Senior counseling in Laguna Beach.
This chapter still gets to be yours.
Therapy for grief, retirement transitions, and later-life change, from the founder of the Susi Q senior mental-health program. A place to talk about what the activity calendar leaves out.
Walk into most senior centers and you'll find plenty to do: bingo, mahjong, a lunch, a lecture, a full and busy calendar. What's often missing is anywhere to say the hard thing out loud. You can spend a whole day surrounded by people and never once get to talk about the spouse you lost, the body that won't cooperate, or the quiet question of what your days are even for now.
That gap, plenty to do and nowhere to talk, is exactly the one this practice was built to close. Later life keeps asking you to let things go: a career and the identity that came with it, people you love, certainties you counted on. Who prepared you for all that letting go? Almost no one. This is a place to bring it, with someone who won't rush you or talk down to you.
What we help with
The weather of the later chapters
You spent decades being the steady one others leaned on. It is allowed, now, to have somewhere to set it down.
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Grief and the losses that stack up
A spouse, a sibling, friends, a whole generation that's thinning out. Late-life grief has a particular loneliness, and it deserves real company, not a brisk sympathy card.
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Retirement and the identity that went with it
When the work that told you who you were stops, the freedom can feel strangely like falling. Rebuilding a sense of purpose on the other side is genuine work, and worth doing.
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Caregiving and its tangle of feelings
Caring for a spouse or a parent brings exhaustion, guilt, and sometimes resentment and relief all at once. All of it is human, and none of it makes you a bad person.
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Isolation and the shrinking world
As mobility and the calendar contract, the world can get very quiet. We work on connection and meaning, so the later years are more than something to get through.
Rooted in this community for over a decade, not parachuted in.
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Founder of Susi Q's program
Kay founded the senior mental-health program at Susi Q, Laguna Beach Seniors, in 2010, and still supervises it today.
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Heart to Heart and more
The programs she built include Heart to Heart, Feeling the Blues for adults 55 and older, and Men's, Women's, and caregiver groups.
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No talking down
You will be met as the whole, capable person you are, by someone who respects a long life, not a young therapist who assumes.
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In person or by video
Prefer not to fuss with technology? Come see us in Laguna Beach. Prefer to stay home? We meet by secure video across California.
If you're the adult child reading this for a parent, worried and not sure how to raise it, you're doing a loving thing. Bringing it up gently is often the hardest part. You're welcome to make the free call yourself to talk through how to approach it, before anyone commits to anything.
And if you're the older adult here on your own steam, wondering whether therapy is really for people like you: it is. You've earned a place to be honest about the hard parts of a long life. That's not weakness. That's wisdom about what actually helps.
Where to go next
Related ways we can help
Questions people ask
Senior counseling, answered
I'm not comfortable with video calls. Can I still see someone?
Of course. If technology isn't your thing, come see us in person at our Laguna Beach office, no screens required. Telehealth is there if you'd rather not travel, but it's an option, never a requirement. We'll meet you whichever way feels easiest, and we won't make you feel silly about it either way.
I'm worried about my aging parent. Can I reach out on their behalf?
Yes, and it's a loving thing to do. A lot of our first calls about senior counseling come from an adult son or daughter, not the older person themselves. You're welcome to book the free call yourself to talk through what you're seeing and how to bring it up gently, before anyone commits to anything. Raising it is often the hardest part, and you don't have to figure that out alone.
Is therapy really worth it later in life?
Absolutely. There is no age at which it stops being worth understanding yourself better or feeling less alone. Many older adults tell us they wish they had come in sooner. Later life brings real transitions, and support through them makes a genuine difference.
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.
It's not too late, and you're not too much.
Whether it's for you or a parent you're worried about, 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.
Free and confidential. Be seen within 24 hours.
Navigating Life's Waves Together