Psychotherapy for Grief in Maryland

There is a common idea that grief moves in stages — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance — and that if you complete each stage, you come out the other side healed. This is not how most people experience it. Grief tends to be nonlinear, unpredictable, and deeply individual. It can ease for a few days and then hit you without warning when you hear a song or smell something familiar. It can look like sadness, but it can also look like numbness, irritability, exhaustion, or a flat inability to feel anything at all.

Grief can affect your sleep, your appetite, your concentration, and your relationships. It can make you feel like you are falling behind everyone else, like you should be "over it" by now, or like you are somehow grieving wrong. These feelings are common, but there is no single correct timeline or way to grieve.  Grief takes the time it takes, and it rarely looks from the outside the way it feels on the inside.

Therapy for grief is not about hurrying the process or reaching a finish line. It is about having a consistent, safe space to process what you are carrying — and a therapist who understands that healing is not linear.

What We Mean by Grief Therapy

Grief therapy at The Smith Counseling Group is an individualized process. It is not a grief support group or a curriculum you move through at a fixed pace. It is a one-on-one relationship with a therapist who gets to know you, your history, your relationship with the person or thing you lost, and the specific ways this loss is affecting your life right now.

Our therapists draw on psychotherapy approaches that help clients make meaning of loss, process emotions that have been avoided or suppressed, and adjust to a life that has been changed by grief. For clients whose grief is connected to trauma — a sudden or violent loss, for example, or a death that came with complicated circumstances — we integrate trauma-informed care so that both the grief and the trauma can be addressed together.

We also recognize that grief is not always about death. People grieve relationships that ended, childhoods they did not have, fertility losses, identity shifts, diagnoses, and the quiet accumulation of things that did not go the way they hoped. All of these losses are real and worth care.

Types of Loss We Support

• Death of a parent, partner, child, sibling, or close friend

• Anticipatory grief — grieving a loss that is coming, such as a terminal diagnosis in a loved one

• Pregnancy loss, infertility, and neonatal death

• Divorce or the end of a significant relationship

• Loss of a pet

• Grief connected to a health diagnosis or loss of physical capacity

• Grief after trauma or sudden, violent loss

• Ambiguous grief — grieving someone who is still alive but no longer present in the same way, such as a parent with dementia

• Cumulative or complicated grief — when multiple losses stack or when grief becomes prolonged and impairing

Grief in Children and Teenagers

Children and teens grieve differently than adults, and their grief is often misread as acting out, regression, or simply not caring. A child who seems fine one moment and falls apart the next is not being manipulative — that is what grief looks like developmentally. A teenager who withdraws or becomes angry may be processing a loss they do not have language for yet.

Our teen and adolescent therapy services include grief support for young people who have experienced loss. We work with teens individually, and we involve parents in the process when that helps. For younger children, our family-based therapy model allows the whole family to grieve together in a supported space, which is often the most effective approach when a family has shared a loss.

When Grief Becomes Complicated

Most grief, while painful, moves gradually toward integration — the loss becomes part of you without consuming you. But for some people, grief becomes prolonged and impairing in ways that do not ease over time. This is sometimes called prolonged grief disorder or complicated grief, and it is characterized by an intense, persistent longing for the person who died, difficulty accepting the loss, a sense that life is meaningless without the deceased, and an inability to engage with daily life or the future.

Prolonged grief is not a personal failing or a sign that you loved someone too much. It is a recognizable clinical presentation that responds to specific therapeutic approaches. If you feel stuck in your grief — if it has been more than a year and the intensity has not eased, or if you feel unable to function — reaching out for professional support is a meaningful and appropriate step. Our therapists are experienced in working with complicated grief and can help you find a path forward that honors your loss without being consumed by it.

Grief and the Rest of Your Mental Health

Grief does not always stay separate from anxiety, depression, or other mental health concerns. For many people, a significant loss triggers or intensifies anxiety — particularly health anxiety, separation anxiety, or a fear of additional losses. For others, grief and depression become intertwined in ways that are hard to distinguish. Our therapists are trained to hold the complexity of grief alongside other presenting concerns, so you do not have to choose which part of what you are experiencing gets addressed.

If you are also navigating anxiety or other concerns alongside grief, we can work with all of it together. If you are supporting a child or family member who is grieving, our mental health counseling services include options for the whole family.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if I need therapy for grief or if I just need time?

Both can be true. Time does support healing, but therapy is not about rushing grief — it is about having a consistent space to process it. If grief is significantly affecting your daily functioning, your relationships, or your sense of self, therapy can provide support that time alone may not. If you are unsure, a single consultation conversation can help you gauge whether working with a therapist feels right for where you are.

Is it too late to get grief therapy? My loss happened a long time ago.

It is never too late. Some people seek grief therapy years or even decades after a loss, when something has brought it back to the surface or when they realize they never fully processed it. Grief does not expire, and neither does the usefulness of having support.

Will I have to talk about the person I lost in detail?

You set the pace. Your therapist will follow your lead andwill work with you at a pace that feels manageable. Grief therapy is not an interrogation — it is a relationship that develops over time, and what you share and when is always your choice.

Can grief therapy help if the relationship I lost was complicated?

Yes, and complicated relationships often produce some of the most difficult grief — grief mixed with relief, anger, guilt, or unresolved things that were never said. This kind of grief is often harder to talk about with friends and family. A therapist provides a non-judgmental space where the full complexity of the relationship and the loss can be explored.

Do you work with families grieving together?

Yes. Our family-based therapy approach is well-suited to families who have shared a loss and want support navigating it together. Family members often grieve the same loss differently, and those differences can create conflict or disconnection. Therapy can help families communicate about grief and support one another more effectively.

How do I get started?

Reach out through our contact page. A member of our team will connect with you to discuss your needs and match you with a therapist. You do not need to have the words perfectly ready — showing up is enough.

Grief is not something to get over. It is something to move through — with support.

The Smith Counseling Group offers grief therapy in Maryland, Washington DC, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Northern Virginia, and Montgomery County. Telehealth available.

Contact Us to Get Started