7 Best Online Grief Therapy Services in 2026

Sometimes grief comes with overwhelming thoughts of despair and even the loss of will to live. Brightside Health’s Suicide Prevention Program is designed for individuals with elevated suicide risk, including those who are actively suicidal or have had a recent suicide attempt and those in need of follow-up care after hospitalization. This program offers medically necessary care to those who are often excluded from outpatient treatment (both in person or through telehealth) because of their elevated risk. Based on 30 years of ongoing clinical research and five randomized controlled trials, CAMS has been proven to decrease suicide attempts and self-harm behaviors and reduce suicidal ideation in as few as six sessions.

At Brightside Health, patients are assigned to a CAMS-trained clinician within Brightside’s network. The clinician conducts a thorough 60-minute intake evaluation to understand the patient’s level of suicidal ideation, history of suicidality, risk, and protective factors. If the clinician decides that the patient is appropriate for the Suicide Prevention Program, intervention will begin immediately. Patients enrolled in the program will have weekly (or more frequently) live one-on-one video sessions with their dedicated CAMS-trained clinician, direct messaging between sessions, and proactive progress tracking to view their progress over time.

Grief can come in unexpected waves, so to have an option to be able to cope with challenging thoughts can be very beneficial and comforting. With access to messaging whenever you want, there’s no need to take off work or schedule childcare. For the socially anxious, it can be an especially convenient way to get mental health support because you don’t face anxiety-inducing face-to-face conversations. Starting at $69 a week, it is one of the most affordable options on the market for those who are not covered by insurance.

Every Talkspace user has a secure, private “room” to communicate with their therapist where all communications are protected and fully encrypted. You can post and reply to messages in your room 24/7, so there is no need to wait to get something off your chest. Your therapist will see your messages and can respond to you throughout the day, with a guarantee of responses five days a week. There’s no limit to how many messages you send, and you can go over past messages to track your progress and reflect on your insights and discoveries.

When in the midst of grief, maneuvering through the world of insurance networks can seem overwhelming. But the Zocdoc platform has a very straightforward filter that allows you to quickly search for online bereavement counselors who are in your insurance network. Also, many companies require you to commit to a contract, but with Zocdoc you can schedule your sessions on demand without a subscription, making therapy available when you want it.

Zocdoc makes it easy to search for therapists by the type of condition they treat, such as prolonged grief disorder. This type of grief interferes with a person’s ability to function, and symptoms can include sleeplessness, emotional numbness, loss of motivation in pursuing interests, and feeling isolated.

Zocdoc essentially works as a middleman. The company does not offer any plans, but instead they connect you with a provider who determines the exact cost per session. The cost for a Zocdoc grief counseling session depends on your insurance plan and whether the Zocdoc provider you choose is in your insurance network. If your insurance plan offers out-of-network coverage, you may be eligible for reimbursement, depending on the details of your plan.

Therapists have user ratings and reviews that are very easy to access. The intake form once you book a session could be perceived as lengthy and possibly exhausting for someone in the middle of grief, but it will give your therapist a better idea right away of how to most efficiently work with you.

The Children’s Bereavement Center and adult division Lift From Loss provides absolutely free peer support groups for children age of 4 and up, young adults, and adults after the death of a loved one as a result of illness, accident, suicide, or homicide. Often when grieving, it’s easy to feel like no one could possibly understand the pain you are going through. A peer support group can make some feel less alone. There are dedicated groups run by mental health professionals and trained volunteers, including perinatal- and infant-loss groups for child loss before birth or during infancy and a child-loss group for parents and caregivers who have lost a child of any age.

To sign up, you can either call or email to get registered for a group. There is also a button on the website that says “Join a Group.” You will fill out just a few fields like name, language, time zone, and what age group you belong to. Someone will contact you for an orientation, then they’ll provide options for group times and get you the Zoom link to join. Groups meet in the evenings every week..

A free Bronze membership gives access to a chat room that offers a safe place to share your story and mourn your loss that is managed by certified grief specialists. A Silver membership, which costs $39 a year, grants access to video support groups and multiple support groups per month.

The Compassionate Friends is a nonprofit organization that offers an online support community through live chats. This program encourages connecting and sharing among parents, grandparents, and siblings (over the age of 18) grieving the death of a child. Its online grief chat support forums are hosted every day, including weekends, at scheduled times. If you want to use the chat rooms but don’t know what to expect, there are a couple of chat room orientation sessions offered each week. The warm atmosphere in the rooms encourages conversation among friends who understand the emotions you’re experiencing. There are general bereavement sessions as well as more specific sessions, such as those for a loss to a substance-related cause or from a miscarriage. It has local in-person chapters as well as Facebook groups.

The Compassionate Friends has more than 500 chapters serving all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico for free, making it one of the most accessible places to receive support after the loss of a child. New clients are also offered a free customized packet of bereavement materials specifically chosen to apply to their situation. There’s no obligation to talk at any meeting, so those who are not ready to speak but still want to feel supported can simply attend and listen until they are ready to share. The trained volunteers are all bereaved parents, siblings, or grandparents who understand the deep pain that comes with losing a child.

Helping kids cope with loss requires a specialized approach. Little Otter believes that mental health care is only as good as the team who provides it, so it only employs providers who are full-time and trained in the most up-to-date clinical practices for early childhood development. Psychiatric support is also available to prescribe and monitor medications if needed.

Little Otter provides personalized therapy for kids and teens up to the age of 18 who are struggling with big feelings and tough challenges. Little Otter’s collaborative, evidence-based therapy includes a “whole family” approach — because when a kid is having a hard time, so is the whole family. Support starts with a questionnaire to get to know your family’s needs, a personalized report based on the findings, then a kickoff session that turns into a customized care plan that tracks progress. While a bit pricier than some other options (a standard therapy session is $200 for 45 minutes), there is a 15-percent discount when purchasing eight or more sessions at a time.