What We Treat / Complicated Grief
Complicated Grief Treatment.
When grief stops moving — structured support for prolonged and complicated loss inside PHP or IOP days that hold the weight weekly therapy can’t.
Admissions answers when you call.
A real person — never a call center.
Levels of care
PHP & IOP
Modalities
CBT, EMDR, DBT
Psychiatry
On staff
Length
Clinical need
What complicated grief treatment looks like here
When loss won’t let you move.
The question isn’t whether you need support. It’s whether the support you have matches the weight you’re carrying.
Grief is supposed to hurt. But complicated grief is different — it’s grief that doesn’t soften with time. Months or years pass and the pain is as sharp as day one. Life shrinks around the loss. Joy feels like betrayal. Moving forward feels like forgetting.
Complicated grief often overlaps with depression, trauma, and substance use — especially when the loss was sudden, violent, or involved someone central to your identity. Weekly grief counseling helps some people. Others need the daily structure and clinical intensity to process what feels unprocessable.
At High Tide, complicated grief treatment addresses the loss directly while treating everything that has grown around it — depression, anxiety, avoidance, substance use, and the identity crisis that major loss creates.
Who it's for
For grief that has become the center of everything.
Complicated grief treatment here fits when loss is dominating your life and standard grief support hasn’t helped.
This level of care fits when
- It’s been months or years and the intensity of grief hasn’t meaningfully decreased.
- You’ve withdrawn from life — work, relationships, activities — because nothing feels meaningful without the person you lost.
- The loss was sudden, traumatic, or involved suicide — and processing feels stuck.
- Grief has triggered depression, substance use, or suicidal thoughts you can’t manage alone.
- You need daily support to begin re-engaging with life — not just a weekly grief group.
A different level may fit better when
- Grief is acute but progressing normally — outpatient grief counseling may be enough.
- You’re in active suicidal crisis — stabilization comes first.
- You need 24/7 supervision.
- The primary issue is depression without a clear grief component.
What we treat here
Grief presentations we treat.
Loss takes many forms. We treat the grief and everything it has triggered.
01
Prolonged grief
Grief that persists at acute intensity beyond expected timeframes.
- Persistent yearning
- Difficulty accepting loss
- Identity disruption
- Emotional numbness
02
Traumatic loss
Death by suicide, accident, violence, or sudden unexpected causes.
- Suicide loss
- Sudden death
- Violent death
- Witnessed death
03
Ambiguous loss
Loss without closure — missing persons, estrangement, dementia-related grief.
- Missing loved ones
- Estrangement grief
- Anticipatory grief
- Disenfranchised grief
04
Overlapping concerns
Grief rarely travels alone.
- Grief & depression
- Grief & substance use
- Grief & trauma
- Grief & guilt
There is no timeline for grief. But when grief stops you from living, that’s complicated — and treatable.
See everything we treatWhat to expect
Programming hours and weekly groups.
Here is how PHP and IOP are structured — plus the group types offered every week. Condition- and modality-specific work (individual therapy, psychiatry, and targeted skills) is scheduled inside these PHP and IOP hours — not as a fixed minute-by-minute sample day.
Our groups aim for a holistic, clinically excellent, and human approach to healing. Programs address the whole self — brain, mind, and body — with a wide range of perspectives and ways to engage in treatment. Individual therapy and psychiatry are scheduled inside PHP or IOP; the weekly mix shifts with your plan.
PHP
9 AM – 4 PM
Full-day programming five days a week — individual therapy, group work, psychiatry, and holistic practices in one integrated day.
IOP
Morning & afternoon tracks
Part-day sessions several days per week. Morning and afternoon tracks are offered so you can keep work, school, or family routines while staying anchored in treatment.
Group
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT focus)
Dialectical behavior therapy skills for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness.
Group
Therapeutic Process Groups
Small-group therapy where emotional triggers, relationship patterns, and recovery challenges surface and get worked in real time.
Group
Relationships / Family Based Groups (IFS/ACT Focus)
Internal Family Systems and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy lenses on attachment, family dynamics, and values-aligned connection — including family therapy themes when clinically useful.
Group
Physical Movement Groups
Body-based sessions that support regulation, energy, and the physical side of recovery — part of the clinical week, not optional fluff.
Group
Recovery (SUD & MH track focus)
Integrated recovery groups with substance use and mental health tracks — cravings, relapse prevention, and the mental health drivers underneath both.
Group
Somatic Healing Groups
Breathwork, sound bowls, and mindfulness exploration for nervous-system regulation and trauma-informed body awareness.
Group
Art-Based Expression / Music-Based Process Groups
Creative process groups for clients who access emotion and insight more readily through art and music than talk alone.
Group
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT focus)
Cognitive behavioral therapy for thought patterns, behaviors, and the loops that keep depression, anxiety, and related symptoms going.
Group
Aftercare Planning Groups
Discharge and aftercare planning so outpatient therapy, medication, recovery support, and home structure are mapped before you leave.
Group
Adventure
Experiential outdoor and adventure-based groups that practice regulation, trust, and peer connection outside the therapy room.
What's included
Grief treatment tools.
Integrated grief work — not just talking about the loss, but rebuilding a life that holds it.
01
Grief-focused therapy
Processing the loss, guilt, anger, and meaning-making at a sustainable pace.
02
EMDR for traumatic loss
Processing traumatic aspects of the death that keep grief stuck.
03
Behavioral activation
Gradually re-engaging with activities and relationships grief has paused.
04
DBT distress tolerance
Skills for surviving grief waves without substance use or self-harm.
05
Psychiatry
Medication support for comorbid depression, anxiety, or sleep disruption.
06
Family sessions
Helping families grieve differently without pulling apart.
What changes
What structured grief treatment builds.
The goal isn’t forgetting. It’s carrying the loss while re-engaging with life.
Daily
Grief support in PHP — not six days alone between weekly sessions.
Team
Individual therapy and psychiatry scheduled inside your programming week.
Planned
Aftercare with outpatient therapist and grief support resources mapped.
Paced
Grief processing never forced — your clinician follows your readiness.
Not sure PHP is the right level?
PHP and IOP, side by side.
Complicated grief often needs more than weekly support — PHP adds daily structure when loss has stalled functioning; IOP fits when you need regular grief work without pausing life. Here’s the difference.
PHP
This program- Time commitment
- 9 AM – 4 PM, 5 days a week
- Best for
- Acute symptoms, stepping down from inpatient, medication changes
- Psychiatry
- Multiple check-ins weekly with close monitoring
- Work & school
- Usually paused or reduced during the program
- Length
- Follows clinical need
IOP
The step down- Time commitment
- Part-day sessions, several days a week
- Best for
- Moderate symptoms, stepping down from PHP, working or in school
- Psychiatry
- Weekly or as-needed appointments
- Work & school
- Designed to run alongside your regular schedule
- Length
- Follows clinical need
How to start
From first call to first day — usually within a week.
Admissions is one phone call, not a paperwork gauntlet. Here’s the whole process.
01
Call or verify online
A confidential conversation with our admissions team — what’s going on, what you’re looking for, and whether complicated grief treatment is the right fit. We verify your insurance the same day, usually while you’re still on the phone.
02
Symptom & diagnosis mapping
Your assessment maps how symptoms show up in sleep, relationships, work, and safety — not just the diagnosis on paper. That picture drives which modalities and which level of care (PHP or IOP) actually fit.
03
Structured start
Within days you’re in daily programming with psychiatry and therapy aligned to your condition — medication questions answered early, skills introduced in week one, and the team adjusting the plan as your symptoms respond.
Most PPO plans cover this program. Verification is free, confidential, and usually same-day.
Common questions
Answers before you have to ask.
Can't find your question? Call us — a real person answers, and there's never pressure to commit.
Will insurance cover complicated grief treatment?
Most PPO plans cover PHP and IOP for mental health, and California parity law requires insurers to cover mental health care at the same level as physical health care. We verify your exact benefits before you commit — free, confidential, and usually same-day. Start at /insurance or read /mental-health-guides/does-insurance-cover-php-iop.
Can I keep working during treatment?
Complicated grief can make concentration and work feel impossible — PHP adds daily support when functioning has collapsed; IOP fits when you need structured grief work alongside reduced but ongoing responsibilities.
How long will treatment last?
Complicated grief timelines vary widely. Length follows functioning and meaning-making progress, with step-down when daily structure is no longer needed.
What if I’m coming from out of town?
Many clients travel for specialized condition care. We can help arrange optional supportive housing nearby — but PHP and IOP do not require living on campus; most people spend evenings at home or a hotel. Orange County families often start at /mental-health-treatment-orange-county.
Is this the same as being hospitalized?
No. Condition treatment here is outpatient PHP or IOP — structured clinical days without overnight stay, locked units, or hospital corridors. You return home (or optional housing) each evening.
What happens after I finish?
Grief aftercare connects you to ongoing support groups or therapists, medication review if indicated, and routines that protect sleep and connection. Step-down to outpatient care is common.
What is complicated grief?
Complicated (prolonged) grief is when loss stays intense and impairing long after the expected mourning window — yearning, avoidance of reminders, and stuckness that weekly therapy alone may not move. Structured PHP or IOP can hold the intensity while skills and processing work.
How is complicated grief different from depression?
They overlap, but grief centers on a specific loss and yearning; depression is a broader mood syndrome. Assessment sorts both — and we treat co-occurring depression when it is present without collapsing grief into a one-size mood plan.