• Individual Counseling and Support
• 8-week Loss Groups

      Licensed therapists, MFTs, and LCSWs, are as ubiquitous as Starbuck's: you can find one on nearly every downtown corner. Truth be told, just because a therapist is licensed, that does not mean that they understand grief or loss, or especially dying. 

                        YOU NEED A SPECIALIST IN GRIEF, LOSS, AND DYING.   

      Why?  Because the SPECIALIZED training, experience, and understanding of loss issues can make all the difference in the world to your healing process. 

      I understand that...

•       the grief, loneliness, and isolation after the death of a loved one can be suffocating.
•       the aloneless of dying with unresolved regrets or fear of the after-life can be terrifying.
•       feeling unclean after an abortion, sexual abuse, or incest can be soul-crushing.
•       the sense of being broken after divorce or combat experience, can be life-altering.

                   I UNDERSTAND ALL THIS ...and more.    Please, let me help you. 

                HELPING TERMINALLY ILL PERSONS to DIE with PEACE and DIGNITY.     

      I first joined the hospice movement in 1981.  It had come to America just a couple of years before and I was fortunate that a major hospital in my neighborhood was conducting a training program for hospice volunteers.  I spent many years in hospice as a volunteer, providing respite for caretakers.  Years later, after I had received the required advanced education, I worked in hospice as a therapist and as an interfaith chaplain, working with dying persons and their bereaved families/caretakers.  

     I am certified in thanatology (CT), which is the study of death, dying, and bereavement, as both an educator and a counselor.  This was no small accomplishment: qualifying to take the national exam requires years of experience, advanced levels of education, continuing education, and professional recommendations.  Follow that with taking the national exam and passing it, and one can legally use the letters CT after their name.  I am also a certified Advanced Group Bereavement Facilitator and I have conducted many grief groups.

               YOU DO NOT HAVE to GRIEVE or SUFFER YOUR LOSSES ALONE.    

      One of my masters degrees is in Counseling Psychology with a Specialization in Loss Issues and Bereavement.  I define LOSS rather broadly: there are losses involved with a childhood of abuse, divorce, abortion, miscarriage, mental illness, depression, combat experience, amputation, and, of course, the loss of a loved one or a beloved pet.  

      What kind of losses, you ask? 

• Loss of hope
• Loss of expectations
• Loss of potential
• Loss of dreams
• Loss of identity
• Loss of normalcy (feeling abnormal)
• Loss of joy in living
• Loss of faith
• Loss of self-confidence and self-esteem

      Perhaps you've become accustomed to slogging through the loss, or the grief, by yourself-- maybe because no one has ever been there for you, or because even the people you thought would always be there are disappointing you now.  Does that mean that you have to suffer alone?  No! 

      The truth of the matter is that most of our friends and family move on, leaving us on our own, either out of self-defense (they don't want to be around your pain because it hurts them), or because they don't know what to do.  I DO KNOW WHAT TO DO to help you. 

      Let me help you.  You don't have to go through this alone.

Individual Counseling:  Approximately 45-50 mins. once a week. 

Fee:  Sliding scale.  Call me to discuss your situation.

Loss Group:  Approximately 90 mins. once a week for 8 weeks.

Fee:  Sliding scale.  Call me to discuss your situation.

       _____________________________________________________________________________

 Change your way of being in the world-- and open yourself up to endless possibilities.

Gwen A. Finestone, MFT, PhD              (714) 658-7488                    DrGwenF@yahoo.com

DrGwenF.blogspot.com