Grief & Loss Therapy | Yoffe Therapy

What Is Grief & Loss Therapy?

Grief That Doesn't Always Have a Name

Grief is not only about death. Adoption involves profound experiences of loss, for adoptees, birth parents, and sometimes adoptive families, that often go unrecognized by the people around them. The loss of birth family, cultural identity, language, and the life that might have been. The grief of birth parents who made an impossible choice. The complicated grief of adoptive parents who may have also experienced infertility. At Yoffe Therapy, we are deeply familiar with this "ambiguous loss": the grief that exists without a clear object, without social acknowledgment, and without an obvious end point.

We also work with more traditional grief: the loss of a person, a relationship, or a life chapter. Our approach to grief is non-prescriptive. We don't believe grief has stages you must move through in order. We believe it is a deeply personal process, and our role is to help you find your own way through it at your own pace, with the support you need.

Who This Specialty Is For

✦ Adoptees grieving the loss of birth family, cultural identity, or a different life
✦ Birth parents processing grief after placement
✦ Those experiencing bereavement or unexpected loss
✦ People with complicated or unresolved grief from their past
✦ Anyone carrying grief that doesn't have easy words or social acknowledgment

Treatment Approaches

EMDR for Grief Processing

Using EMDR to process traumatic grief: particularly useful for sudden loss, complicated bereavement, or grief that feels stuck and unresolvable.

Narrative Therapy

Helping clients tell their grief story in ways that honor what was lost and make space for what continues, without being defined by the loss alone.

Continuing Bonds Approach

A contemporary grief framework that recognizes the ongoing relationship with what is lost, rather than demanding "letting go" as the goal of grief work.

Mindfulness-Based Support

Developing the capacity to be present with painful emotions: meeting grief with compassion rather than avoidance or overwhelm.

Find a Therapist Who Understands Adoption Grief

Our team holds grief that others don't always see, including the ambiguous losses unique to the adoption experience.

Meet Our Therapists →