Online Grief Therapy in Ontario

Grief is the price of having loved and been attached, and there is no single right way to move through it. For most people, the sharpest pain softens over time with the support of family and friends. But grief can also feel isolating, overwhelming, or stuck, and sometimes the people around us don’t know what to say, or the loss is one that others don’t fully recognize. Talking to a professional trained in grief can give you a steady, unhurried place to carry it. Belleisle Clinics connects you with qualified, regulated professionals across Ontario for online grief therapy, sometimes called grief counselling, shaped around your loss and your pace.

Reviewed by Dr. Marie Paquette, C.Psych. (CPBAO #7136). Written and edited by the Belleisle Clinics care team. Last updated: June 2026.

Grief, and when support can help

Grief is a natural response to loss, not a disorder or a problem to be fixed. It can bring waves of sadness, longing, anger, guilt, numbness, or relief, sometimes all in the same day, and it doesn’t follow tidy stages or a fixed timeline. Most people, given time and the support of those around them, gradually find a way to carry their loss and re-engage with life. Seeking help doesn’t mean you’re grieving “wrong”; it means you’d like company and support for something genuinely hard.

Therapy can be worth reaching for when grief feels like more than you can hold on your own: when it’s isolating, when it’s disrupting sleep, work, or relationships over a long stretch, when it’s tangled up with trauma or guilt, when the loss is one others don’t acknowledge, or simply when you’d value a dedicated space to talk. You don’t need to be “in crisis,” and you don’t need to wait for a certain amount of time to pass, to reach out.

The many forms of loss

Grief isn’t only about the death of a loved one, and professionals in the Belleisle network support people through many kinds of loss:

• The death of a partner, parent, child, sibling, friend, or other loved one, whether recent or long ago.
• Anticipatory grief, the grief that begins before a loss, during a terminal illness or a slow decline.
• Sudden, traumatic, or stigmatized loss, including death by suicide, overdose, accident, or violence, where grief and trauma often intertwine.
• Disenfranchised grief: losses that others may not openly recognize, such as miscarriage or pregnancy loss, the death of a pet, an estrangement, or the loss of a former partner.
• Non-death losses: divorce or separation, job loss, a serious diagnosis, infertility, or the loss of a future you had imagined.

However your loss is shaped, and whatever others make of it, your grief is valid and worth support.

When grief becomes prolonged

For most people, grief gradually becomes more bearable. For a smaller number, it remains intense and disabling for a prolonged period, a pattern now recognized clinically as prolonged grief disorder, included in the DSM-5-TR since 2022 and in the ICD-11. It is characterized by persistent and pervasive yearning for, or preoccupation with, the person who died, accompanied by intense emotional pain and significant impairment in daily functioning. The DSM-5-TR requires that at least 12 months have elapsed since the death for adults, whereas the ICD-11 uses a minimum duration of 6 months and additionally requires that the response clearly exceed expected social, cultural, or religious norms.

This is not about grieving “too long” or “too much”: intense grief a few months after a significant loss is expected and normal. The distinction is about grief that stays frozen and disabling over time. Only a professional can help make that distinction, and if it applies, there are effective, well-researched treatments specifically for it. If you’re wondering whether your grief has become something more, that’s a good question to bring to a first session.

How grief shows up

Grief affects the whole person, not just the emotions. It can appear as waves of sadness, yearning, guilt, anger, or unexpected relief; as exhaustion, appetite and sleep changes, a tight chest, or a general heaviness in the body; as difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions; as withdrawal from others, or conversely a fear of being alone; and as a sense that the world has lost its colour or meaning. None of this means something is wrong with you. It means you’re grieving. Therapy can help you make room for it and find your footing again.

Grief can also bring thoughts that life isn’t worth living, or a wish to be with the person who died. If you’re having thoughts of harming yourself or ending your life, please don’t wait: call or text 9-8-8 (Suicide Crisis Helpline, available 24/7 across Canada), call 9-1-1, or go to your nearest emergency department. Support is available right now.

How online grief therapy works

Grief has a way of making ordinary logistics feel like too much, and the online format meets that reality. You join from a private, familiar space, often your own home, where the memories live, over a secure, encrypted, PIPEDA-compliant video platform, with no commute and no waiting room on a day you may barely have energy for. Grief-focused therapy delivered at a distance has shown promising results, and for many people the comfort of grieving from their own space makes it easier to show up and to speak openly.

The work itself is the same as it would be in person: a gentle, collaborative process, led by a professional trained in grief, at whatever pace feels right. There’s no schedule you have to keep to, and no expectation to “get over” anything. Online therapy isn’t designed for acute crisis, and your professional will help you recognize if a different or more intensive kind of support would serve you better.

Approaches to therapy for grief

There’s no single method for grief; your professional draws on the ones that fit your loss and how you’re experiencing it. Common evidence-based and supportive approaches include:

Grief-focused and supportive therapy

A steady, compassionate space to tell the story of your loss, make sense of the emotions, and gradually rebuild connection to life, often the heart of grief work.

Complicated / prolonged grief treatment

For grief that has become prolonged and disabling, structured, well-researched treatments (such as complicated grief treatment) directly target the patterns that keep grief stuck, and have strong evidence behind them.

Cognitive behavioural approaches (CBT)

Helpful when grief is entangled with guilt, avoidance, or harsh self-blame, or with anxiety and depression, working gently with the thoughts and behaviours that deepen the pain.

Acceptance and meaning-centred approaches

Approaches like ACT and meaning-centred work help you hold difficult feelings without being ruled by them, and reconnect with what gives your life meaning after loss, not to “move on,” but to carry the loss and keep living.

Who you’ll work with

The professionals in the Belleisle network who provide therapy for grief are independent, regulated professionals: Registered Psychotherapists (CRPO) and Registered Psychologists (CPBAO). Both are authorized to deliver psychotherapy in Ontario, and both work within their own areas of competence. What differs is training and scope: a master’s-level qualification for psychotherapists, a doctoral degree (PhD or PsyD) for psychologists, and, of the two professions, only a psychologist can carry out formal psychological assessment or communicate a diagnosis. That distinction matters most when grief is entangled with a more complex clinical picture.

For a fuller comparison and help deciding which fits, see our guide, Psychologist vs. Psychotherapist in Ontario . Whichever fits, one of the most consistent predictors of a good outcome is the relationship between you and your professional, and Belleisle’s intake team helps match you based on your situation, preferences, and availability.

Fees and insurance

Fees depend on the type of regulated professional you work with. Because rates vary and can change, we don’t publish set figures here: the intake team confirms the fee with you before your first session. As a general pattern, sessions with a Registered Psychotherapist are usually more accessible than sessions with a Registered Psychologist, reflecting the difference in training. Many extended health plans cover both professions, though coverage varies widely, so it’s worth checking the wording of your own benefits. Sessions generally qualify as a medical expense for the federal Medical Expense Tax Credit.

How to start

Tell us briefly what brings you in

Fill out our short online form. No referral required, and your request is reviewed by a person on our intake team, not a chatbot.

We match you with the right professional

Based on your loss, language preference, schedule, and what you’re looking for, our intake team identifies a professional experienced with grief. You can ask questions by phone before booking.

Begin your first session

Your matched professional contacts you to confirm a time. Sessions take place over a secure video platform, at whatever pace feels right for you.

Book your first online session →

Frequently asked questions about online grief therapy

Is it normal to still be grieving after a long time?

Yes. Grief has no fixed timeline, and it’s common for it to come and go in waves for a long time, especially around anniversaries and reminders. Continuing to grieve doesn’t mean anything is wrong. That said, if grief stays intensely painful and keeps seriously interfering with daily life for a prolonged period, well beyond what would ordinarily be expected in your own cultural and social context, it can be worth talking to a professional about whether more focused support would help.

Is grief counselling the same as grief therapy?

In everyday use, yes. The two terms are used interchangeably by most people and by many practices, and on this page they describe the same service. In the professional literature there is a finer distinction: counselling tends to describe supportive work alongside a grief that is running its natural course, while therapy tends to describe more structured work when grief has become prolonged or is entangled with trauma, guilt, anxiety, or depression. What matters more than the label is that the person you work with is a regulated professional trained in grief, who adapts the work to where you actually are.

When should I reach out for grief therapy?

There’s no threshold you have to reach. Many people find therapy helpful simply because they’d like a dedicated space to talk. It can be especially worth reaching out if grief feels isolating or overwhelming, if it’s disrupting sleep, work, or relationships over time, if it’s tangled up with trauma or guilt, or if the loss is one others don’t fully acknowledge.

Does online grief therapy actually work?

Grief-focused therapy itself has solid evidence behind it, and trials of grief-focused therapy delivered at a distance report promising results, though that research is still limited and has mostly studied structured online programmes rather than video sessions. Many people find it easier to open up from the comfort and privacy of their own space. What matters most is the quality of the relationship with your professional.

What is prolonged grief disorder?

It’s a clinical pattern recognized in the DSM-5-TR (2022) and in the ICD-11, marked by persistent and pervasive yearning for, or preoccupation with, the person who died, accompanied by intense emotional pain and significant impairment in daily functioning. The DSM-5-TR requires that at least 12 months have elapsed since the death for adults. The ICD-11 uses a minimum duration of 6 months and also requires that the response clearly exceed the social, cultural, or religious norms expected in the person’s own context. It is distinct from normal grief, which softens over time, and there are effective, well-researched treatments for it. A professional can help tell the difference.

Do I need a referral?

No. You can book directly with a Registered Psychotherapist or Registered Psychologist in Ontario without a physician referral. Some insurance plans require a doctor’s note for reimbursement, so it’s worth checking your plan.

Is what I share confidential?

Yes. Sessions are governed by the confidentiality rules of each professional’s regulatory college, Ontario’s health privacy law (PHIPA), and federal privacy law (PIPEDA), and the video platform is encrypted and PIPEDA-compliant. Narrow legal exceptions apply, including risk of serious harm, which your professional will explain.

What if I’m having thoughts of harming myself?

Grief can sometimes bring thoughts of not wanting to be here, or wanting to be with the person who died. Online therapy isn’t for crisis moments. If you’re having these thoughts, please call or text 9-8-8 (Suicide Crisis Helpline), call 9-1-1, or go to your nearest emergency department. Once things are stable, therapy for grief can be part of your ongoing support.

You don’t have to carry it alone

There’s no timeline you have to follow and nothing you have to be “ready” for. A first session is simply a place to bring your loss and be met with care. Booking takes only a few minutes, and it commits you to nothing beyond it.

Book your first online session

Sessions in English or French. Confidential, secure, PIPEDA-compliant.

Sources

The statements on this page about grief and its treatment are supported by recognized authorities and peer-reviewed research, including:

• American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787 (Supports the description of prolonged grief disorder and the 12-month requirement for adults.)
• World Health Organization. (2019). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems (11th ed.). https://icd.who.int/ (Supports the 6-month minimum and the requirement that the response exceed expected social, cultural, or religious norms.)
• Shear, K., Frank, E., Houck, P. R., & Reynolds, C. F. (2005). Treatment of complicated grief: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 293(21), 2601–2608. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.293.21.2601 (Supports that grief-focused therapy helps.)
• Lenferink, L. I. M., Eisma, M. C., Buiter, M. Y., de Keijser, J., & Boelen, P. A. (2023). Online cognitive behavioral therapy for prolonged grief after traumatic loss: A randomized waitlist-controlled trial. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 52(5), 508–522. https://doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2023.2225744 (Supports that grief therapy delivered at a distance shows promise.)
• Flückiger, C., Del Re, A. C., Wampold, B. E., & Horvath, A. O. (2018). The alliance in adult psychotherapy: A meta-analytic synthesis. Psychotherapy, 55(4), 316–340. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000172 (Supports the relationship as one of the most consistent predictors of outcome.)

The information on this page is for general educational purposes and does not constitute medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. It does not replace consultation with a qualified mental health professional. If you are in crisis or experiencing thoughts of self-harm, please call or text 9-8-8 (Suicide Crisis Helpline), call 9-1-1, or visit your nearest emergency department.