“People often come to therapy thinking they need to be fixed. What they usually need first is to feel less alone.”
I’m Nancy
It’s nice to meet you!
Nancy West, LCSW, LICSW
Psychotherapist & Certified Grief Educator
As Featured In:
About Me
Hi, I’m Nancy.
I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Certified Grief Educator. I specialize in grief, ambiguous loss, and abandonment particularly for women who appear to be managing life on the outside, but internally feel changed in ways they don’t fully understand.
Many of the women who reach out to me are dependable, capable, and the person others rely on. They show up to work, take care of their families, and keep things moving. But privately they feel overwhelmed, numb, easily irritated, or disconnected from the person they used to be. They often wonder why everyone else seems to have moved forward while they are still carrying it.
Many of them are not just grieving a loss.
They are grieving a version of themselves, a relationship that never felt secure, or a life that did not turn out the way they expected.
I chose this work very intentionally.
I understand what it feels like to live with fear, to overthink everything, and to feel like your internal experience doesn’t match what others see. I also know how isolating it can be when what you’re carrying doesn’t have a clear name or explanation.
In therapy, you do not have to perform strength or explain why this still matters to you. You are not expected to “move on,” think positively, or find a lesson in what happened. My role is to help you slowly make sense of your experience, understand your reactions, and create space for both your grief and your life to exist at the same time.
Loss does not only follow death.
I work with women navigating:
divorce and breakups
miscarriage and infertility
estrangement from family
betrayal
and experiences of abandonment, both past and present
Many of these losses are not visible to others, but they are deeply felt. They can reshape identity, relationships, and a person’s sense of safety in the world.
My approach is gentle and steady. We go at your pace. We talk, we process, and we understand what your mind and body have been trying to cope with on their own for a long time. As therapy continues, many clients begin to feel relief, not because the past disappears, but because it finally has a place to be held.
You do not have to have the right words before you come.
You just have to start.
When you feel ready, you can schedule a consultation.
My Approach
Many of the reactions you’re experiencing are not signs that something is wrong with you. They are adaptive responses to what you’ve been through.
Many people worry they won’t know what to say in therapy.
You don’t have to come in with a clear story or the “right” words.
We start exactly where you are.
Some sessions you may talk about the loss directly. Other sessions you may talk about how it is showing up in your relationships, your thoughts at night, or why everyday situations suddenly feel harder than they used to. We move at a pace that feels manageable to you.
I do not believe grief needs to be fixed or rushed. When something meaningful changes in your life, your mind and body naturally try to make sense of it. The anxiety, numbness, overthinking, irritability, and emotional swings many people experience are not signs you are failing. They are signals your system has been carrying more than it knows how to process alone.
In our work together, my role is to help you understand those reactions rather than fight them. As you begin to feel safer talking about what you’ve been holding in, most clients notice relief. Not because the loss disappears, but because it no longer has to live entirely inside you.
Over time we gently work on:
• making sense of what happened
• understanding why certain moments feel so intense
• rebuilding a sense of identity
• reconnecting with people and life again without guilt
• understanding patterns in relationships and emotional responses
Therapy here is steady and collaborative. You are not pushed to “move on.” Instead, we focus on helping you carry what matters in a way that hurts less and allows your life to grow around it.
Professional Training
My work is informed by evidence-based practices including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), attachment-informed therapy, and nervous system regulation approaches. I integrate these with depth-oriented work to help clients not only cope, but understand and transform the patterns underlying their grief and emotional pain.
On a personal note…
Outside of my work, I live a fairly ordinary and quiet life. I spend a lot of time with my family, take walks and hikes when I can, read, and start most mornings with coffee. My dogs are usually close by, and they are often the best reminder I have to slow down and be present.
I share this because therapy can feel intimidating. You are meeting with a professional, but you are also meeting with a person. I care deeply about creating a space that feels warm, steady, and human, not clinical or distant.
I believe people heal best when they feel safe enough to be honest. You don’t have to have the right words, and you don’t have to show me a polished version of yourself. You can come exactly as you are, even if that means unsure, overwhelmed, or quiet at first.