Expert grief care
Radically compassionate, specialized grief therapy for families and individuals navigating life-altering loss.
ACT & EFT for grievers seeking to honor the love in their loss, authentically connect with self and others, and build purposeful resilience through intentional action.
Therapy, support groups, and professional trainings offered by Olga Montgomery, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Advanced Grief Counseling Specialist, owner of Voyager Counseling.
Loss is hard for many, many reasons. In our families, relationships, and in our own minds and hearts, many of us don’t know what to do with the intensity of grief feelings and thoughts after life-altering loss or life-limiting diagnosis.
This makes sense.
In context of “regular life”, where the question “how are you?” has a correct answer (“good!”), many grievers struggle after a life-altering loss when our grief feelings seem too messy, too intense, and too uncomfortable for ourselves or others.
Voyager Counseling was built for deeply caring, hard working, heart-and-family-forward grievers seeking an intentional path in and through grief.
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Death of a beloved or “my person” person
Death of an estranged or “it’s complicated” person
Death of a baby or child of any age
Diagnosis of a life-altering illness such as cancer (all staging), neurodegenerative illness/dementia, cardiovascular disease in self or another
Caregiving for someone with a terminal illness and coping with the stressors of lost health, ability, and identity, including those that come with metastatic cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Frontotemporal Degeneration, Parkinson’s Disease with Dementia, and other diagnoses
Death of a beloved pet or fur baby
Perinatal loss of any kind including chemical pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy, pregnancy loss related to cancer, termination for medical reasons (TFMR), pregnancy loss related to iatrogenic harm
Sudden, shocking loss including heart attack, accident, stroke
Violent or traumatic loss including suicide loss, homicide loss, overdose loss
Losses where the death happened, but the grief is more about the chaos-after-the-loss or the loss-after-the-loss
Complex, nuanced losses that struggle to be named
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Inner struggle with self-criticism and self-blame after loss, perfectionism and harshness towards self
Intense sadness or intense grief that feels overwhelming
Shame in asking for help, shame in hurting or not functioning optimally at work or in parenting
Disconnection from self and others, difficulty being present even when we want to be
Grief feelings impacting or coming out in our relationships, including anger, rage, sadness, confusion, and disconnection
Feelings of confusion, doubt, and inner swirl when our grief feelings continue but the world/others seem to go on
A sense of feeling flattened by grief pain—numb, want to lay down, want to stare nowhere
Struggle with social interactions & events resulting in intense anxiety or outright avoidance of being around others who don’t understand grief
Anger at others, anger at God or the universe, anger at ourselves or our loved one—and difficulty with this anger
Struggling with self-care, difficulty taking care of oneself (eating enough, exercising, resting)
Feeling scared or a loss of safety in medical environments, or just a general sense that the world or universe is no longer a safe place to be
Feelings of betrayal or confusion at God or the cosmos
Struggle to hold one’s own grief experience with care and nurture while working as a professional caring for others or as a caregiver nurturing others
You are not alone.
But it’s not enough to “know” that. At Voyager, we transform these thoughts from head-only to head, heart, and hands. We put what we value in this life, just as it is, into gritty, purposeful action.
Through radically compassionate grief care, you can hold your grief, move towards what matters for you and your family, and find yourself sincerely understandable, acceptable, and lovable in your grief and in your humanity.
At Voyager Counseling, you will find:
Expert individual Acceptance & Commitment Therapy for women grieving life-altering, tragic, or traumatic loss (available online and in-person)
Specialized Emotionally Focused Family Therapy blended with Acceptance & Commitment Therapy for families of all sizes (including couples) grieving life-altering, tragic, or traumatic loss (available in-person)
Free support groups in-person and online for supportive human connection, heartfelt understanding beyond words, & community with others also figuring out grief, loss, and life
Twice monthly emails: The Voyager Monthly provides resources and information, The Mortal Mom is a personal-professional reflection on living a whole, mortal, human life with intention and awareness, written by a radically compassionate grief therapist
You are not alone.
At Voyager Counseling, we understand the struggle of trying to manage life neck-deep in grief, watching everyone else seem to just go on. We know the pain of opening social media and feeling frustrated, alone, jealous, and sad—then criticizing ourselves for feeling this way. We know what it’s like to get things (kindof-sortof) done with to-do lists to make life feel orderly, then sob in quiet moments in the car. We know what it’s like to feel so separate, unbearably disconnected.
Really, you are not alone.
We offer radically compassionate grief care to women, couples, and families who hold it together on the outside while feeling torn apart on the inside. We help grievers bring the knowledge from head to heart that grief is the flip side of love and to build inner skills and capacity to grieve in a way you find purposeful and intentional. Through heartfelt connection and purposeful support, you can feel your grief feelings and connect with what matters most to you each day of this imperfect, complex, human life.
Voyager Counseling is a love letter to the humanity, yearning, and desperate love within grief pain. We hope you will find a home for your heart here as you find your footing in your life changed by loss. We hope you will find opportunity to connect with others who understand as you learn to include yourself in your own compassion as you grieve and as you live.
We are sending you so much care and hope for soft moments on hard days. We hope to connect with you soon.
Include you in your own compassion
Hi, I’m Olga. I’m a radically compassionate grief therapist & the owner of Voyager Counseling.
In a mortal life’s voyage, when we live with deep love, we open to deep loss. Love and loss are flip sides of the same coin.
I help people grieving life-altering loss include themselves in their own effort and compassion in a life changed by loss. Grievers work with me to build the internal capacity and skillset to feel feelings, intentionally choose meaningful forward action, and connect with clarity and compassion with themselves and others. I specialize in tragic and traumatic loss, which is not about what happened, but it’s about what happened inside of you after your loss.
I specialize in evidenced, compassionate Acceptance & Commitment Therapy and Emotionally Focused Therapy. I provide grief therapy to individuals, couples, and families; I supervise post-graduate social workers seeking independent licensure; I facilitate free community groups and expert trainings for professionals and communities.
I help grievers walk through grief pain with intentionality to build the inner and outer skills to live with purpose and heart in this mortal life, just as it is. While your grief is yours alone, you do not have to stay alone in your grief. I built this community for you, for me, and for all of us. It’s not brokenness to be mortal—it’s human. We make it through together.
To the grieving person reading, I am wishing you soft moments on hard days and moments of grace. One breath at a time.