Therapy for life changes can offer the support you need when everything feels uncertain. Change is an inevitable part of life—but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Even positive transitions, like starting a new job at OHSU, moving across town to a more walkable neighborhood, or beginning the journey to parenthood, can bring unexpected emotional stress. Other changes, like managing chronic illness, navigating a breakup, or feeling burnout from a demanding healthcare or tech job, may leave you feeling untethered, overwhelmed, or unsure how to move forward.
At Holistic Community Therapy, we support clients navigating life transitions with resilience, cultural humility, and practical care. Through occupational therapy and trauma-informed support, we help you stay grounded and empowered—even when routines are shifting and nothing feels familiar.
Whether you’re in the middle of a major shift or anticipating one, you don’t have to do it alone. That’s why therapy for life changes focuses not just on coping, but on rebuilding a sense of safety, rhythm, and identity—at your own pace.
What Counts as a Life Transition?
Life transitions can take many forms. Some happen suddenly, while others unfold over time. You might be experiencing:
- A career change, layoff, or promotion — especially in fast-paced fields like tech, healthcare, or academia
- Relationship shifts—divorce, separation, marriage, new partnerships — including reentering the dating scene in your 30s or 40s
- Becoming a parent or caregiver — or navigating fertility planning as a queer or solo adult
- Moving to a new home, city, or country — including adjusting to life in Portland’s rainy seasons, new neighborhoods, or changing cost of living
- A medical diagnosis, chronic illness, or injury — like managing type 1 diabetes with an insulin pump or post-concussive symptoms
- Graduating, retiring, or aging into a new life stage
- Identity exploration or coming out — especially if you’re stepping into a more authentic version of yourself
- Grieving a loss or navigating family changes — whether chosen family or biological
No matter the specifics, life transitions often involve a redefinition of identity, routine, and support systems. And that can feel disorienting.
How Transitions Impact Mental Health
Change can trigger a range of emotions—grief, anxiety, excitement, fear, numbness—and sometimes all at once. You might find yourself thinking, “Why can’t I handle this? I should be doing better.” Or you may feel like everyone else in your community has it together but you’re quietly falling apart behind the scenes.
Common mental health effects of life transitions include:
- Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
- Sleep issues or disrupted routines
- Irritability, sadness, or emotional volatility
- Physical symptoms like fatigue or tension
- Feeling disconnected from self or others
- Avoidance, procrastination, or burnout
It’s normal to need extra support during these times. Occupational therapy can help you regulate your nervous system, establish grounding routines, and reconnect with your inner stability.
How Therapy for Life Changes Supports You Through Transitions
Occupational therapy (OT) is uniquely suited to help you rebuild structure and find stability during life changes. We focus on helping you engage with real-life routines that reflect your values—not someone else’s idea of what “being productive” should look like. Whether you’re navigating burnout, grief, or identity shifts, therapy for life changes offers tools to help you feel more grounded and supported through the process.
In OT, we can help you:
- Develop realistic routines during unstable periods
- Process grief and identity shifts with compassion
- Break down overwhelming tasks into manageable steps
- Adapt your physical space and habits to meet your current needs
- Build nervous system regulation tools for stress and overwhelm
- Reconnect with meaningful roles, values, and activities
- Access community support or build new social connections
Therapy is not about “fixing” you. It’s about holding space for the messy middle and offering tools to make that middle more navigable.
You Can Thrive, Not Just Survive, Through Change
So many of our clients come to us believing they should already have things figured out—especially if they’re high-achieving, empathetic, or used to being the “strong one” in their circle. But transition takes time. You may need to grieve, to rest, to rediscover your direction, or simply to feel supported while everything feels uncertain.
That’s not failure. That’s healing. Our clients often discover that therapy for life changes gives them permission to slow down, reassess, and create routines that reflect who they are now—not who they were before the transition.
With support, you can:
- Make decisions from a grounded place
- Learn to trust your capacity to adapt
- Create routines that reflect your current life, not your past one
- Strengthen your ability to weather future change with greater ease
When You’re Ready, We’re Here
Whether you’re navigating a planned change or an unexpected upheaval, you don’t have to walk through it alone. At Holistic Community Therapy, we serve adults across Portland who are juggling work, identity, and healing—sometimes all at once. Our compassionate, trauma-informed care helps you feel safe, seen, and supported, wherever life is taking you next.
