Healing the Grief of Family Estrangement with Attachment-Based Therapy in Sandy Springs, Georgia
Online Therapy Throughout Georgia, Florida, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, South Carolina & Vermont
Integrating Somatic, Attachment-Based, and Culturally Attuned Care
Family estrangement is a unique kind of grief — one that doesn’t always get recognized or named. It can leave you feeling caught between love and self-protection, unsure how to move forward when the people you’ve lost are still alive. Through attachment-based therapy, we explore how early relational wounds shape the way you experience loss, helping you find emotional safety, self-compassion, and peace — whether reconnection is possible or not.
When our closest relationships are disrupted, our nervous systems can interpret that distance as danger. Even when separation is necessary, the body often still grieves the bond; Not just for who the person was, but for what the relationship represented. Attachment-based grief therapy helps you understand this response, so you can begin to release guilt, find clarity, and heal without abandoning your own boundaries.
What Is Attachment-Based Grief Therapy?
Attachment-based grief therapy recognizes that our experience of loss is deeply tied to how we’ve learned to love, trust, and feel safe with others. When early relationships were inconsistent or emotionally unavailable, grief can awaken those old attachment wounds — the fear of being unworthy, the pain of disconnection, or the instinct to self-protect at all costs.
In therapy, we explore how your attachment history shapes the way you process loss, helping you reconnect with your emotions, your body, and your sense of self. This isn’t about “getting over” what happened. It’s about healing the parts of you that still long for secure connection, even when that relationship can’t be repaired.
You Might Be Navigating…
Loss of a parent, sibling, or caregiver
Estrangement or complicated family ties
Grieving someone who is still alive
Spiritual or cultural pressure to "move on"
Shame around how long it’s taking to “get over it”
Isolation in your grief—like no one gets the depth of what you’re carrying
Why Family Estrangement Feels Like Grief
Family estrangement often brings a kind of grief that’s hard to name. This short reflection explores why distance from loved ones can feel like loss — even when separation is necessary for safety.
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Estrangement Is a Form of Living Loss
Family estrangement creates a kind of grief that’s often misunderstood or minimized by others.
Even when separation is necessary, the attachment bond doesn’t simply disappear.
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What the Body Holds
Your body and emotions carry the memory of safety, belonging, and care —
even when those needs were never fully met.That’s why estrangement can feel both confusing and deeply familiar.
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Grief and Relief Can Coexist
You might feel guilt and relief at the same time.
You might miss the idea of family — not necessarily the reality.
Both are true. Both are valid. -
Healing Doesn’t Mean Reconnection
Attachment-based grief therapy helps you untangle complex emotions with compassion, so you can honor what was lost without losing yourself in the process.
Learn more about how attachment-based therapy can support your healing: Let’s Talk
How Attachment Therapy Helps You Heal
& What Makes My Approach Different
Healing from family estrangement asks for more than insight — it asks for integration. My approach combines attachment-based therapy, Brainspotting, somatic awareness, and culturally attuned care to help you process grief not only in your mind, but in your body and nervous system.
Together, we’ll explore how your early attachment experiences, cultural background, and faith shaped your patterns of love, loyalty, and self-protection. You’ll learn to listen to your body’s cues, understand your emotional triggers, and reestablish a sense of safety (within yourself and your relationships).
For some, that healing leads to peace and release.
For others, it creates enough stability to consider reconnection from a new, more grounded place.
Whether reconciliation is part of your journey or not, our work focuses on helping you discern what’s safe, aligned, and true for you, without shame, urgency, or pressure to “fix” what others can’t acknowledge.
This process moves at the pace of your nervous system, not the expectations of others. It’s a space to grieve, recalibrate, and practice secure self-trust; The kind that can hold both love and loss with compassion.
Secure healing doesn’t always mean going back. Sometimes it means moving forward with peace.
FAQs About Family Estrangement and Grief Therapy
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Grief therapy is a focused form of support that helps you process loss—whether it's the death of a loved one, estrangement from family, or the pain of unmet childhood needs. While talk therapy may cover a range of issues, grief therapy holds space for sorrow, anger, and identity shifts in a way that’s paced and trauma-aware. In our work, grief is treated as relational—not something to “get over,” but something we learn to carry with more support and self-compassion.
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Absolutely. Many of my clients are grieving relationships that were never safe, nurturing, or whole. We explore not just what was lost—but what was never given. If you’re navigating family estrangement, emotional cutoff, or complex loss, therapy can offer validation, language, and tools to move forward without shame.
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Not at all. Your story unfolds at your pace. You’ll never be pushed to revisit something before your nervous system is ready. Our sessions center your emotional safety—and I’ll guide you in listening to your body’s cues with care.
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Yes, on a case-by-case basis. I offer short-term family therapy for clients who want support navigating reconnection, caregiving roles, or boundary-setting with estranged loved ones. We’ll first meet individually to assess whether this is the right path for your situation.
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Grief rarely exists in a vacuum. It often stirs up anxiety, depression, or unresolved trauma. My approach weaves in attachment theory, trauma-informed care, and nervous system regulation, so we can hold the full picture of what you’re navigating—without rushing your healing process.
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Yes. I facilitate a Grief Group specifically for women navigating family estrangement. It’s a supportive space to share your experience, connect with others who understand, and receive guidance grounded in attachment theory and emotional safety. This group is open to those estranged from a parent, sibling, or family system—especially when the loss feels unacknowledged or misunderstood.
Have more questions? Feel free to reach out or schedule a free consultation—I’d be happy to help.