Therapy for Grief and Loss in Chicago
Identity-affirming and neuro-affirming care in an inclusive environment in Logan Square and Avondale
Grief is the human response to loss, and while it's most commonly associated with the death of a loved one, it can also arise from divorce, estrangement, job loss, miscarriage, pet loss, or any significant ending.
Grief doesn't move in a linear sequence.
Grief often involves intense sadness, anger, guilt, numbness, difficulty concentrating, disrupted sleep or appetite, and waves of grief triggered unexpectedly by reminders.
Your relationship with grief evolves. Sometimes it’s marked by prolonged, intense impairment, especially if the loss is sudden or tangled with unresolved conflict, or if you lack the support to process it.
Common Thread Counseling Chicago can help you develop tools to navigate grief and loss.
Our Approach to Therapy for Grief and Loss
At Common Thread Counseling Chicago, we hold space to grieve without a timeline or pressure to "be over it.”
In our individual therapy sessions, we can help distinguish between normal grief and complicated or prolonged grief. We can help identify when grief is intertwined with other issues like depression, trauma, or anxiety.
Individual sessions also give room to hold complicated feelings simultaneously. For losses that aren't socially recognized or validated (a miscarriage, an estranged parent), therapy can be especially important. We also incorporate David Kessler’s “meaning-making” 6th stage of grief.
For grieving someone who has died, we move away from the idea that healthy grieving means "letting go" of the person.
We utilize the continued bonds model, which proposes that maintaining an ongoing connection to the deceased is a normal and often healthy part of adapting to loss, not a sign of being stuck.
This reframes what "healing" means - the goal isn't severing attachment, but finding a sustainable, adaptive way to stay connected and assimilate the experience.
Techniques We Use at Our Therapy Practice
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Grief focused CBT addresses unhelpful thought patterns that can prolong grief, such as excessive guilt or avoidance of reminders of the loss.
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Supports making room for painful grief-related emotions while helping you reconnect with values and meaningful action in your life.
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explores the nature of the relationship with what was lost, including ambivalence or unresolved dynamics that can complicate grief.
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helps you integrate the loss into your ongoing life story, including finding ways to maintain a meaningful connection to what or who was lost; this often overlaps directly with continued bonds work.
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helps you find or rebuild a sense of meaning and purpose in the aftermath of loss, which can be particularly useful after profound or life-altering losses.
Practical Skills We Teach
emotional expression and allowing the full range of grief-related feelings rather than suppressing them
self-compassion for the messiness and nonlinearity of the grieving process
tolerating grief triggers (anniversaries, reminders, certain places) without being overwhelmed by them or avoiding them
finding ways to maintain a continued bond that feel sustaining rather than stuck
communication skills for talking about the loss with others and expressing needs for support
gradually re-engaging with life and relationships at a pace that feels right
coping tools for any disorders related to the loss, including anxiety, depression, PTSD, or substance use
Things we will not say at Common Thread Counseling Chicago when we are assisting you in working with grief and loss:
“Everything happens for a reason.”
“They’re in a better place.”
“Time heals all.”
“Stay strong.”
“At least…”