Services

Counseling

When grief is overwhelming, disorienting, or isolating – Grief Counseling can help.

MY GRIEF COUNSELING PHILOSOPHY:

I am not a Grief Expert. I am a Grief Specialist. My clients are the experts on their grief because everyone’s experience of grief is as unique as their fingerprints. However, while there is no right or wrong way to grieve, there are adaptive and maladaptive ways of coping with loss. Professional support can help people stay on a restorative path through the rough terrain of grief.

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING SESSIONS:

My client relationships begin by welcoming people into a safe space to share their grief in an environment of compassion, nonjudgment, and validation. Then, I accompany client’s on their personal loss journey by offering support, education, tools, strategies, and resources that guide them toward restoration.

I do not have preset treatment plans for my clients. I listen first, ask clarifying questions, suggest alternative perspectives to consider, and then offer support and coping strategies customized to their grief experience. A typical session begins with my client sharing their grief narrative. The details discussed and the conversation pacing is aligned with their needs. I witness their pain, validate their grief, and offer an assessment of the complications making their grief experience harder. The counseling goal is not to fix grief or make it go away. I help people feel less disoriented in grief and increase the territory around loss to create space for joy, purpose, and meaning to return to daily living. My counseling support equips clients with the skills and tools needed to develop a personalized grief map that enables them to navigate the uncharted terrain of loss.

GRIEF COUNSELING WORK TYPICALLY INCLUDES (but is not limited to):

• Reframing grieving as energy that either moves us forward as it is experienced and released, or energy that transmutes and becomes toxic when it is suppressed.
• Managing the distress of grief. Grief activates our brain’s stress response system. The overwhelm of grief is not just sadness; it’s also anxiety. We can’t simply make grief anxiety go away, but we can learn strategies that keep grief anxiety from dominating our lives.
• Exploring how grief is affecting our heart, mind, body, and soul (or our existential awareness). Because grief is more than a feeling. It is a dynamic experience affecting the whole-self. Our inner wisdom illuminates our unique grief needs when we become attuned to how grief is affecting the various parts of self.
• Feeling our grief emotions without judging them. All emotions have a beneficial purpose. If we learn to trust the challenging emotions we feel after loss, we will discover that they help us understand what we need to heal and adapt to loss.
• Naming secondary losses and adapting to unwanted changes.
• Forming a new identity as we renew our sense of purpose and meaning.
• Creating continuing bonds with a loved one who has died (or relinquishing them if needed) as we move forward.
• Growing around loss – not getting over it – and continuing to thrive.

COST, LOCATIONS & HOURS:

I offer in-person and virtual sessions, and work with individuals, couples, and families. My rate is $95 for a 60-minute counseling session. I accept payment by cash, check, and credit/debit cards. I do not accept insurance, but I am happy to provide a Superbill if you are eligible for reimbursement from your employer. The frequency and duration of counseling sessions vary tremendously for each client and are adapted to each person’s needs, availability, and resources.

I meet with in-person clients in Old Town San Diego. My office hours are Mondays from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Wednesdays from 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Virtual sessions are available on Zoom, Monday through Friday, hours vary.

Click here to schedule a complimentary consultation phone call if you are interested in scheduling a grief counseling session:

Support Groups

Grief isn’t fixed; it’s witnessed.

MY SUPPORT GROUP PHILOSOPHY:

We are social, relational beings. Processing loss without connection to others makes grief harder. Talking about our lived experience—in unedited, unfiltered ways—with caring, supportive people who can relate doesn’t make the pain of loss go away, but it can make the burden lighter. As a Grief Support Group Facilitator I want every session to be adapted to the needs of the participants, and I want members to talk more than me.

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING GROUP SESSIONS:

I do not use a preset curriculum, and there is never any assigned homework. Every group session begins with introducing new participants, followed by member check-ins. Everyone has an opportunity to share how they are doing at that moment or update the group on anything that has happened since their last meeting. No one is ever required to share, and “I pass.” is always an acceptable response.

I listen for common grief themes shared during the check-in and then briefly offer responsive grief education, followed by an open-ended question to foster group discussion. I encourage group members to talk with each other for the remainder of the session. Group guidelines prohibit offering advice or disputing lifestyle choices, and encourage offering compassion, comfort, and connection by relating to the shared experience of grief. Every session typically includes a wide range of expressions from crying to belly laughter since healthy grieving is about feeling all of our emotions as we process loss.

COST, GROUP TYPES & MEETING DAYS/TIMES:

I facilitate four support groups for adults grieving a death loss:

• IN-PERSON GROUP for young adults (20s, 30s & 40s) who are more than one year post loss. Meets at my Old Town Office on Wednesdays from 6:00 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. This is a closed group and is limited to 8 members. Participants register for a six-week series and commit to attending every session. I do not accept new members into the group once a series has started. At the end of the six weeks, current members get priority registration for the next series. I accept new participants as spaces open up. The cost is $180 ($30/session) and is paid at the beginning of each 6-week series.
• VIRTUAL GROUP for adults (all ages) who are more than one year post-loss. Meets on Zoom every Tuesday from 5:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. (PST). This is an open group and is limited to 6 weekly participants. Participants preregister for the group but only pay for sessions attended. The cost is $25 per session.
• VIRTUAL GROUP for adults (all ages) who are less than one year post-loss. Meets on Zoom every Tuesday from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (PST). This is an open group and is limited to 6 weekly participants. Participants preregister for the group but only pay for sessions attended. The cost is $25 per session.

Click here to schedule a complimentary consultation phone call if you are interested in registering for a support group:

Education

I am an advocate of normalizing grief.

Grief should not be an avoided topic. It is the most universal experience of being human. I am committed to contributing to a culture where grief is understood as our natural response to loss, a life skill we can learn, and an invitation to a shared experience that connects us to our community. Grief Guide services can help you equip your team to provide effective grief support, guide professional teams in navigating shared loss, and assess your organization’s grief education or support needs.

My Education Services Include:

GRIEF TRAINING FOR HELPING PROFESSIONALS AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

• Training Presentations Include: group instruction, a slide presentation, guided discussion, participant sharing, learning activities, breakout rooms, coping strategies, intervention tools, and resources.
• Training Topics:
  • Grief 101: Understanding and Supporting Loss
  • When Grief is Complicated: Ambiguous, Stigmatized & Disenfranchised Grief
  • The Intersection of Grief & Trauma and How to Offer Effective Support
  • Learning the Life Skill of Processing Grief Emotions
  • Grief Rituals: When Words Are Not Enough to Express & Process Loss
  • Understanding Grief as Learning: How the Brain Process & Adapts to Loss
  • Grief Anxiety: Managing the Distress of Loss
  • Anticipatory Grief: Preparing for an Expected Loss
  • Customized Training Addressing the Unique Needs of Your Team
• Training is offered in person at your work site or virtually on Zoom
• Organizations Served: San Diego Health & Human Services, Fred Finch Youth & Family Services, Kern Bridges Youth Homes, Cultivate Counseling Collective, Bloom Counseling, San Diego State University, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego First Church of the Nazarene, Sonata Hospice, San Diego Care Facility Administrators
• Client Review: “Wendy is truly incredible. We had the privilege of having Wendy visit our clinic to provide a Grief & Loss training to our new therapists in their onboarding process. We could not have loved it more. She brought incredible wisdom while also maintaining such marked warmth, connectedness, and curiosity. Her material was beautifully and thoroughly created, she represented a wide variety of concepts and theories of grief work, and spoke to incredibly complex emotional experiences with such ease and clarity. We can’t wait to have her back!” – Hannah Branch, LMFT, Program Director & Clinical Supervisor, Bloom: A Non-Profit Counseling Collective

PROFESSIONAL & COMMUNITY GRIEF SUPPORT

• Facilitating staff support groups for processing work-related losses
• Helping community groups process collective or cumulative losses
• Coordinating interactive grief workshops
• Organizations served: Together We Grow, Fred Finch STAY Program, Fred Finch Visiting Therapist Program, Sonata Hospice
• Client Review: “Our staff at Together We Grow were having a difficult time with the significant losses of patients we have cared for at our center. Not only did we lose the children, but also the connections we formed with their families. Wendy helped us work through our grief and provided education to our staff in a warm and safe environment. I highly recommend Wendy to anyone struggling with grief and loss.” – Katie Reed, RN, Case Manager, Together We Grow Pediatric Day Health Care Center

CONSULTING SERVICES TO DEVELOP GRIEF-INFORMED ORGANIZATIONS

• Evaluating, improving and creating services that can effectively identify and support the grief needs of staff, clients, and the community.
• Organizations include: Seacoast Hospice, Sonata Hospice, Pursue Healthcare, Playwrights Foundation
• Client Review: “When we held a public panel about grief and healing. Our community was incredibly lucky to book Wendy as an expert panelist. Her authentic wisdom and unforgettable insights elevated the entire conversation. She added depth and shared her knowledge with approachable warmth and humor. Her refreshing and inspiring perspective reframed my own understanding of grief, and I am certain our audience felt the same way. I would book her again as an expert speaker or panelist without hesitation.” – Megan Cohen, Communications and Engagement Manager, Playwrights Foundation, San Francisco, CA

MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID INSTRUCTOR

• Certified by National Council for Mental Wellbeing to teach Mental Health First Aid courses
  • Adult Education Certified, May 2023
  • Higher Education Certified, November 2023
• MHFA participant evaluation comment: “Thank you for a wonderful training presented in a warm and accessible way!”

Education rates are negotiated based on your agency’s specific needs. Click here to schedule a community partner phone call if you are interested in learning more about education services: