We don't try to fix it
There is nothing here to fix, because grief is not a malfunction. It's evidence you loved someone. The work is to help you carry it, not to talk you out of it.
Grief and loss counseling in Laguna Beach.
Grief doesn't run on anyone's schedule.
Grief is not a problem to be solved. It's the shape love takes when the person you love is gone. If it has knocked the wind out of you, that isn't weakness. That's the size of what you lost.
There is no schedule for this. No tidy set of stages you move through and graduate from, no morning you wake up finished. Grief comes in waves, and the waves do not check your calendar. They can arrive at a wedding, in a grocery aisle, on an ordinary Tuesday that had no business being hard.
So what does getting better even mean here? Not that the waves stop coming. What changes, slowly, is that you grow steadier at meeting them, and less afraid of being knocked down. That part is easier with company. You don't have to learn it alone.
Why us for this
Kay Wenger, LMFT, LPCC
Founder & Clinical Supervisor
The grief work here didn't come out of a textbook. In 2010, when my father came to live with me, I went looking for support and found that most senior centers offered plenty to do and almost nowhere to talk about what was actually hard. So I built it.
What started as one conversation group at the Susi Q grew into a Grief and Loss group, a Death Cafe, and a caregiver circle: places where loss could finally be said out loud instead of carried in silence. I've sat with a lot of people in the worst season of their lives, and here is what I know. Grief shrinks a little every time it gets to be witnessed. You don't have to perform being okay. You just need somewhere honest to bring it.
- Since 2010 leading senior grief and loss groups
- Susi Q founder of the senior mental-health program
- LMFT, LPCC licensed in California
- In person in Laguna Beach or by telehealth
Grief is love with nowhere to go. The work isn't to make it disappear. It's to help you carry it in a way you can actually live with.
Kay Wenger, LMFT, LPCC
You don't move on from someone you love. You move forward, and you bring them with you.
It doesn't have one face
The many shapes of grief
Grief is not reserved for the obvious losses, and it rarely looks the way people expect. If any of these is yours, it counts.
- The death of someone A spouse, a parent, a friend, a child. The loss grief is supposed to look like, and often the loneliest to carry once the casseroles stop coming and the world moves on.
- Losses without a funeral A divorce, a diagnosis, a home, a career, the future you had already half-built in your head. Grief does not only arrive through death.
- Grieving someone still here When an illness takes a person by inches, the mourning can start long before the goodbye. That ache has a name too: anticipatory grief.
- Caregiver grief The exhaustion, the guilt, and yes, the relief that tangle together after you have walked someone all the way to the end. All of it is allowed.
How we help
What the work looks like
We go at your pace
Some days you'll want to talk about them for the whole hour. Some days you won't want to say their name at all. Both are welcome. You set the speed, and we make sure you're not doing it alone.
We make room for all of it
Anger, relief, guilt, numbness, the laugh that ambushes you at the funeral: grief is rarely just sadness. Nothing you feel is too much or too ugly to say out loud here.
This work grew out of Kay's own experience caring for her father and a decade of leading senior grief groups at the Susi Q. If it helps to know who built it, read more about Kay.
Where to go next
Related ways we can help
Individual therapy
Grief is often best carried one to one, at your own pace, in a room that is only about you for an hour.
Individual therapyLater-life loss
Much of this work grew out of Kay's senior grief groups. Our senior counseling page will carry that story in full when it goes live.
Questions people ask
Grief counseling, answered
I've tried therapy before and it didn't really help. Why would this be different?
That is worth talking about, not a reason to give up. When someone tells us therapy did not help before, we do not assume they were resistant. Usually it just was not the right fit. Fit is exactly what the [free Get to Know Us call](/get-started) is for.
How fast can I be seen?
Usually within 24 hours. We hold time for people who are ready to start rather than keeping a long waitlist. Start with a free 20-minute call, or call (949) 357-3587. Ready when you are. [Book your free call](/get-started). *End of FAQ knowledge base. 28 page blocks plus a master /faq, \~100 questions. Every answer is in the approved brand voice (warm, direct, real), free of banned words, and leads with a direct answer for AI answer-engine citation. Rate specifics live only on /fees. Mark up each page's FAQ block with FAQPage schema matching the visible text exactly. Resolve the three gold-flagged items (Christian-counseling claim, Beach Therapy scope, addiction-recovery clinician) before those pages publish.*
How long is grief supposed to take? I feel like I should be over it by now.
There is no timeline for grief, and anyone who gives you one is wrong. Grief is not a problem to solve, it is something to carry, and it changes shape over time. Getting help makes sense whenever the weight of it is more than you can hold alone. We support people through every kind of loss. Grief work connects closely with our [senior counseling](/therapy/seniors). Reach out for a [free call](/get-started) when you are ready.
Is my loss big enough to need grief counseling?
Yes. There's no threshold you have to clear to deserve support. A death, a divorce, a diagnosis, a home, a future you were counting on: if a loss has knocked the wind out of you, that is reason enough to bring it somewhere. You don't have to be falling apart, and you don't have to measure your loss against anyone else's. Grief counseling is a steady, honest place to set it down for an hour, with someone who won't rush you.
If you need support right now
If you are in crisis, you do not have to wait. These lines are here for the moments that cannot wait, any hour of the day.
- Emergency: If you are in immediate danger or a medical emergency, call 911.
- 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. Free, confidential, 24/7.
- Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.
- SAMHSA National Helpline: Treatment referrals, 1-800-662-4357.
Laguna Beach Counseling is not a crisis or emergency service. If you are in immediate danger or a medical emergency, call 911. When the moment is not an emergency, we would be glad to hear from you for a free call.
You don't have to carry it alone.
When you're ready, and not a moment before, a free 15 to 20 minute call is a gentle first step. No pressure, just a chance to be heard and to see whether we're the right fit for you.
Book a free call
Free and confidential. Be seen within 24 hours.
Navigating Life's Waves Together