Grief & Bereavement Therapy

A Humanistic Approach to Grief

Dr. Smith's approach is grounded in humanistic psychotherapy. Grief is not viewed as a problem to solve, a series of stages to complete, or an experience that needs to be hurried along.

Therapy offers a caring space where you do not have to protect others from the intensity or complexity of what you're experiencing. Grief may include sadness and despair, but also anger, guilt, relief, regret, love, loneliness, brokenness, confusion, or feelings that don't fit neatly together. It can also be deeply relational: the people around you may not know what to say, relationships may change, or the people you expected to be there may not show up in the ways you need.

At times, you may need a place simply to be with the enormity of your loss. At others, you may want help making sense of what you're experiencing or finding concrete ways to navigate daily life while grieving. Together, we can make room for both the depth of your loss and what you need in order to keep moving through your life.

Experience & Training

Dr. Smith has supported grieving individuals across hospice, VA, college counseling, and private practice settings. Her training and experience include bereavement following expected and unexpected deaths, traumatic loss (such as the death of a child, a suicide, a homicide, combat-related deaths, or other untimely deaths), anticipatory grief, grief surrounding terminal illness, and ambiguous loss (which is grief that occurs when someone you love is still physically present, but psychologically or cognitively changed or absent, such as with dementia, a traumatic brain injury, or a prolonged state of unconsciousness).

Dr. Smith is a Compassionate Bereavement Care® Certified Provider through the Center for Loss and Trauma, in partnership with the MISS Foundation. She also partners with Junie’s Place, a Massachusetts nonprofit organization supporting people after the death of a child, to provide compassionate grief counseling through that organization.

Getting Started

Grief and bereavement therapy are offered in person in Acton, Massachusetts, and via telehealth in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Contact Lightlist Psychological Services Inc. to learn more or get started.