Only a year later, the family faced another devastating loss. Debi's brother, Jimmy, who had previously undergone surgery for what appeared to be an early-stage melanoma, learned that the cancer had spread throughout his body. Debi became deeply involved in supporting him and his wife through treatment until his death in 1996 at the age of 32.

Those experiences shaped not only who Debi and Mark were personally, but also the kind of therapists they wanted to become.

Like many grieving people, Debi sought therapy after her mother's death. For six years she was told that healing would come by moving through "the stages" and simply giving it time. It wasn't until she began receiving specialized grief training herself that she realized something important was missing. Looking back, she recognized that conversations about her close relationship with her brother had often been redirected rather than explored. She left therapy shortly after Jimmy's death with a renewed commitment to finding a more compassionate, evidence-informed approach to supporting grieving people.

That search became the foundation of CCGC's philosophy.

At nearly the same time, another life-changing event reinforced the importance of trauma-informed care. Following the devastating Northridge earthquake in 1994, Debi and Mark were forced to leave their apartment after it was condemned due to structural damage. In response to the disaster, Mark trained in EMDR with its founder, Dr. Francine Shapiro, becoming one of the early clinicians to integrate trauma treatment into his practice.

Together, these experiences led them to a simple but powerful understanding: grief and trauma often go hand in hand.

Whether someone is grieving the death of a loved one, living with a life-altering illness, recovering from trauma, navigating divorce, estrangement, infertility, disability, or another significant life transition, overwhelming experiences can disrupt both the heart and the nervous system. Helping people regain a sense of stability while honoring the reality of their losses has remained central to the work of CCGC from the very beginning.

When Debi and Mark chose the name Calabasas Counseling & Grief Center, some colleagues questioned the decision. They worried that including the word grief would make the practice seem too specialized or limit the types of clients it would attract.

More than three decades later, the opposite has proven true.

CCGC has had the privilege of helping thousands of individuals, couples, families, children, and teens navigate life's most difficult seasons. The practice recognizes that grief extends far beyond bereavement. It is present after divorce, illness, trauma, family conflict, estrangement, infertility, identity changes, career transitions, disasters, and countless other experiences that can leave people feeling as though the ground beneath them has disappeared.

The goal has never been to help people "get over" their losses. Instead, the clinicians at CCGC help people regain their footing, reconnect with their strengths, and move forward while carrying the realities of what has changed.

Over the years, CCGC has also become a resource for the mental health profession itself. Debi and Mark have been honored to supervise, mentor, train, and consult with hundreds of therapists, helping expand grief-informed and trauma-informed care well beyond the walls of their own practice.

Today, every clinician at Calabasas Counseling & Grief Center receives specialized training in grief and trauma-informed approaches. The practice continues to evolve alongside advances in the field while remaining grounded in the same values that inspired its founding more than thirty years ago: compassion, curiosity, clinical excellence, and the belief that no one should have to navigate profound loss alone.

For Debi and Mark, this has always been more than a profession. It is the path that grew from their own experiences of loss into a lifelong commitment to helping others find their footing again.