Grief Therapy and Loss Counseling in Washington, DC
After a loss, everyday life can feel unfamiliar. You might be getting through work and keeping plans while feeling distracted, disconnected, or overwhelmed. Maybe people have stopped checking in, but your grief still impacts much of your day. Or you’re struggling with a loss that others just don’t fully understand.
At The Sterling Group, we offer grief counseling for adults in their 20s and 30s navigating the death of someone close, the end of a relationship, and other meaningful losses. Meet with us in person near Metro Center in Washington, DC, or virtually across DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
What Is Grief Therapy?
Grief therapy is a form of counseling that helps you understand how loss is affecting you and find ways to cope with the changes it brings. This can include bereavement therapy after the death of someone close, as well as support with relationship endings, anticipated losses, and other significant life changes.
Your therapist will take time to understand the loss, what it means to you, and what you’d like support with. You might want to talk about the person you miss, make sense of a relationship that was complicated, or figure out how to get through an upcoming milestone or holiday. Sessions may focus on complex feelings, setting new boundaries, asking for support, or understanding how your relationships and sense of self have changed. Some people begin soon after a loss, while others seek help years later.
What Grief Can Look Like
Grief can feel different from one day to the next. You might feel mostly yourself for a while, then hear a song, pass a familiar place, or reach for your phone to call someone and feel the loss all over again.
In a city like Washington, DC, the pressure to stay productive and keep up with work and social commitments can make it feel like you’re expected to carry on as usual. In your 20s and 30s, you may also be the first person in your friend group to lose a parent or face another major loss. Friends might care deeply and still struggle to understand what you’re experiencing.
You might notice:
Trouble concentrating at work or school: Losing your train of thought, brain fog, forgetting things, or finding everyday decisions exhausting.
Changes in sleep, appetite, or energy: Feeling tired, tense, restless, or out of sync with your usual routines.
Unexpected or conflicting feelings: Feeling sadness, anger, guilt, relief, or numbness, sometimes within the same day.
Feeling disconnected in relationships: Wanting support but dreading questions, pulling away from friends or partners, or struggling to explain what you need.
A changed sense of the future: Rethinking plans or facing milestones without someone you expected to share them with.
Grief can coexist with laughter, enjoyment, and days when you feel hopeful. Those shifts can be confusing, especially if you find yourself judging how you think you should feel.
How Grief Therapy Can Help
What you need may change over time. You and your grief therapist will decide where to focus, whether that’s talking through a painful memory, preparing for a difficult day, or figuring out how to handle something that feels overwhelming.
Validating and Making Room for Pain
You may spend much of your day holding things together or filtering what you say to protect other people’s feelings. Therapy gives you somewhere to speak openly, with a therapist who can listen without judging or rushing to offer solutions. That might mean talking about the same memory over again or working through the guilt that comes up when you need a day to rest.
Processing Complicated Feelings
You can miss someone and feel angry with them. You might feel relief after a long illness, then question what that relief says about you. Your therapist can help you explore those reactions and the expectations you place on yourself, including feelings you’ve been hesitant to say out loud.
Adjusting to Life After Loss
Loss can change your responsibilities, relationships, and sense of who you are. Therapy can help you understand those changes and decide what you need now. This might include establishing new boundaries, asking for specific help, or adjusting commitments to match your energy.
Carrying the Loss as Life Continues
Grief counseling can help you move forward with the grief, finding ways to keep the person and memories that matter to you part of your life. That could mean creating an anniversary ritual, including someone’s memory in a milestone, or considering which values you want to guide your future decisions. Your therapist can help you explore what feels meaningful to you, with room for your connection to the loss to change over time.
Grief Counseling for Different Types of Loss
Grief can follow the loss of a person, a relationship, a role, or a future you expected to have. You can seek grief therapy even when your loss doesn’t involve a death. We offer support for experiences including:
Bereavement after a death: Losing a parent, partner, sibling, friend, or another important person can affect nearly every part of your life. Grief may be especially complicated when the relationship was difficult or there are things you wish you could have said.
Relationship and friendship endings: A breakup, divorce, or friendship ending can mean losing companionship, shared routines, and plans you made together. It can hurt even when ending the relationship was your choice.
Career and identity changes: Losing a job or stepping away from a career can affect your confidence, community, and sense of purpose, especially in a career-focused area like the DMV. You may also grieve a professional path you worked hard toward, even after realizing it’s no longer what you want.
Pet loss: Losing a pet is losing a member of your family. Their absence can change how home feels and leave you missing the companionship and small routines you shared every day. That grief can feel especially lonely when others don’t get how much they meant to you.
Anticipatory grief: You may begin grieving while someone is still alive, particularly during a serious illness or decline in health. Uncertainty, caregiving responsibilities, and changes in the relationship can bring up many feelings at once.
Estrangement and other unresolved losses: You might be grieving a family member who is no longer in your life or a relationship that has changed significantly. The absence of a concrete ending can leave you moving between anger, sadness, uncertainty, and even hope.
Pregnancy and fertility-related losses: Miscarriage, stillbirth, infertility, and changes to your plans for parenthood can involve grief that is deeply personal and isolating. When it feels like everyone around you is getting pregnant, even conversations and celebrations with people you love can be painful.
Changes in health or ability: Illness, injury, or changes in physical or mental health can bring grief around independence, familiar activities, or the future you pictured for yourself. You may also be adjusting to new needs or limitations that other people can’t see or don’t fully understand.
Working With a Grief Therapist at The Sterling Group
Our therapists work with adults in their 20s and 30s, when loss can collide with relationships, careers, family plans, and questions about who you are or want to be. We take an active, collaborative approach: your therapist will ask questions, help you make sense of patterns or reactions, and work with you on the situations that feel hardest.
You can talk about the relationship as it actually was, including the love, conflict, disappointment, or unfinished conversations that may be part of your grief. For example, someone planning a wedding after losing a parent may feel excited about getting married while also dreading the moments when their parent’s absence will be most noticeable. Our therapists can help them work through those conflicting emotions, think through how they might want to acknowledge their parent during the celebration, and prepare for conversations with family members who may have different expectations. The goal isn't to make the day less emotional, but to help them approach it in a way that feels right for them.
Finding someone you feel comfortable with matters. A free consultation with our client care team gives you a chance to share what you’re looking for, ask questions about our therapists, and discuss who might be a good fit.
Approaches Our Therapists May Use for Grief Counseling
Depending on your needs and their training, your therapist may draw on:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Exploring thoughts and behaviors that contribute to guilt, self-blame, or difficulties in daily life.
Narrative therapy: Making sense of the story of your loss and how it has shaped the way you see yourself.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Making room for painful emotions while choosing actions guided by what matters to you.
Internal Family Systems (IFS): Exploring conflicting feelings and responding to them with greater understanding.
EMDR Therapy: Addressing distressing memories and trauma reactions when these are part of the loss.
Grief may be one part of your work together, alongside anxiety, relationship difficulties, or past trauma. Your therapist can explain the approaches they recommend and how they relate to your goals.
We’ve also previously offered therapy groups related to parent loss and career transitions. Group therapy can offer opportunities to talk with people who understand aspects of your experience firsthand. Ask our client care team about current or upcoming options.
Frequently Asked Questions About Grief Therapy
How do I know if grief counseling could help me?
Grief therapy may be helpful if loss is affecting your sleep, concentration, relationships, or ability to get through the day. You may also seek support when you’re managing your responsibilities but want somewhere to process the complex feelings that come up around loss.
A free consultation with our client care team can help you explore what support you need and which therapist might be a good fit.
When should I start grief therapy?
You can start grief therapy while anticipating a loss, soon after a loss, years later, or anywhere in between. The right time is when you want support with what you’re going through.
An anniversary, a new relationship, or a milestone such as getting married or becoming a parent can bring up grief again. Your therapist can help you understand what’s coming up and focus on what the loss means in your life now.
Do the five stages of grief happen in order?
Not always. The five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance — describe common reactions to loss, but they aren’t a sequence everyone follows. You may experience some, all, or none of them, and feelings can overlap or return over time.
You can start grief therapy at any point, no matter what “stage” you might be in. Your therapist will take time to understand your experience and what you need now, without expecting you to reach a particular stage before seeking support. For more on grief and the stage model, read our guide to coping with grief and loss.
What happens in a grief counseling session?
You and your therapist talk about the loss, how it’s affecting you, and what you’d like help with. Early sessions also give your therapist a chance to learn about your background, relationships, and the support you have outside therapy.
A session might involve exploring a memory, processing complicated feelings, practicing how to ask for support, or preparing for a difficult family gathering. You’ll have a say in what you discuss and how quickly you approach painful experiences.
How long does grief therapy usually take?
There’s no fixed number of sessions for grief therapy. Some people seek focused support around a particular challenge, while others choose longer-term work on relationships, identity, or trauma.
You and your therapist will check in about what’s helping and whether to continue, adjust the frequency, or finish. Therapy can end while grief remains part of your life.
Can grief counseling help with losses other than death?
Yes, grief counseling can support you through breakups, estrangement, job loss, fertility-related losses, changes in health, and other significant life changes. You may be grieving a relationship, a role, or a future you were planning on.
Your therapist will take the loss seriously, including when people around you haven’t recognized its impact.
How much does grief therapy cost, and do you accept insurance?
Standard individual therapy sessions at The Sterling Group cost start at $215, depending on your therapist, with an additional $30 for the intake session. We are an out-of-network practice, so you pay the session fee upfront and may be eligible for reimbursement through your insurance plan.
We offer courtesy billing, which means we can submit claims on your behalf so your insurer can reimburse you directly according to your benefits. Fees for EMDR or other session arrangements may differ; our client care team can confirm the fee before you book. See our fees and insurance information.
why choose the sterling group for EMDR?
Finding an EMDR therapist who truly gets you is essential, especially when you’re doing deeper, more vulnerable work.
At The Sterling Group, our practice is intentionally designed for young professionals and college students in Washington, dc. We offer a peer-to-peer therapeutic experience that feels relatable and authentic in real life—not overly formal or stuffy.
Our office near Metro Center (1200 G Street NW) provides a calm, accessible space just steps from all major metro lines, making it easy to fit sessions into your busy schedule. We also provide secure virtual EMDR therapy for clients across DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
Begin Grief Counseling in Washington, DC
If you’re considering grief therapy, a free 15-minute consultation is a chance to discuss what you’re looking for, answer your questions, and help you find a therapist who’s a good fit.
We offer in-person sessions at 1200 G Street NW, Suite 710, near Metro Center in DC, and virtual therapy across DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
Schedule a consultation with us using our contact form.
Meet with one of our grief therapists.
Release yourself from feeling stuck and move forward with grief therapy.
Other Therapy Services at The Sterling Group
We offer a wide variety of services ready to meet any Young Adult exactly where they are at the moment.