Senior Therapy
Support, Care and Inner Balance in the Later Chapters of Life
My work with older adults is rooted in the clinical field of geropsychology — the branch of psychology devoted to the emotional and relational wellbeing of people in later life.
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In my practice, I offer what I call Senior Therapy: a warm, gentle and respectful space where aging, loss, change and identity can be explored with support and dignity.
Later life is a unique phase.
A time when life becomes both more beautiful and more fragile.
A time when the routines and relationships that have carried us for decades begin to shift.
A time when loss, illness, bodily changes and existential questions take on new weight and clarity.
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In this phase, therapy can be an invaluable support — a place to land, a place to be met, and a place to rediscover meaning, strength and calm within yourself.
What Is Senior Therapy?
Senior Therapy is for older adults who are navigating the many transitions that often accompany aging:
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Loss of a partner
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Grief after a spouse’s long-term illness
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Stepping into the role of caregiver
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Fear of loneliness or the future
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Loss of health and physical abilities (mobility, vision, hearing, strength)
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Loss of independence and identity
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Existential questions
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Crises of meaning and life review
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Changes in daily rhythm, safety and life courage
This form of therapy makes room for the life that has been lived, the life that is unfolding now, and the life that still lies ahead — with all the feelings, layers and parts that belong to it.
When Loss Arrives — In Relationships and in the Body
The losses of later life come in many forms — some visible, others quiet and unspoken.
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When a Partner Becomes Ill or Dependent
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The role of partner can slowly shift into the role of caregiver.
Love becomes intertwined with responsibility, exhaustion, doubt and guilt.
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Questions like:
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Where is my limit?
What do I owe someone I’ve shared my life with?
What happens if I can’t do this anymore?
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often have no safe place to land.
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When You Yourself Are Struck by Illness or Loss of Function
Later life also changes from the inside.
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When mobility weakens, when vision becomes uncertain, when hearing fades, when balance shifts or when the body no longer responds the way you ask it to, a deep and often quiet grief follows.
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It is not only the body that is affected.
It is freedom.
Identity.
Participation in life.
Connection to the everyday world.
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Many experience:
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Frustration
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Shame
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Dependence
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Fatigue or discouragement
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Social withdrawal
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Fear of the future
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Grief for the life that can no longer be lived
And beneath these feelings are often younger inner layers: a part that is scared, a part that feels helpless, a part that doesn’t want to be a burden.
Senior Therapy offers space for all of this — at a pace that feels safe.
When You Lose Your Life Partner
A partnership that has lasted for decades leaves deep traces.
When a partner dies, you do not only lose a person.
You lose:
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Daily routines
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Familiar sounds and closeness
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Shared memory
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Your role as partner
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Imagined futures
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The feeling of belonging
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The person who said your name in a particular way
Grief in later life is both the loss of today and a reactivation of life’s earliest wound: the fear of being alone.
Finding Love Again – When the Heart Opens in Later Life
Finding love again in the later chapters of life can be both beautiful and deeply vulnerable.
After a long life — perhaps marked by partnership, loss, or illness — the heart may both long and hold back at the same time.
Many people experience:
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a quiet hope for closeness
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fear of losing someone again
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doubt about whether they “can,” “may,” or dare
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a sense of loyalty toward a deceased partner
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uncertainty about body, identity or sexuality
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worry about how family might respond
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comparisons with what once was
Opening the heart again can awaken both the young and the wise parts within:
the part that longs,
the part that protects,
the part that wishes to be met exactly as you are now.
In later life, love often feels more honest, more nuanced, more conscious — and sometimes more exposed. And it requires courage — not youth.
In Senior Therapy, I offer a calm and respectful space where you can explore what love means for you now, and how to make room for it without becoming overwhelmed.
IFS in Later Life — An Approach that Honors the Mind’s Multiplicity
In my work, I use Internal Family Systems (IFS) because it recognizes that the mind is not a single, unified voice — but a landscape of many inner layers and parts.
These parts are not “one personality,” but inner figures that have developed roles throughout your life to help you survive, adapt and make meaning.
IFS understands two essential groups of parts:
1. The Protective Layers
The parts that have learned, over many years, to hold everything together:
to be strong, responsible, practical, enduring — or, alternatively, to withdraw, go numb or become irritable to avoid overwhelm.
2. The Vulnerable Layers
The finely tuned inner parts that carry grief, fear, loneliness, loss and helplessness.
They often feel like younger inner children who become overwhelmed when life changes quickly or unpredictably.
These layers often become very active in later life, because they are once again trying to protect you — each in their own way.
In therapy, we create gentle space for both the vulnerable and the protective parts, so the system no longer has to carry everything alone, but can find calm, clarity and support from within.
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Existential Themes in Later Life
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Later life naturally brings forward questions that may not have filled as much earlier on:
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Who am I now?
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What does a good life mean?
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What do I leave behind?
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How do I live with loss?
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How do I find meaning in the life that remains?
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How do I make space for both grief and gratitude?
In therapy, I offer a calm and safe space where you can explore these questions in your own rhythm — without pressure and without expectations.
My Approach — A Calm, Respectful Space
In Senior Therapy, I meet my clients with:
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🌿 Calm
🌿 Warmth
🌿 Clinical grounding
🌿 Deep respect for their life story
🌿 Room for both vulnerability and strength
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It is not my role to tell you how to live your life.
It is my role to support you in finding your own direction, your own dignity, and your own inner anchor.
Is Senior Therapy Right for You?
Senior Therapy may be helpful if you:
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Are grieving or experiencing loss
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Are caring for a sick partner
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Are struggling with loss of health or mobility
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Feel overwhelmed or alone
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Notice old patterns or wounds resurfacing
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Long for calm, support and inner balance
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Are facing an identity or meaning crisis
You are welcome — exactly as you are.
I look forward to meeting you and supporting you in this phase of life, with everything you carry.