Counseling and Support

Professional counseling resources, pet loss support, and a curated library of grief education — offered with dignity, choice, and gentleness.

When Is Now Foundation monarch butterfly logo

Counseling Support

Counseling can be especially supportive if your grief feels overwhelming, prolonged, or intertwined with anxiety, depression, trauma, or major life changes. There is no threshold you must meet to deserve care.

  • You feel stuck, numb, or emotionally flooded
  • Your loss is layered or ongoing (anticipatory or ambiguous grief)
  • Sleep, work, or relationships are being significantly impacted
  • You want a confidential space to speak freely without burdening others

Recommended Counseling Services

The organizations below offer professional, grief-informed counseling and support. Each approaches care with respect for individual stories, cultural context, and emotional pacing.

BetterHelp

BetterHelp provides online counseling with licensed therapists, offering flexible scheduling and confidental support that meets you where you are; emotionally and practically. Their platforms allows you to connect from the privacy of your own space, as you explore grief, life transitions, and supports your emotional healing with steady, professional companionship.

Visit BetterHelp

The Grief & Loss Center

The Grief & Loss Center offers individual and group counseling grounded in compassion, emotional safety, and respect for the deeply personal nature of loss. Their experienced clinicians provide thoughtful guidance to help you navigate grief with clarity, dignity, and support that honors your unique story and pace.

Visit The Grief & Loss Center

Talkspace

Talkspace offers online therapy and psychiatry with licensed professionals, providing flexible, confidential support that meets you where you are. Explore care options designed to feel accessible and steady as you navigate grief and life’s transitions.

Visit Talkspace

TherapyDen

TherapyDen is a therapist directory designed to help you find care that aligns with your identity, values, and lived experience. Search for providers who honor your story and offer support that feels respectful and affirming.

Explore TherapyDen

Psychology Today

Psychology Today offers one of the most comprehensive therapist directories available, helping you search by location, specialty, and preference. Explore options thoughtfully so you can connect with a counselor who feels like the right companion for your healing.

Find a Therapist

A Gentle Reminder

Counseling does not replace community, ritual, or personal meaning — it simply offers another steady hand when the path feels steep. You are allowed to seek support in the way that fits you best.

Your tears are chemistry and ceremony. Each one carries cortisol, memory, and release.

— Molesey Bridgette

Rituals of Remembrance

Choose a ritual that meets you where you are. You don’t have to do it perfectly — only honestly.

  • Memory Box — Gather a collar, photo, note, and a small object that carries their presence.
  • Legacy Walk — Walk a familiar route and name one way they changed your life.
  • Planting in Their Honor — A tree, flower, or herb as a living marker of love.
  • Candle or Lantern — Light a steady flame and speak their name aloud.
  • Optional Private Reflection Prompt — If you could give your pet one message right now, what would you say? How would your pet react? What sign would your pet show you to reassure you they are okay?

Support Guides

If you’re supporting a child, navigating anticipatory grief, or creating a memorial — these resources can companion you.

  • Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement (APLB)

    Education and peer support for pet loss grief, including helpful guidance for coping and remembrance.

  • Pet Parent Grief Support

    Veterinarian-informed resource offering compassionate guidance, practical tools, and heartfelt reassurance to help you navigate the complex emotions that can follow the loss of your beloved animal companion.

  • Rainbow Bridge Remembrance

    A memorial space and community for honoring beloved animals with stories, poems, and remembrance.

  • Death Cafe

    A welcoming, facilitated space for open conversation about death, dying, and grief. Death Cafes are not therapy — they offer connection, honesty, and a chance to feel less alone in the topics many avoid.

  • Exploring Our Grief

    A collection of grief-informed reflections and educational resources from Abode — offering language and grounding for the season you’re walking through.

Your tears are chemistry and ceremony. Each one carries cortisol, memory, and release.

— Molesey Bridgette

Resource Library & Education

Curated learning, reflection, and grief-informed education resources — designed to help you build grief literacy gently, one resource at a time.

When nothing softens the grief, may grief soften me.

— Andrea Gibson