Our therapists offer grief & loss counseling in Pittsburgh, PA

Heather Richards is a Licensed Professional Counselor with 20 years of experience working with diverse populations, from preschool-aged children to older adults. She has supported individuals facing trauma, grief, and loss, and has worked with clients navigating depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism, PTSD, and bipolar disorder. Heather’s background includes work with at-risk youth, family systems, and outpatient and group therapy. She is passionate about helping clients committed to healing and personal growth.

Heather earned her Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Capella University. She uses a client-centered, integrative approach that includes cognitive behavioral therapy, trauma-informed care, and strength-based techniques. She meets clients where they are while encouraging growth outside their comfort zone.

Heather helps clients feel empowered in their healing journey by fostering connection and trust. She values each client’s input and believes therapy should be tailored to individual needs and never one-size-fits-all. Heather supports clients in developing tools to manage symptoms, build resilience, and improve their quality of life.

Rachael Heiser is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with over 5 years of experience working with families, couples, and clients of all ages to cope with concerns or conditions related to ADHD, anxiety, depression, family conflict, abuse, trauma, grief, loss, mood disorders, adoption-related issues, infidelity, and much more. 

She earned her Master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Northcentral University. Rachael is an active member of the AAMFT (American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. She also has years of experience working with a number of therapy modalities, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), narrative family therapy (NFT), emotionally-focused therapy (EFT), solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), and structural family therapy (SFT).

In sessions, Rachael provides a safe and empathetic atmosphere for you and your family to have honest (and sometimes difficult) conversations. She approaches each session with an open mind. Rachael believes we all have internal strengths but sometimes just need some help navigating these strengths to achieve our goals.

Laura Marsico is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 4 years of experience in the mental health field. She specializes in working with adolescents and adults dealing with the variety of challenges associated with life changes, as well as those affected by anxiety, chronic illness, depression, family and relational issues, grief and loss, and trauma. Laura has worked in community and residential settings and has experience as a teacher and an artist.

Laura received her Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Master of Arts in Studio Arts from Western Carolina University. She views clients holistically, and her integrative approach includes cognitive behavior therapy, mindfulness, and expressive arts.

Laura appreciates that while life continually happens, it is easy to lose sight of one’s truth amidst the chaos of today’s world. By offering compassion and empathy, Laura listens with care and aims to help clients learn new ways to communicate, cope, and heal through living in alignment with their core values.

Layla Bruzda is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 10 years of experience working in both inpatient and outpatient substance use treatment, as well as outpatient mental health treatment for adolescents and adults. She is helping clients to address substance use problems, trauma, anxiety, depression, anger, low self-esteem, ADHD symptoms, grief/loss, relationship problems, communication/conflict resolution, legal involvement, and day-to-day life stressors.

Layla earned a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She uses a person-centered approach to help clients achieve their goals. She utilizes cognitive behavior therapy, rational emotive behavior therapy, motivational Interviewing, and other approaches based on individual needs and goals.

Layla believes that everyone deserves to live a peaceful and fulfilling life, despite past mistakes or difficult life experiences. She recognizes that carrying around this emotional weight can be physically and mentally exhausting, or lead to feeling "stuck." Layla's goal is to help clients process these issues to lighten the weight of life's challenges.

“Thoughts become things...choose the good ones!" (-Mike Dooley/TUT). Kate has 15 years’ experience as a Licensed Professional Counselor in Pennsylvania. She takes a holistic, eclectic, integrative approach to counseling, with the desire to create a "home base" -- a safe, caring, empathic and nonjudgmental environment to explore, heal, and reunite the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of who you are. She incorporates traditional evidence-based modalities; wisdom gleaned from broad life experiences; a deep, spiritual relationship with her own humanness; and good old-fashioned common sense. One of Kate’s greatest realizations is that our thoughts and beliefs are not always reliable sources of information. When faced with stress, sorrow, pain, trauma and tragedy, inaccurate thoughts and beliefs can lead to depression, anxiety, shame, guilt, and unnecessary suffering. This in turn can lead us down distressing paths. Kate commends you for recognizing and accepting that you can't figure it all out by yourself. She desires to help you learn to think clearly and effectively in times of crisis; show courage in the face of trauma; and find humor amid tragedy. She endeavors to help you make sense out of things that just don't seem to make sense.