Grief, Loss and
Life Changes
Therapy Sydney
Therapy for grief, loss and life transitions with Chauncey Sjostedt, PACFA certified Gestalt Therapist in Surry Hills. Grief takes many forms and does not follow a timetable. I offer a present-focused, body-aware space to be with what you are carrying, without rush and without judgment.
PACFA Certified Practicing Member #29367 · Surry Hills & Online Australia
Grief takes
many forms
Grief is one of the most universal and least supported human experiences. Despite how common it is, people often feel isolated in their grief, uncertain whether what they are feeling is normal, or pressured to move on before they are ready. Therapy offers something different: a space in which grief can be met honestly, without rush and without judgment.
Grief is not only about death. It arises whenever something meaningful is lost, whether that is a person, a relationship, a role, a version of yourself or a future you had imagined. Our culture tends to narrow its understanding of grief to bereavement, which can leave people feeling unseen in their loss. If you are grieving something that others do not recognise as a loss, that is precisely the kind of grief that deserves a proper space.
Death of a Loved One
The loss of someone you love is one of the most significant experiences a person can face. Grief after death can be acute, prolonged, complicated or disenfranchised. It rarely moves in a straight line and it rarely resolves on the timetable others expect. Therapy offers a space to grieve without performing recovery.
End of a Relationship
The end of a significant relationship, whether through separation, divorce, estrangement or a friendship that quietly dissolved, can bring profound grief. The loss of a shared future, of daily intimacy, of a sense of identity tied to a partnership, is real and deserves proper acknowledgment and care.
Loss of Identity or Role
When a significant role or identity changes, whether through retirement, a career ending, becoming a parent, leaving a religious community, or a change in your health or body, grief can follow. These losses are often invisible to others, which makes them harder to name and harder to process.
Life Transitions, Wanted and Unwanted
Even wanted transitions can bring loss. Moving cities, changing careers, ending a chapter of life you had loved, or stepping into something new and unfamiliar can carry grief alongside excitement. Therapy creates space for the full complexity of transition, not just the parts that are easy to celebrate.
Ambiguous Loss and Disenfranchised Grief
Ambiguous loss occurs when there is no clear ending or social recognition. This includes grieving someone who is still alive but no longer themselves, estrangement from family, infertility, pregnancy loss, or the grief of a future that never arrived. Disenfranchised grief is any grief that society fails to acknowledge. Both deserve the same respect as more visible forms of loss.
Grief in the LGBTQ+ Community
LGBTQ+ people often carry particular forms of grief: the loss of family acceptance, grief for the years lived before coming out, community grief following the loss of peers, or the grief of chosen families. These are real and significant losses. My practice is a genuinely affirming and safe space to explore them.
How I work
with grief
Grief work in therapy is some of the most intimate and significant work there is. It requires genuine presence from the therapist, a willingness to sit with difficulty without rushing toward resolution, and deep respect for the particularity of each person's loss. I bring all of this to the work.
I do not try to move people through grief faster than they are ready to go. My approach is present-focused and body-aware. We meet what is actually here rather than working toward a predetermined outcome. Grief has its own wisdom and its own timeline, and the work is to accompany it rather than manage it.
Gestalt Approach, Being Present with What Is
Gestalt therapy is particularly well suited to grief work because it prioritises direct experience over analysis. Rather than talking about your grief from a distance, we are present with it together in the room. This might mean sitting with a feeling, noticing what arises in the body, or allowing something to be said that has not been said yet. The aim is genuine contact with what is real for you, not a managed performance of processing.
No Timetable, Grief Does Not Follow Stages
The five stages of grief model, while well-known, is often misunderstood as a linear progression. Grief is rarely that tidy. It circles back. It resurfaces unexpectedly. It sits quietly for a while and then arrives again with full force. In therapy, there is no expectation of where you should be by a particular point. We work at the pace that is actually yours, not the pace that others expect of you.
Honouring What Was Lost
Grief is a measure of what mattered. Part of the work is simply giving proper space to what has been lost, to acknowledge its significance without rushing toward acceptance or resolution. This is not wallowing. It is respect. Many people have never had a space in which their loss was truly witnessed and honoured. Therapy can offer that.
Body-Based Processing
Grief that has been held in the body for a long time without processing can become fixed and can contribute to depression, anxiety, chronic tension or a sense of emotional numbness. Body-aware work helps grief move rather than calcify.
Grief is held in the body as well as the mind. The heaviness in the chest, the hollow stomach, the exhaustion that has nothing to do with sleep, the sudden catch of breath. Drawing on Somatic Experiencing and body-aware Gestalt practice, I bring the body into the work, which can allow grief to move through rather than becoming fixed or frozen. Learn more on the somatic therapy page.
Book a sessionWho this
is for
This work is for anyone carrying a loss that has not had enough space. It is for people whose grief is recent and acute, and for those whose grief is old and still present. It is for people who are coping on the outside but not quite managing on the inside. It is for people who feel they should be over it by now and are not.
It is also for people in the middle of life transitions, whether wanted or unwanted, who need a space to be with the complexity of what is changing. Change and loss are intertwined. Even when a change is chosen and welcome, something is left behind, and that deserves acknowledgment.
I work with grief connected to death, relationship endings, identity shifts, pregnancy loss, birth trauma and perinatal experience, LGBTQ+ specific losses, and major life transitions. If you are unsure whether what you are carrying counts as grief, the answer is almost always yes. You do not need to justify your loss to seek support for it.
If birth trauma or perinatal loss is part of your grief, please also see the birth trauma and perinatal therapy page, which covers this area in depth.
What sessions
look like
Sessions are 50 minutes, one-to-one, and available in person in Surry Hills on Saturdays or online via secure video on Wednesday afternoons (Glebe) and Saturday mornings (Surry Hills). Online sessions can be particularly helpful during periods of grief when leaving home feels difficult or when you prefer the privacy of your own space. There is no fixed agenda. We begin where you are and follow what matters most.
Grief sessions do not always look a particular way. Sometimes there is a lot to say. Sometimes there is very little, and the work is simply to sit with what is present without pushing it to be anything other than what it is. Sometimes something unexpected surfaces, something that has been waiting for a space in which to be felt. All of this is welcome.
You do not need a GP referral or a Mental Health Care Plan. All practical details including fees, availability and cancellation policy are on the appointments page. If you have questions before booking, the FAQ page covers the most common ones. A free introductory call is also available on request.
Some people come to grief therapy in the immediate aftermath of a loss. Others come years later when something has reopened an old wound. Some come not knowing that what they are carrying is grief at all, only that something is heavy and they have never had a proper space to put it down for a moment and look at it. All of these are valid entry points.
Grief is hard to carry alone. Therapy does not take the grief away, but it does mean you do not have to carry it in isolation. Having a consistent, unhurried space in which your loss is genuinely witnessed can make a real difference to how you move through one of the most difficult experiences of being human. If you are ready to begin, or simply curious, I encourage you to reach out.
Related areas: personal growth and self-understanding and birth trauma and perinatal support.
Common questions
Questions about grief therapy and what to expect. Full answers on the FAQ page.
Book a session
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Grief counselling provides a safe, unhurried space to be with your loss without pressure to move through it faster than you are able. It helps you understand what you are carrying, honour what was lost, and gradually find a way to carry your grief alongside your life rather than being overwhelmed or frozen by it. A Gestalt approach means we work with what is actually present rather than following a protocol, which suits grief well because grief is rarely neat or predictable. It does not try to fix or resolve grief, but to accompany you through it with genuine presence and care.
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No. Grief arises from any significant loss, not only death. The end of a relationship, loss of a role or identity, an unfulfilled dream, a diagnosis, estrangement from family, infertility or pregnancy loss, or a major life transition can all bring genuine grief. All of these are valid reasons to seek support and they deserve the same care and attention as grief following death.
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Grief does not follow a timetable and neither does therapy for it. Some people find significant benefit in a focused period of work; others find that grief opens into longer-term exploration of identity, meaning and what comes next. Many people also find that grief resurfaces at particular anniversaries or life milestones and benefit from returning to therapy at those moments. We work at whatever pace is genuinely yours, without any expectation of where you should be by a certain point. You are never locked in to a fixed number of sessions.
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Ambiguous loss is grief without a clear ending or social recognition. It can include the loss of someone who is still physically present but no longer themselves due to dementia or addiction, the grief of estrangement, or the loss of a future you had imagined. It is particularly difficult because it lacks the rituals and acknowledgment that usually accompany death, making it harder to process and easier for others to dismiss. Grief counselling can offer the recognition and space that ambiguous loss so rarely receives.
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Yes. Online grief therapy is available on Wednesday afternoons (Glebe) and Saturday mornings (Surry Hills) via secure encrypted video. Many people find online sessions particularly helpful during periods of grief when leaving the house feels difficult or when they prefer the privacy and safety of their own space. In-person sessions are available on Saturdays at the Surry Hills practice.
Take the first step
towards feeling better
Book a session in person in Surry Hills on Saturday mornings, or online via secure video on Wednesday afternoons (Glebe) and Saturday mornings (Surry Hills). Sessions are 50 minutes. No GP referral, diagnosis or Mental Health Care Plan required. If you are not yet ready to book, a free introductory call is available. I respond to all enquiries within 48 hours and am glad you reached out.