Grief Counseling

Grief Counseling: Healing the Soul Through Loss

Grief Counseling in NC. Grief is not a problem to be solved—it is a journey to be honored.

In the heart of every loss lies an invitation: not just to mourn what’s gone, but to discover the deeper threads of meaning, beauty, and transformation that loss can reveal. My approach to grief counseling is rooted in the belief that grieving is not about “getting over” or “moving on,” but about learning how to carry what we’ve lost in ways that deepen our connection to life.

Influenced by the soulful and meaning making teachings of Francis Weller and the existential insights of Viktor Frankl, I offer grief counseling as a sacred space for healing the soul—not just treating symptoms.

I have participated in Francis Weller’s 3-month training on grief tending and understand the importance of ongoing efforts to tend our grief in the midst of so much global loss.

If you are grieving a death, a relationship, a home, a dream, your health, climate change, losses from natural disasters, or any form of deep change or transition, you are not alone. Grief touches all of us. It arrives uninvited, yet when welcomed with compassion and support, it can become a path toward wholeness.

A Soulful Approach to Grief Counseling

Traditional approaches to grief often focus on symptom reduction: easing anxiety, improving sleep, or returning to daily functioning. While these are important, my work goes deeper.

I hold grief as a soul task—a rite of passage that, when supported with skill and care, can reconnect you with your essence, your values, and your sense of purpose.

In our work together, we will:

• Explore the depths of your loss, not to fix it, but to listen to what it has to say.
• Hold space for sorrow and joy to coexist—allowing beauty to emerge even in the midst of pain.
• Gently support you in expressing your grief in ways that feel safe, grounded, and not overwhelming.
• Develop practices that help you stay connected to your adult self, even in moments of intensity or despair.
• Use mindfulness, creative expression, and meaning-making as tools for integration and resilience.

The Wisdom of Grief

As Francis Weller writes, “Grief is not a disease from which we recover. It is a lifelong companion, a non-ordinary presence that moves through our lives.” In this view, grief is not an enemy or an interruption to be eliminated. It is a guide, a teacher that brings deep insights and wisdom for our continued awareness and growth.

My work in grief counseling helps you face that challenge with tools, presence, and guidance.

And as Viktor Frankl taught, even in the darkest suffering, there is the possibility of finding meaning. You do not have to understand your loss all at once. But over time, with compassionate support, you can begin to ask: What now? What wants to emerge from this?

“The work of the mature person is to carry grief in one hand and gratitude in the other and to be stretched large by them. How much sorrow can I hold? That’s how much gratitude I can give. If I carry only grief, I’ll bend toward cynicism and despair. If I have only gratitude, I’ll become saccharine and won’t develop much compassion for other people’s suffering. Grief keeps the heart fluid and soft, which helps make compassion possible.” –Francis Weller

Grief Counseling That Honors All Types of Loss

People often come to grief counseling after the death of a loved one. But grief can also arise from:

• Death and non-death losses
• Divorce or the end of a significant relationship
• Loss of a home or sense of belonging
• Chronic illness or life-changing diagnosis
• Miscarriage, infertility, or reproductive loss
• Climate grief or ecological despair
• Burnout, spiritual crisis, or identity transitions
• Disenfranchised, N0n-finite, and Ambiguous loss

Whatever form your grief takes, you are welcome here. Your story matters. Your pain matters. And there is a way through.

Creating Safe, Contained Space for Expression

One of the most important parts of grief counseling is creating a safe and grounded space where your emotions can be felt without flooding you. You will never be pushed to go faster or deeper than you’re ready for. It’s important to learn ways to stay grounded and begin to experience grief at a pace that you feel safe.

I use Polyvagal and nervous system-informed techniques to help you stay present and centered, so you can feel your emotions without becoming overwhelmed. We’ll work with tools like:

• Breathwork and grounding exercises
• Creative practices like writing, photography, collage, or drawing to give form to feelings
• Mindfulness and self-compassion to meet your grief with gentleness
• Rituals and reflection to honor your loss and find continuity across time

Together, we’ll learn how to create containers for grief—ways to approach it in manageable pieces, while building the resilience to carry what cannot be changed.

From Grief to Meaning, Beauty, and Belonging

Grief does not ask us to forget or let go. It asks us to remember more deeply. To learn how to live with what’s been lost, and to allow that loss to shape us into wiser, more compassionate human beings.

Many of my clients find that, over time, grief becomes a doorway to:

• A renewed sense of purpose
• Greater capacity for joy, intimacy, and awe
• A deepened relationship with creativity and spirituality
• Increased resilience and emotional honesty
• A more meaningful, authentic life

This is not about “silver linings.” It’s about honoring both the sorrow and the beauty that live within you—and learning how to walk with both.

You Don’t Have to Be Alone on Your Grief Journey

If you are grieving and feel lost, numb, overwhelmed, angry, exhausted, or unsure how to move forward—you’re not doing it wrong. You are simply in the terrain of grief, and no one should have to navigate that terrain alone.

As a grief counselor, I walk beside you—not as an expert with all the answers, but as a fellow human who honors your experience. I offer a map, some tools, and a safe space where your grief is not too much, not too messy, not too strange.

You deserve to be met exactly where you are—with tenderness, respect, and presence.

Let’s Begin

Whether your loss is recent or long ago, whether you’ve spoken about it or kept it silent, it is never too late to grieve. It is never too late to heal. And it is never too late to begin again.

Reach out to schedule a free consultation. Let’s talk about how grief counseling can support you in your unique journey.

Grief changes us—but with the right support, it can also reveal us.

Schedule a free 15-minute grief counseling consultation

Schedule a free 15-minute consultation with Jen Johnson to learn more about her services and to see if you would work well together.

If we take each teaching, each loss, each gain, each fear, each joy as it arises and experience it fully, life becomes workable. We are no longer a “victim of life.” And then every experience, even the loss of our dearest one, becomes another opportunity for awakening.
– Stephen Levine

Types of Loss

• loss of health
• loss of joy or hope
• loss of a loved one
• loss of a pet
• loss of a relationship or friendship
• loss of home
• loss of job or career
• loss of a sense of safety and security
• loss of a sense that the world was predictable
• loss of assumptions about the world that helped you feel secure
• near death experience
• fear of death
• loss of a sense of peace and ease
• loss of physical ability with age

Jen Johnson offers grief counseling in NC –online grief counseling and online therapy for people throughout North Carolina — Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Wilmington, Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, and in between.

Grief Poems

Mama never forgets her birds,
Though in another tree –
She looks down just as often
And just as tenderly
As when her little mortal nest
With cunning care she wove –
If either of her sparrows fall,
She notices, above.

                                          – Emily Dickinson

When Death Comes

…When it’s over, I want to say all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.

–Mary Oliver

…In lieu of flowers, 
I would wish for you to flower. 
I would wish for you to blossom, to open, to be beautiful…

–Shawna Lemay