Grief After Losing a Parent
No one is ever ready to lose a parent.
Whether it was sudden or a long goodbye, whether you were close or complicated, whether you’re twenty-five or sixty, losing a parent shifts something at the foundation. It’s a grief all its own, and it deserves real space.
Understanding Parent Loss
A loss at the foundation
A parent is often the person who was there first and longest. Their absence rearranges holidays, family roles, and your sense of where you come from. Grieving a parent can bring sadness, relief, guilt, anger, and love all at once, sometimes in the same hour. However it’s showing up for you, it’s a real and significant loss, not something to “get past” on anyone’s schedule.
When the relationship was complicated
Not every parent was easy, and not every goodbye is simple. Grieving a difficult or distant parent can be its own kind of hard. You could be mourning the relationship you had, and sometimes the one you never got. There’s room for all of that here, without having to tidy it into a neat story first.
Who this is for
This page is for any adult grieving the loss of a parent or a parent figure, recently or long ago, close relationship or fraught one, first loss or one of several. You don’t need to have it figured out, or to be grieving a certain way, to reach out.
If your own children are grieving the loss of their grandparent, kids process grief differently than adults: our page on grief play therapy for children walks through how that work looks.
How Working Together Looks
At your pace
There’s no right timeline for grieving a parent, and we won’t hand you one. We start where you are (including the messy, mixed feelings that often come with this loss) and move at a pace that feels bearable to you.
In person or from home
Sessions happen in person at our Plano office, or virtually. Bryna offers telehealth sessions anywhere in Texas. Your first step is a free 15-minute phone consultation; from there, sessions run 45 minutes.
Want to see the whole process, from your first message to your first session? See what to expect.
More From the Blog
Reading on grief and loss
- The Talamantez Therapy blog: reflections on grief, loss, and family.
- Call Your Mama: on the small daily habits you miss most after a parent is gone.
- Not So Happy Father’s Day: on grieving a parent through the holidays built around them.
You might also want our pages on grief after losing a spouse and grief that stays intense and stuck, or the overview of grief counseling for any other loss.
FAQ
Questions people ask.
My parent died a long time ago. Is it strange to seek help now?
Not at all. Grief for a parent can resurface years later including at a wedding, a birth, a milestone they’re not there for, or for no obvious reason at all. It’s never too late, or too odd, to get support for it.
My relationship with my parent was complicated. Is that still grief?
Yes, and it’s often a harder grief to carry precisely because it’s complicated. Mourning a difficult or distant parent (or the relationship you wish you’d had) is real grief, and it’s welcome here without any need to simplify it first.
I feel relief as much as sadness. Is something wrong with me?
No. After a long illness, a difficult relationship, or a heavy caregiving stretch, relief is one of the most common feelings people carry, and it can sit right alongside deep grief. Feeling more than one thing at once doesn’t mean you loved your parent any less.
What happens in the first session?
It begins with a free 15-minute phone consultation to hear a bit about what’s going on. Your first full session is 45 minutes, the same as every session after, and it’s simply a chance to talk through what you’re carrying, with no pressure to share more than you’re ready to.
Who you’ll meet
- Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT)
- Practicing since 2017; opened Talamantez Therapy in 2021
- Grief and loss is her lead specialty
- Serving grieving adults and families across Plano and North Texas, with telehealth statewide
As featured in Plano City Lifestyle: “When Festive Lights Cast Shadows: A Guide to Holiday Grief” by Bryna Talamantez.
Ready to talk?
Reach out and we’ll find a time that works for you.
Free 15-minute consultation by phone, then $150 per session — in person at our Plano office, or virtually, anywhere in Texas.