Katharine Bussert
LSWACT, Mindful Self-Compassion, TF-CBT. Grief across the lifespan, including children and teens. Therapy dog Winnie in Strongsville.
Grief Counseling
Grief Counseling in Strongsville, Lakewood, and Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Grief counseling at Oasis Counseling Solutions provides a safe, unhurried space where your loss is taken seriously and your pace is respected. We work with clients at every stage of grief — recently bereaved, carrying loss for years, and those facing anticipatory grief as a loved one declines. All forms of loss are welcome: death, divorce, miscarriage, estrangement, job loss, health diagnosis, and more. In-person in Strongsville, Lakewood, and Chagrin Falls; telehealth available across Ohio. Free 15-minute consultation.
What It Is
What Is Grief Counseling?
Grief counseling is professional mental health support for people navigating loss. It is not about getting over it, moving on, or returning to who you were before. It is about developing a way to carry your grief that allows you to engage with life without requiring you to leave the loss behind. The goal is integration, not erasure.
The Oasis Counseling Solutions approach to grief rejects rigid timelines. The concept of grief stages — the idea that grief moves through a predictable linear sequence of emotions and eventually concludes — is not supported by the research on how people actually experience loss. Grief is not a problem to be solved or a process to be completed. It is a natural response to love, and it deserves a space that honors that without pressure to be further along than you are.
Grief counseling at Oasis addresses grief at any stage, including anticipatory grief — the grief that begins before a loss occurs, when a loved one has a terminal diagnosis or is in cognitive or physical decline. Anticipatory grief is real, legitimate, and often undertreated. Many caregivers and family members of people with dementia, cancer, or other serious illness benefit from grief counseling that begins well before the death itself.
Complicated grief — grief that remains acutely disabling for a prolonged period, that involves intrusive images or memories, or that is connected to trauma — is also treated at Oasis. When grief and trauma are intertwined, EMDR can produce faster and more lasting improvement than talk therapy alone for the trauma component of the work. Learn more about EMDR and traumatic loss.
Who It Helps
Who Benefits from Grief Counseling?
Grief counseling is appropriate for anyone experiencing the weight of a significant loss, at any point in time. You do not need to have lost someone recently, and you do not need to be in crisis to reach out.
- Death of a loved one — parent, partner, child, sibling, close friend
- Anticipatory grief — caring for someone with a terminal or progressive illness
- Complicated or prolonged grief — loss that remains acutely disabling after many months
- Divorce and relationship estrangement — loss of a partnership, a family structure, or contact with someone important
- Miscarriage, infertility, and perinatal loss — losses that are often minimized by others
- Job loss and career identity — especially when work was central to self-concept
- Health diagnosis — grieving the life, the body, or the future you expected
- Retirement and major life transitions — loss of role, purpose, or daily structure
- LGBTQ+ grief — loss within communities or families where grief may be complicated by lack of recognition
- Grief carried for years — loss that was never processed or that has resurfaced at a later stage of life
Our Approach
How We Approach Grief Counseling
Grief counseling at Oasis Counseling Solutions is person-centered and trauma-informed. Person-centered means the client's own values, timeline, and relationship with the person or thing they lost are the foundation of every session — not a clinical framework imposed from outside. Trauma-informed means the therapist is attentive to the ways in which loss can interact with past experiences and with the body itself, and adapts accordingly.
Katharine Bussert (LSW) brings Mindful Self-Compassion to her grief work — an evidence-based approach that teaches clients to extend to themselves the same kindness they would offer a close friend who was suffering. Grief consistently activates self-criticism in clients who feel they are not grieving correctly, grieving enough, or have moved on too quickly. Mindful Self-Compassion directly addresses that pattern.
Mondie Gonzales (LISW-S) uses EMDR for traumatic loss — cases where the circumstances of the death or loss have produced intrusive memories, avoidance, or physiological responses consistent with trauma. EMDR for traumatic grief can produce significant improvement in the trauma component of the work while the person-centered elements address the relational loss itself. Learn more about EMDR therapy.
Your Therapists
Grief Counseling Specialists at Oasis
Three therapists at Oasis Counseling Solutions specialize in grief and loss. Meet all six therapists.
Mondie Gonzales
LISW-S | EMDR CertifiedEMDR for traumatic loss and complicated grief. 30+ years. Lifespan approach. First responder and occupational loss. Strongsville + telehealth.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions About Grief Counseling
When should I seek grief counseling?
There is no wrong time. Some people reach out within weeks of a loss; others come years later when they realize the grief has never fully settled. If grief is interfering with your daily life, work, relationships, or sense of self — or if you simply want a consistent space to carry it without burdening everyone around you — therapy can help. A free 15-minute consultation can help you assess whether the timing is right without any commitment.
What happens in a grief counseling session?
Your therapist creates a safe, unhurried space for whatever you are feeling. Sessions may involve talking about the person or thing you lost, exploring emotions like guilt, anger, or relief, developing practical coping strategies for difficult days and significant anniversaries, and gradually building a way to carry your grief that allows you to engage with life again. There is no script and no expectation of where you should be in your process. The pace is yours.
How long does grief counseling take?
There is no fixed timeline. Some clients find meaningful relief from recent, uncomplicated loss in 8 to 12 sessions. Others with complicated or traumatic grief — or grief that has been carried for many years — benefit from longer-term work. Your therapist reviews your goals and adjusts the approach as your needs evolve. The length of treatment is always calibrated to what you actually need, not to an external standard of how long grief should take.
Can grief counseling help with losses other than death?
Yes. Grief is the natural response to any significant loss — not only death. Divorce, job loss, miscarriage, a health diagnosis, estrangement from a family member, and grief for the life or future you expected are all valid forms of grief that respond to counseling. Oasis Counseling Solutions treats all forms of loss with the same clinical seriousness. Non-death losses are often undertreated precisely because others around the grieving person fail to recognize them as losses requiring support.
Does insurance cover grief counseling?
Yes. Grief-related diagnoses are covered by most major insurance plans. Oasis Counseling Solutions accepts Medicaid, Medicare, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna / Evernorth, UnitedHealthcare, CareSource, Buckeye, Medical Mutual, Humana, and over 20 additional plans. The self-pay rate is $145 per session. Visit our insurance and fees page or contact us to verify your specific coverage before your first appointment.
Fees & Insurance
Grief Counseling Rates
$145
Per session — grief counseling, in-person and telehealth
Sliding scale available for eligible clients. Medicaid and Medicare accepted. Oasis Counseling Solutions accepts Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, CareSource, Buckeye, Medical Mutual, Humana, and 20+ plans total. Most clients pay significantly less with insurance coverage.