Grief Therapy in Waterloo & Online Across Ontario
There's no right way to grieve, and you don't have to do it alone.
Losing someone or something important can change how you experience the world. You might move between sadness, anger, guilt, and numbness, with some days feeling manageable and others unexpectedly difficult.
Grief isn't limited to losing a loved one. It can also come with relationship changes, health challenges, lost opportunities, or a future that looks different than you imagined. Whatever your loss, your feelings deserve space and understanding.
At New Moon Counselling (NMC), we offer grief therapy for children, teens, and adults in a compassionate space where you can explore your feelings and navigate life after loss, at your own pace.
We offer in-person counselling in Waterloo and virtual therapy throughout Ontario.
Grief can show up in unexpected ways. You might feel deeply sad one moment and numb or distracted the next. Whether your loss is recent, ongoing, or difficult to define, there's no single way grief is supposed to feel.
You might find yourself:
Feeling sadness, anger, guilt, confusion, or emotional numbness.
Struggling to accept what has happened or wishing things were different.
Finding that reminders, anniversaries, or unexpected moments bring up intense emotions.
Experiencing changes in sleep, appetite, energy, or concentration.
Feeling disconnected from others or activities you once enjoyed.
Feeling guilty when you laugh, enjoy yourself, or have a good day.
Struggling with changes to your identity, relationships, routines, or sense of purpose.
Experiencing anticipatory grief: grieving before a loss occurs, such as when a loved one receives a serious diagnosis or a relationship is nearing its end.
Experiencing ambiguous grief: grieving a loss without clear closure, such as when a loved one develops dementia, someone is physically present but emotionally unavailable, or a relationship ends without answers.
You don't need to experience all of these feelings to benefit from support. If grief is affecting your daily life or you simply need space to talk about your loss, counselling can help you navigate it at your own pace.
How Do You Know If You're Struggling With Grief
Our Grief Therapists
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Amrit Babbra (she/her)
Registered Social Worker
Individual & Couples Therapy
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Angela Quail (she/her)
Registered Social Worker
Individual & EMDR Therapy
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Arsh Reddick (she/her)
Registered Social Worker
Individual & Teen Therapy -
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Jordan Hunsberger (he/him)
Registered Psychotherapist
Individual Therapy & Couples Therapy -
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Di-Anne Martin (she/her)
Registered Social Worker
Individual Therapy and Couples Therapy -
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Mais Haj-Ayoub (she/her)
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying)
Individual Therapy
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Christopher Mertz (he/him)
Registered Psychotherapist
Individual & Teen Therapy -
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Ivonne Hammoud (she/her)
Registered Social Worker, Clinical Director
Individual Therapy and Couples Therapy*Not accepting new clients
How Grief Therapy Can Help
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Grief can bring a mix of emotions, sometimes all in the same day. You might feel sadness, anger, relief, guilt, or even moments of happiness that leave you wondering whether you should feel that way. Whether you're grieving a loss that has happened, anticipating a loss, or navigating an uncertain situation, therapy offers space to explore your feelings without judgment or pressure to follow a timeline.
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Grief can affect more than our emotions. It can influence sleep, concentration, energy, relationships, and everyday responsibilities. Whether you're coping with a recent loss, watching someone you love change due to illness, or grieving a relationship without clear closure, you may feel exhausted, distracted, or unlike yourself. Understanding these responses can help you approach yourself with greater patience and compassion.
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Sometimes, memories or reminders of past experiences can continue to bring up intense emotions, fear, shame, or distress. Depending on your needs therapy may help you process these experiences so they feel less overwhelming. You don't have to revisit everything at once, and your therapist will work with you to determine what feels appropriate and when you're ready.
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Grief can change family dynamics, daily routines, responsibilities, and how you imagine your future. You might be preparing for changes in a loved one's health, adjusting to a relationship that has changed, or struggling when others don't understand your loss. Therapy can help you navigate these changes, identify your needs, and communicate with others while allowing yourself the space you need.
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One of the hardest parts of grief can be figuring out how to move forward when life looks different than you expected. You might wonder how to enjoy yourself without guilt, prepare for a future you're not ready for, or live with uncertainty when there's no clear resolution. Therapy can help you explore what moving forward means to you, at your own pace, while honouring what matters to you.
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Grief doesn't follow a straight line, and healing doesn't mean your loss stops mattering. Over time, you may find ways to carry your memories, maintain meaningful connections, or adjust to changes you never expected. Therapy can help you discover sources of comfort, connection, and meaning, even when grief remains part of your life.
Grief can be hard to put into words. You might feel pressure to be strong for others, worry you're taking too long to heal, or struggle to imagine life looking different than you expected.
Grief therapy offers space to explore your feelings without pressure to move on or forget what you've lost. Together, we'll work toward understanding your grief and finding ways to move forward while still honouring what matters to you.
Trauma Therapy for Children, Teens, and Adults in Waterloo & Online Accross Ontario
Grief can bring different challenges at different stages of life. Children may express their feelings through behaviour, teens may feel alone in their experience, and adults may struggle to balance their own grief with everyday responsibilities. At NMC, we tailor our support to each person's age, circumstances, and needs.
Children: Children may express grief through questions, behavioural changes, irritability, clinginess, sleep difficulties, or changes in school and play. As their understanding grows, new feelings and questions may emerge. Therapy offers an age-appropriate space to express emotions, ask questions, and develop coping skills. Parent or caregiver involvement can also help support children through grief.
Teens: Grief can feel isolating when you're also navigating friendships, school, identity, and family changes. Teens may withdraw, feel misunderstood, or struggle to talk about their loss. Therapy provides a supportive space to explore their feelings and find ways to cope without pressure to grieve a certain way.
Adults: Grief can affect relationships, parenting, work, and plans for the future. You might feel pressure to carry on as usual while adjusting to a life that feels different. Therapy can help you process your loss, navigate changes, and find ways to care for yourself as you adjust to what life looks like now.
How We Approach Grief at NMC
At New Moon Counselling, we recognize that grief can bring complicated emotions, unanswered questions, and changes you never expected. Your therapist will work with you to find an approach that fits your experiences and needs.
Depending on your needs, sessions may incorporate Narrative Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), EMDR or Compassion-Focused Therapy. These approaches can help you make sense of your feelings, navigate difficult thoughts, and find ways to honour what you've lost while reconnecting with what matters to you.
There's no timeline to follow or pressure to have everything figured out. We'll meet you where you are as you find your own way through grief.
When we think of grief, we often think of losing someone we love. But grief isn't limited to death. We can grieve relationships, changes in our health, lost opportunities, or the future we imagined. Sometimes, the loss is clear; other times, we may struggle to understand why we're hurting.
At NMC, we support children, teens, and adults navigating many forms of grief, including:
Grief after the death of a loved one: Coping with the loss of a partner, parent, child, friend, or someone important to you.
Anticipatory grief: Grieving before a loss occurs, such as when a loved one has a serious or life-limiting illness.
Relationship grief: Processing a breakup, divorce, separation, or the loss of a meaningful connection.
Pregnancy and fertility-related grief: Navigating miscarriage, stillbirth, infertility, or the loss of an anticipated experience of parenthood.
Life transition grief: Adjusting to changes such as becoming a parent, children leaving home, retirement, or other major life changes.
Health-related grief: Coming to terms with a diagnosis, chronic illness, changes in physical abilities, or shifts in daily life.
Disenfranchised grief: Experiencing a loss others may not recognize or understand, such as estrangement, an unacknowledged relationship, or the loss of a beloved pet.
Ambiguous loss: Grieving without clear closure, such as when a loved one has dementia or someone is physically or emotionally absent from your life.
Grief doesn't always fit neatly into one category, and you may experience several types of loss at once. There's no hierarchy of grief, and you don't need to compare your experience to anyone else's. If a loss has affected your life, your feelings deserve space, understanding, and support.
The Types of Grief We Work With
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New Clients
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If you have questions, would like help finding a therapist who feels like the right fit, or would prefer a little support with booking, simply fill out our contact form. We’ll be happy to connect with you and help you get started.
Existing Clients
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