take us on. I have experienced the death of friends, colleagues and even clients and each death has helped me grow more in tune with the clients I work with who are grieving. Grief is not something that is understood by all, once experienced it truly changes how you see the world. Working with a therapist who has the lived experience of a loss is helpful in that you are not working with someone who has a textbook understanding of grief.
I will work with you as you navigate these feelings, thoughts and new experiences of loss as you go on in life. I have worked with all types of loss, in addition I have numerous experience working with the unique aspects of deaths occurring with chronic illness, accidental death, suicide and homicide. How someone died can bring forth many different feelings and can impact the grieving process very differently therefore within our grief counseling sessions I work with each person with an understanding of your unique experience.
©Melissa Lopez, LCSW
"Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break." ~William Shakespeare
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