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Navigating Grief
and Life Transitions
Grief is a natural, deeply personal response to loss. Whether you are mourning the death of a loved one, navigating the end of a relationship, or processing a profound life shift, your pain is real, and your story deserves space.
Grief does not follow a straight line or a strict timeline. My goal is to provide a compassionate, safe environment where you can process your feelings, honor your experience, and gradually find a path forward.
Acute Grief
Acute grief occurs in the immediate aftermath of a loss. It often feels overwhelming, intense, and physically exhausting.
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Common Signs: Deep sadness, tearfulness, shock, numbness, difficulty sleeping or focusing, and sudden waves of intense emotion triggered by memories.
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The Process: While acute grief can feel all-consuming, feelings typically fluctuate over time. With support, self-compassion, and time, the intensity begins to soften, allowing you to integrate the loss into your life and slowly re-engage with daily living.
Complicated Grief
(Prolonged Grief Disorder)
Sometimes, grief makes us feel "stuck." Complicated grief occurs when the pain remains as severe and disruptive long after the loss as it was in the beginning, making it difficult to function or move forward.
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Common Signs: Persistent, intense longing for what was lost; feeling unable to accept the reality of the loss; profound bitterness, guilt, or anger; feeling numb or detached from life; and feeling as though life no longer has meaning or purpose.
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How Therapy Helps: Complicated grief isn't a failure to "get over it"—it means your brain and heart need extra support to process the painful emotions bound up in the loss. Therapy provides tools to process complex trauma, untangle guilt, and safely process unresolved pain.
Specialized Areas of Grief Support
Loss takes many forms beyond the physical death of a loved one. I offer specialized support tailored to unique types of emotional loss and life transitions:
Parental Loss
Losing a parent—no matter your age—often shifts your fundamental sense of identity and security. You may be grieving the loss of a primary source of unconditional support, processing unfulfilled hopes for the relationship, or suddenly stepping into the role of the family matriarch or patriarch. We work together to honor their memory, navigate family dynamics, and reconcile complex emotions.
Narcissistic Recovery
and Mourning What Never Was
Grieving a relationship with a narcissistic partner or parent is uniquely complex. You are often not only mourning the end of the relationship, but also grieving the loss of the person you wished they could be, the "fantasy" of what could have been, and the pieces of yourself lost to emotional abuse, gaslighting, or manipulation. Therapy helps you rebuild your self-worth, untangle cognitive dissonance, and establish healthy boundaries.
Rebuilding After Divorce, Breakups,
and Friendship Losses
The end of a significant relationship—whether a spouse, a long-term partner, or a close friend—is a profound loss that alters your daily life, your social circle, and your future plans.
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Romantic Breakups & Divorce: Beyond the loss of companionship, divorce often involves grieving shared dreams, financial stability, and routines. We focus on rebuilding self-confidence, rediscover who you are outside the relationship, and creating a fulfilling next chapter.
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Loss of Significant Friendships: The loss of a close friend can feel just as devastating as a romantic breakup, yet society rarely gives us room to grieve it. We provide space to process the pain, betrayal, or quiet drift of lost friendships without judgment.
How We Work Together
Healing from grief doesn't mean forgetting or "moving on"—it means learning how to carry your experience in a way that allows you to live fully again.
Through evidence-based approaches—including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Narrative Therapy, and Mindfulness-based tools—we will work together to:
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Process Painful Emotions: Express sadness, anger, confusion, or guilt without judgment.
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Untangle Complex Feelings: Work through unresolved conflict or trauma tied to the loss.
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Develop Coping Strategies: Build practical tools to handle overwhelm, triggers, and daily stress.
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Reconstruct Meaning: Rediscover purpose, personal identity, and hope for the future.
Kristin Schuchman, MSW, CSWA received her Master's in Social Work at Portland State University and trained as a counselor at the National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM).
I believe that while we cannot always control the story life has handed us, we possess the inherent power to choose how the next chapter is written. My practice is grounded in a humanistic, strengths-based perspective, meaning I view you not as a set of symptoms to be managed, but as a whole person with innate wisdom and the capacity for self-actualization. My goal is to help you move from a state of internal friction and "stuckness" toward a life defined by calm, self-confidence, and clarity.