About The Center for Grief Recovery & Therapeutic Services

Chicago Counselor at The Center for Grief Recovery

And all subsided in the hush
that followed, in the calm
of great wings folding
and shadowy forms lying down.

I rose and left that room,
the house of my grief
and my bondage, my book
never again to be opened.

To see as once I saw,
steadied by the darkness
in which I walked
and would make my way.

John Haines

About The Center for Grief Recovery & Therapeutic Services

Meet the Counselors and Psychotherapists Here

Do you want to believe good is on the other side of grief? As members of The Better Business Bureau, The Center for Grief Recovery and The Institute for Creative Development have served as Chicago counselors and therapists for more than a quarter century. We help people heal from grief into creativity.

Dr. Jerry Rothman lost his brother in a hunting accident and directed his devastation into the eventual co-founding of The Center for Grief Recovery. Every journey to recovery begins with loss, a change, a longing to move in a different direction. On the other hand, the looming terror of endless unhappiness drives us to avoid our deepest pain. But grief is normal and not permanent.

Each of our Chicago counselors and coaches creates a safe environment for you to express your deepest hurts and frustrations. We then offer you tools and patient, reliable guidance every step of the way towards feeling better. Our team each specializes in bereavement, coaching our peers, advising the news media, and nurturing companies through the grief process. We help you integrate feelings and experiences to move beyond helplessness and hopelessness into a life of new possibilities.

The world may seem unstable and knock you off balance. But that fall can lead you to a new and better place. That’s why we founded Institute for Creativity and Development for both individuals and organizations who wonder about Chicago counseling methods. Our proprietary method, Blended Experiential Therapy, merges artistic traditions with biofeedback, freeing you to be more spontaneous to the potential within each moment of your day. Does your workday focus more on fixing mistakes rather than doing what you were hired to do? As a manager, do you spend more time dealing with politics than improving process? Our change management consultancy applies a four-step process to empower your organization to identify and solve its own problems.

We work with individuals, couples and partnerships, families, corporations, and organizations. If you want to learn about Chicago counseling, Chicago counselors, therapy, marriage counseling, coaching, or organizational development, please call us for a free consultation at (773) 274-4600

News and Events

Top 50 Web Sites and Forums for Grief Counseling

Community Walk for Grief Support: Celebrating 25 Years of Transformation
The Center celebrated its 25th year anniversary with a fund raiser walk in Rogers Park, Chicago on June 4. [read more]

The Center's Bereavement Bibliography Expanded.

Resources for Further Exploration.

New Groups

Healing Our Losses - An Ongoing Group Therapy Experience for adults struggling with loss offers a unique opportunity to learn, grow, and heal grief and loss . . . [read more]

New Workshops

Center colleague Allan Schnarr, MDiv, PhD offering new "TRANSFORMING LOVE - Creativity as a way of new life" workshop . . . [read more]

New Articles

Pain Bonds Us - I feel close to you when you let your pain show. A protective shield inside me slides away. [read more]

Private Practice: Dynamic Psychotherapy and Bereavement Counseling (CEU) [read more]

You Know Therapy Is Working When . . . - You feel increasingly uncomfortable with the status quo when it is causing harm. [read more]

Ideas About Mourning - For the griever the future feels shattered; everything hoped for is broken and gone/ lost like a broken mirror. [read more]

Myths and Realities of Mourning - Regrettably, our society maintains a host of unrealistic assumptions and inappropriate expectations when it comes to the work of grief and mourning. Here are some myths to consider: [read more]

The Difference Between Grief and Mourning - It is critical to know the difference between grief and mourning. Both processes are there to help the bereaved face the reality that their loved one is gone and then to slowly begin to accommodate to that fact. [read more]