How It's Complicated works
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Start therapyReach out to your therapist and book your first session within 24 hours. Online or in person, in 60+ languages.
Learn more about grief & loss
Grief is the natural response to losing someone or something significant, most often the death of a person we love, but also the loss of a relationship, a pregnancy, health, a home, or a beloved pet. It is not an illness or a problem to be fixed, and there is no single right way to grieve. Grief can bring waves of sadness, numbness, anger, guilt, and exhaustion, sometimes all at once and sometimes long after the loss. Grief counselling offers support in moving through this process, not to speed it up or "get over" the loss, but to help you carry it and adjust to life changed by it.
Grief is a normal process, and most people move through it with the support of those around them. But sometimes the weight of loss becomes harder to carry alone, and support can help. You might find grief counselling useful if you:
- Feel stuck, or that your grief isn't easing the way you expected it to
- Are struggling to function at work, at home, or in relationships
- Feel isolated, or that the people around you have moved on while you haven't
- Are carrying intense guilt, anger, or regret about the loss
- Find the loss has reopened older losses or unresolved pain
- Are grieving a loss others don't recognise, such as a pet, a pregnancy, or an estrangement
- Notice grief tipping into persistent low mood, anxiety, or panic
Grief counselling is not one fixed method, and the approach that helps depends on the loss and on you. Several work well for grief.
- Counselling offers steady, compassionate space to talk through the loss and your feelings at your own pace, and is often the natural starting point for grief support.
- Person-centred approach follows your lead rather than a fixed agenda, which suits grief because there is no correct way to feel or sequence to follow.
- Psychodynamic therapy explores how a loss connects to your wider history and relationships, useful when grief reopens older or unresolved pain.
- Existential analysis works with the questions of meaning and mortality that loss can raise, helpful when a death has shaken your sense of how life makes sense.
- CFT: Compassion-Focused Therapy helps with the guilt and self-blame that often accompany grief, building a gentler relationship with yourself.
It's Complicated is a therapist-founded mental health platform connecting clients with verified practitioners across Europe and globally, in over 60 languages. We work with over 2,500 vetted therapists, with in-person availability in Berlin, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Lisbon, Vienna, and other major cities, alongside online sessions worldwide. It's Complicated is free to use, and you pay your chosen therapist directly at rates they set.
Reaching out for grief support can feel like a lot when you are already depleted, and it can be hard to know whether what you're feeling "warrants" therapy. It does, if it helps. Our matching service is built to remove that friction. You complete a short survey, our psychologists combine data-driven insights with human judgement to identify the right therapists for your situation, and you choose from a shortlist of strong candidates. You can also browse our directory directly if you'd prefer to choose yourself.
Get matched with a therapist who specialises in grief and loss, or browse the directory to choose yourself.











