Grief
Grief & Loss Counseling in Charlotte, NC
Grief does not follow five tidy stages, and it does not have a deadline. Sometimes what you need is one place where you are not managing everyone else's discomfort with your loss.
Grief counseling can help when
- Everyone else has moved on and you have not
- The loss was not one the world recognizes, a pregnancy, a marriage, an estrangement
- You are functioning, and it is costing you everything to do it
- The relationship was complicated, and so is the grief
- You are anticipating a loss that has not happened yet
- Anniversaries, holidays and ordinary Tuesdays keep knocking you flat
Recognize several of these? That is usually reason enough to start a conversation. Request an appointment →
Grief that the world makes no space for
Disenfranchised grief, loss that goes socially unacknowledged, is some of the hardest to carry, because there is no ritual and no permission. Miscarriage and stillbirth. Infertility. The end of a marriage. Estrangement from a living parent. The death of someone you had a difficult relationship with. Losing a parent before you became one, and then grieving them again at every milestone.
We take those losses as seriously as any other, because they are.
What we support
- Death of a partner, parent, child, sibling or friend
- Pregnancy loss, stillbirth and infant loss
- Infertility and the loss of an expected future
- Divorce, separation and the end of a long relationship
- Anticipatory grief during terminal illness
- Complicated and prolonged grief
- Grief in a family system, where everyone mourns differently
- Estrangement and ambiguous loss
- Loss of health, career or identity
There is no correct timeline
Some people come within weeks of a death. Others come twenty years later, when something finally cracked it open. Both are reasonable, and neither is late.
Grief work is not about moving on or achieving closure. It is about finding a way to carry what happened that leaves room for a life alongside it.
What changes
What clients tend to notice
- Room to grieve without performing recovery
- A relationship with the loss that you can carry
- Support through the dates that will keep coming
- Reconnection with life that does not feel like betrayal
Who provides this
Ashleigh Bryan
MS, LMFT, PMH-C
Couples therapy and maternal mental health, grounded in 17+ years of practice.
Angie Baquedano
MA, LMFT
Bilingual family and couples therapy, terapia en español.
Brooke Wagner
MA, LCMHCA, LCAS-A
Holistic, parts-informed work for people ready to feel like themselves again.
Also available with Diane Yee.
Grief, Loss & Life After Loss: questions we are asked
How soon after a loss should I start therapy?
Whenever you want to. There is no waiting period and no window that closes. Early support can be stabilizing; later support is just as valid.
Is grief a mental illness?
No. Grief is a normal response to loss. It can become complicated or prolonged in ways that benefit from treatment, and it can coexist with depression, but grieving is not a disorder.
Do you support pregnancy and infant loss?
Yes. Ashleigh Bryan is Perinatal Mental Health Certified and works with miscarriage, stillbirth, infant loss, infertility and pregnancy after loss.
My whole family is struggling. Can we come together?
Yes. Families often grieve in very different styles, which can feel like conflict on top of loss. Family sessions can help people understand one another's grief rather than judge it.
Get started
Taking the first step is the hardest part.
Tell us a little about what is going on and we will match you with the right clinician, usually within a few days.
In-network with BCBS PPO & Aetna · Self-pay from $155 · Evenings until 8 PM