What Is Grief Coaching?

What My Education Means

I am a Certified Thanatologist, Grief Educator, and Coach—three distinct areas of training focused on death, mourning, bereavement, and grief. All of which allow me to work as a legitimate grief educator and grief coach.

Thanatologist: someone with a scientific degree in death, dying, and bereavement, and the emotions tied to loss.

Grief Educator: someone trained specifically to teach and share knowledge about the grieving process — what it looks like, how it moves, and what tools help people through it.

Grief Coach: someone certified in coaching and grief coaching through a legitimate coaching training program, who supports, guides and walks alongside a client toward their own goals—without diagnosing or treating any clinical condition.

How Coaching Is Different from a Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist  or Therapist

A psychiatrist, psychotherapist, or therapist has completed the specific, mandatory education, clinical training, and licensing exams required by the government of Canada—or their provincial regulatory body—to be legally authorized to diagnose and medically treat mental health issues with medication and therapy.

I did not go through that education or licensing path. As a coach, my authority comes from completing coaching certification and training — which qualifies me to call myself exactly that: a grief coach. I can help you with all areas of your grief. I cannot diagnose any medical conditions or prescribe medication.

Grief Changes You. But It Doesn’t Have To Control You

As a grief coach specializing in adult loss, I help people like you to:

• Understand your grief in practical ways.
• Process complex thoughts, feelings and behaviours with clarity and compassion. Understand the ‘why they happen’ and ‘how to cope with them’.
• Make sense of shifts in your relationships with others and your self-identity.
• Reconnect with your changed world even when it feels impossible.
• Soften your grief by changing the intensity, duration and frequency of the parts of your grief that you find most difficult, like triggers, looping thoughts, or feelings like guilt or anger.
• See all the ways you can continue to live forward—not by “moving on,” but by integrating your grief into a meaningful life.
• Get curious about how you can stay connected to your beloved, because maintaining that relationship matters to you.
• Find your way through the complexity of grief.
• Never feel alone.
• Create a life filled with balance and warmth. Let loss and grief softly coexist with your cherished relationship with your loved one, while hope, dreams, and happiness blossom beautifully around you.

Wondering If Grief Coaching is Right for You?

Grief coaching might help if:

• You feel overwhelmed by your grief.
• You find your feelings, thoughts and behaviours intense and don’t understand why they are happening.
• You feel like you’re ‘doing grief wrong.’
• You don’t know if you’re ‘moving forward’ or lost or stuck in your grief.
• You’ve lost your interest in favourite hobbies and socializing, and you’re not sure how to change that.
• You feel like you’re not doing a good job of taking care of your body, but are unsure of what kinds of self-care could feel good in grief.
• You’re unsure how to talk to friends and family about your grief. You think you need better boundaries, but you’re not sure how to set them.
• You feel uncomfortable asking for help.
• Sometimes in public you feel you need to hide your grief because it makes others uncomfortable.
• You want to stay in a loving relationship with your beloved but don’t know how.
• You’re ready to talk to a grief coach, but not sure where to begin.

That’s an easy fix, friend. Start with my free 45-minute discovery call. It’s your time to help me understand your loss and what you feel you need and want from session[s] with me.  No pressure to do more than that. Just a compassionate conversation.

You Don’t Have to Be “At Rock Bottom”  With Your Grief to Get Support From Me

Some people turn to coaching immediately, while others take weeks, months, or even years to get started. There’s really no right or wrong time to begin. If you’re here reading this, it means your grief feels too big to deal with alone. And you don’t have to, if I’m your grief companion. Feel free to reach out—I’m here to listen, and I’d love to talk with you.