Grief Counseling in
Orange County & Riverside, CA
Grief is one of the most profound human experiences — and one of the most isolating. Heidi Francine is a compassionate, trauma-informed Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist offering grief counseling across Orange County and Riverside County, helping clients carry their loss without being crushed by it.
Grief Has No Timeline and No Rules
Grief is the natural human response to loss — and it is as individual as the person experiencing it. There is no right way to grieve. There is no timeline you should be on. And there is no loss too small to deserve care and support.
What makes grief particularly hard is that our culture often gives people very little space to grieve — a few days off work, a few weeks of condolences, and then an unspoken expectation to "get back to normal." But grief doesn't work that way. Loss changes us. And the pain of loss doesn't simply resolve because enough time has passed.
Grief counseling with Heidi creates the space you need — to feel what you feel, to honor what you've lost, and to find a way to move forward that doesn't mean leaving your loss behind. The goal is not to "get over it." It's to learn to carry it in a way that allows you to live fully again.
Book a ConsultationYou Don't Have to Grieve Alone
One of the most painful aspects of grief is how alone it can feel — even when surrounded by people who care. Friends and family, however well-meaning, often don't know what to say, pull away, or encourage you to "be strong." Therapy with Heidi offers a space where your grief is fully welcome, fully witnessed, and never rushed.
What Is Complicated Grief?
Complicated grief — also called prolonged grief disorder — occurs when grief remains severely debilitating well beyond what is typical, or when a person becomes stuck in their grief and unable to re-engage with life. It is more likely after sudden or traumatic loss, ambiguous loss, or when the relationship with the deceased was complicated. Heidi provides specialized support for complicated grief, including EMDR for traumatic loss.
You May Be Grieving If You Recognize These
Grief is not just sadness. It can affect every area of your life — emotionally, physically, cognitively, and relationally.
Waves of intense sadness, longing, or yearning for what or who you've lost
Emotional numbness or feeling disconnected from yourself and others
Anger — at the person who died, at yourself, at others, at the situation
Guilt — replaying what you could have done differently
Anxiety about your own mortality, the safety of others, or facing life without them
Sleep disturbances — difficulty falling asleep, nightmares, or sleeping too much
Changes in appetite — not eating, or eating as a way to cope
Difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, or feeling mentally foggy
Withdrawing from social connection, friends, activities, or the world
Feeling that life has lost meaning or that the future is empty without them
Feeling pressure to appear okay when you are not — performing normalcy
Grief that comes in unexpected waves — triggered by places, songs, smells, dates
Grief Counseling That Honors Your Experience
Heidi's approach to grief is rooted in the belief that grief is not a problem to be solved — it is a profound human experience to be witnessed, supported, and ultimately integrated. She draws on trauma-informed, nervous-system-aware frameworks to help clients move through grief at their own pace.
🕊️ Compassionate, Non-Directive Support
Heidi's first priority in grief counseling is creating a space where you feel completely safe to feel whatever you feel — without judgment, without pressure to feel differently, and without being rushed toward "acceptance." Sometimes the most healing thing is simply being fully witnessed in your pain by someone who doesn't flinch from it.
🧠 EMDR for Traumatic & Complicated Grief
When loss is sudden, traumatic, or complicated by difficult circumstances, grief can become encoded in the nervous system in ways that make it feel impossible to move through. EMDR can help reprocess traumatic memories of the loss — the moment of finding out, disturbing images, unresolved emotional pain — reducing their intensity and allowing grief to move more naturally.
🫁 Nervous System & Grief
Grief activates the nervous system profoundly. The shock of sudden loss triggers the sympathetic fight-or-flight response. Prolonged grief can push the nervous system into the dorsal vagal shutdown state — the collapse, numbness, and withdrawal that characterizes deep grief. Heidi's Polyvagal-informed approach helps clients understand and support their nervous system through the grief process.
🌿 Meaning-Making & Integration
Over time, grief counseling supports the process of meaning-making — finding a way to integrate the loss into your life story, to honor what you've lost while reconnecting with what remains. This is not about "moving on." It's about finding a way to carry your loss with you as you continue to live — fully, intentionally, and with connection to what matters most.
All Loss Is Valid and Deserving of Care
Grief counseling is not limited to the death of a loved one. Heidi supports clients through many forms of loss.
🖤 Death of a Loved One
Loss of a parent, partner, child, sibling, friend, or other significant person. Including sudden death, expected loss after illness, and the unique grief of losing someone to suicide or overdose.
💔 Relationship & Divorce
The end of a significant relationship — even when it was the right decision — involves profound grief. Loss of the relationship, the future you imagined, and often your sense of identity.
🏥 Loss of Health
Grieving a diagnosis, the loss of physical capacity, or the life you had before chronic illness. This kind of loss is often unacknowledged but deeply significant.
👶 Pregnancy & Infant Loss
Miscarriage, stillbirth, infant loss, and infertility. Losses that are often minimized by others but carry enormous weight — and deserve real, compassionate support.
🌿 Ambiguous Loss
Grief without a clear ending — estrangement from a family member, a loved one with dementia, or the loss of what a relationship was supposed to be. Particularly difficult because there is no clear closure.
🔄 Life Transition Loss
Loss of identity, role, or life chapter — retirement, children leaving home, career loss, immigration. These transitions involve real grief that is often invisible and unsupported.
Meet Heidi Francine, LMFT
Heidi Francine is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist offering compassionate, trauma-informed grief counseling across Orange County and Riverside County. She approaches grief with deep respect for its complexity — and for the courage it takes to sit with loss rather than avoid it.
EMDR trained and Polyvagal-informed, Heidi brings both clinical expertise and genuine warmth to grief work. She understands that grief is not a linear process, that it cannot be rushed, and that healing doesn't mean forgetting — it means finding a way to carry your love and your loss forward into the rest of your life.
As one client shared: "Heidi has been nothing short of a guiding light in my life. Her personalized techniques have helped me process emotions and rebuild my life in a way I never thought possible."
Finding a Way Through
Heidi has been nothing short of a guiding light in my life. Her compassionate approach helped me not only confront my struggles but also see the world through a new, positive lens. Her sessions are a safe space where healing and self-discovery thrive.
My granddaughter and I have been going to Heidi since September 2025. I've had many therapists in my life and I can honestly say she is one of the best. To be able to relate to both myself and a 14 year old is a great skill.
Hedi is incredibly intuitive and is really skilled at leading me to discover my own truth. I've made incredible progress working with her.
Grief Counseling — Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all. Grief is a natural response to any significant loss — not just the death of a loved one. People grieve the end of relationships, loss of identity through major life transitions, loss of health, loss of a dream or future they had imagined, estrangement from family, and much more. If you are carrying a loss that is affecting your life, grief counseling can help.
Complicated grief — sometimes called prolonged grief disorder — is when grief remains intense and debilitating well beyond what is expected, or when it significantly impairs your ability to function. Signs include inability to accept the reality of the loss, persistent bitterness or anger, feeling that life is meaningless without the person or thing lost, and difficulty engaging with life or other relationships. Therapy can help you move through complicated grief rather than staying stuck in it.
No — and in fact, 'moving on' is often a misleading frame for grief. The goal of grief counseling is not to forget or leave behind what you've lost. It's to integrate the loss into your life in a way that allows you to carry it without being crushed by it — to find a way to continue living fully while honoring what and who you've lost.
Yes — especially for traumatic or complicated grief. EMDR can help reprocess distressing memories, intrusive images, or the circumstances of a loss that have become traumatically encoded. It can also address the guilt, anger, or unfinished emotional business that can make grief feel stuck. Many clients find EMDR helpful when traditional grief counseling alone hasn't provided relief.
Grief doesn't follow a timeline, and neither does grief counseling. Some people find meaningful support and relief in 8–12 sessions. Others benefit from longer-term support, especially with complicated or traumatic grief. Heidi will work at your pace without any pressure to grieve on a schedule.
$180 per session. A sliding scale is available based on income and consistent attendance. Super Bills are accepted for PPO Insurance holders for potential out-of-network reimbursement.
Grief Counseling — Four Ways to Connect
In-person grief counseling in Riverside, Huntington Beach, and Costa Mesa — plus secure Zoom sessions throughout California.
Huntington Beach Office
16052 Beach Blvd Suite 214Huntington Beach, CA 92647
Costa Mesa Office
2900 Bristol St Suite G-101Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Online & Zoom Sessions
Available statewideCalifornia residents only