Grief Doesn’t Just Affect
How you Feel
It changes how you experience your entire life, from the moment of loss onward.
You may feel:
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Overwhelmed by waves of emotion
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Numb or disconnected
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Stuck between who you were and who you are now
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Unsure how to move forward without what, or who, you’ve lost
And at the same time, you might feel pressure from others or yourself to “be okay” by now.
At Her Time Therapy, we take a different approach.
We don’t believe in just “moving on.”
We help women move forward while maintaining a meaningful, lasting connection to what, and who they’ve lost.
Grief Is Not One-Size-Fits-All
Grief is often talked about in simple terms.
In reality, it’s complex, layered, and deeply personal.
Part of our work in therapy is helping you understand:
What kind of grief you’re experiencing?
Because naming it matters.
It helps make sense of what you’re feeling, and how to support you.
Types of Grief We Help Women Navigate
Loss of a Loved One
This includes the death of a partner, parent, child, friend, or other important relationship.
This type of grief can bring:
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Intense sadness
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Longing
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Changes in identity
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Shifts in daily life and routines
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Physical symptoms like numbness, heaviness, shock, and changes to appetite or sleep
Disenfranchised Grief
This is grief that is often minimized, overlooked, or not fully recognized by others.
Women experience this frequently.
Examples include:
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Miscarriage or pregnancy loss
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Infertility
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The end of a relationship
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Loss of identity (such as becoming a parent or leaving a career)
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Estranged relationships
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Losses that others don’t acknowledge as “significant enough”
This kind of grief can feel especially isolating.
Because not only are you grieving, you may also feel like you’re not “allowed” to.
Anticipatory Grief
Grief that begins before a loss occurs, such as when a loved one is terminally ill.
This can bring:
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Anxiety
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Emotional exhaustion
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Guilt
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A sense of living in between hope and loss
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Relief when the loss occurs
Collective and Community Grief
Many women are also carrying grief that is not just personal, but shared.
This includes:
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Community losses
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Violence or tragedy affecting groups of people
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Political or systemic harm
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Ongoing threats to safety, identity, or rights
This type of grief is real, and often under-recognized.
Complicated Grief
Sometimes grief doesn’t soften or shift over time in the way people expect.
Instead, it can feel:
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Intense and persistent
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All-consuming
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Difficult to move through or make meaning of
You may feel stuck in the pain of the loss, unable to access moments of relief or connection to your life outside of it.
This doesn’t mean you’re doing grief “wrong.”
It often means your loss was especially significant, or that there are layers, emotional, relational, or traumatic, that haven’t been fully processed or supported.
Therapy can help you gently begin to process what feels stuck and find ways to carry your grief that feel more manageable.
Delayed Grief
Grief doesn’t always show up right away.
For many women, especially those who had to stay strong, take care of others, or manage logistics after a loss, grief can be postponed.
You might notice:
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Feeling “fine” at first, then struggling months or years later
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Emotions surfacing unexpectedly
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Difficulty connecting your current feelings back to the loss
Delayed grief is common when there wasn’t space to process your emotions at the time.
In therapy, we help you reconnect with and process those feelings safely, at a pace that feels supportive.
Traumatic Grief
When a loss is sudden, violent, or deeply distressing, grief and trauma often become intertwined.
This is known as traumatic grief.
You may experience:
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Intrusive thoughts or images
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Difficulty accepting the reality of the loss
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Heightened anxiety or hyper-vigilance
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Avoidance of reminders
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Feeling emotionally overwhelmed or shut down
In these cases, therapy often includes both grief work and trauma-focused approaches to support your nervous system and help you process what happened.
When Grief Becomes Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD)
For some individuals, grief can become so persistent and intense that it significantly interferes with daily functioning over time.
This may be diagnosed as Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD).
Signs may include:
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Ongoing, intense longing or preoccupation with the loss for more than a year
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Difficulty re-engaging with life
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Feeling stuck in grief without movement or integration
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Significant impairment in daily functioning
At Her Time Therapy, we can help assess whether what you’re experiencing may meet criteria for PGD and work with you to develop a treatment approach that feels supportive, personalized, and effective.
Why Grief Can Feel So Overwhelming
Grief is not just emotional.
It impacts your:
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Nervous system
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Identity
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Sense of safety
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Relationships
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Daily functioning
For many women, grief is layered on top of:
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Caregiving responsibilities
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Expectations to stay strong for others
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Limited space and time to process their own emotions
You may find yourself:
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Holding everything together for everyone else
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Pushing your own grief aside
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Feeling like there’s no space for your pain
That doesn’t make your grief smaller.
It often makes it heavier.
Our Approach to Grief Therapy at Her Time
Grief is not something to “fix.”
It’s something to be processed, understood, and integrated.
At Her Time Therapy, we take a:
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Trauma-informed
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Feminist
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Relational
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Evidence-based
... approach to grief counseling.
We help you:
• Understand your unique grief experience
• Process emotions at your own pace
• Make sense of the loss and its impact
• Navigate identity changes
• Find ways to stay connected to your loved one
• Begin to rebuild a life that feels meaningful again
We do not rush the process.
And we do not expect you to “move on.”
Moving Forward Without Letting Go
One of the most important parts of grief work is redefining your relationship to what you’ve lost.
Healing does not mean forgetting.
It does not mean closure.
It means:
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Carrying your grief differently
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Finding ways to stay connected
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Creating meaning alongside loss
Many women find that over time, grief becomes:
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Less overwhelming
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More integrated
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Something they can hold, rather than something that consumes them
Online Grief Counseling for Women in Colorado
Her Time Therapy provides online grief counseling for women across Colorado.
This allows you to access support:
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From home
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In a private, comfortable environment
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Without the added stress of commuting
Online therapy is highly effective for grief work and often allows clients to engage more deeply because they are in a familiar space.
We work with women throughout Colorado, making specialized grief support more accessible no matter where you are located.
Grief Therapy Options at Her Time
We offer:
Individual Grief Counseling
One-on-one therapy tailored to your specific experience and needs.
Grief Support Groups
Our annual Grief Support Group, runs in the Fall, and is one of our most sought-after offerings, providing:
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Connection with others who understand
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Shared healing experiences
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Guided therapeutic support
Many women find group therapy especially powerful in reducing isolation.
When to Consider Grief Counseling
You don’t need to meet a specific timeline or criteria.
Therapy can help if:
• Your grief feels overwhelming or isolating
• You feel stuck or unable to move forward
• You’re struggling to make sense of your loss
• Your identity or life direction feels unclear
• You feel alone in your experience
If your loss is impacting you, it matters.
Start Grief Counseling with Her Time
Grief can feel incredibly isolating, but you don’t have to navigate it alone.
We offer free consultation calls so you can learn more about our approach and find the right fit.
You deserve support that understands the depth and complexity of your experience.
Schedule a FREE consultation using our online booking system or
fill out our contact form below to get started!
Frequently Asked Questions About Depression Therapy
Is it normal for grief to last a long time?
Yes. Grief does not follow a set timeline. Many women experience waves of grief over months or years, especially around anniversaries or life changes.
About the Author
Meagan Clark, MA, LPC, NCC, BC-TMH is the Founder, CEO, and Clinical Director of Her Time Therapy, a group practice specializing in online mental health counseling for women. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Colorado and Georgia, a National Certified Counselor, and a Board Certified Telemental Health provider through the NBCC.
Meagan specializes in trauma, anxiety, relationship issues, and women’s mental health, and is passionate about helping women heal, build self-trust, and create fulfilling lives through evidence-based, trauma-informed care. As Clinical Director, she oversees and mentors a team of therapists at Her Time Therapy, ensuring that care across the practice is aligned with a feminist, trauma-informed, and integrative approach.
She also specializes in supporting women through grief and loss and brings both clinical expertise and lived experience to this work, including her own experience with anticipatory grief as a cancer caregiver for three years before her mother passed away from esophageal cancer in 2016. Her journey through individual and group grief counseling shaped her path to becoming a therapist and founding Her Time Therapy, where she has built and mentors a team of clinicians to extend this support to women navigating loss, identity shifts, and life after grief.