About the California Grief Center
We believe grief isn’t just about death.
It’s about loss, change, and transition—the breakup, the move, the identity shift, the rupture in family or future. It’s the quiet ache after a diagnosis. The silence after a goodbye. The disorientation that comes when the life we knew suddenly disappears.
​
Too many people are left to face the waves alone.
​
At the California Grief Center, our mission is simple:
To offer meaningful, compassionate support—no matter where you are in the grief process. Whether it’s the rawness of fresh loss or the slow burn of long-term change, we meet you there.
​
We serve individuals, families, and communities through:
-
Therapy and coaching
-
Workshops and retreats
-
Public education and training
-
Creative healing spaces like Catharsis Theater​
​
Our approach is rooted in depth, not quick fixes.
In a world that rushes grief or avoids it altogether, we make room.
​
Room to feel.
Room to speak.
Room to fall apart and come back together.
​
Because when we tend to grief honestly, we’re not just surviving it—
We’re transforming through it.
About Brian, Founder & Clinical Director
Brian Stefan, LCSW, is a grief therapist, professor, and former national security professional dedicated to helping people face what hurts and find a way through. Prior to his work in mental health, he served in intelligence and national security—responding to crises and witnessing the unseen grief that lives beneath systems and service.
​
He specializes in grief, traumatic loss, suicide, crisis response, and anxiety, offering both individual therapy and large-scale community healing through the California Grief Center and Catharsis Theater, a transformative space for collective storytelling and emotional release.
​​
Brian also teaches trauma and grief at Cal State LA, serves with the Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center, and volunteers with the Los Angeles Mayor’s Crisis Response Team, supporting individuals and families in the immediate aftermath of death, disaster, or loss.
