How Can Coaching Help You Grieve?
Grief is a profound and challenging part of life. Having lived through and studied grief for over 20 years, I understand that in order to heal, grief must be faced. This can be daunting—who really wants to confront such pain? Some of us naturally face it because we have no other choice, while others try to minimize it with thoughts like, "It’s not that bad" or "Others have it worse." However, unprocessed grief can fester and seep into our lives in unhealthy ways. Ronald D. Siegel, Psy.D. from Harvard Health Publishing, explains that “trying to resist painful emotions actually increases psychological suffering. Paradoxically, by opening to pain, people come to suffer less, since resisting the experience of the moment is at the heart of psychological distress.”
The Role of Health Coaching
Health coaches are trained to listen deeply and recognize signs of unprocessed grief. They can help you:
- Gain Awareness: Coaches gently help you identify where unprocessed grief is affecting your life.
- Face Your Grief: They create a safe, supportive space for you to confront your grief, validating your feelings.
- Heal: By facing your grief, you can begin to heal—not by eliminating the pain, but by allowing it to soften and integrate into your life, strengthening you for your journey towards meaning, purpose, peace, and even joy.
Grief Coaching Formats
Grief coaching can be done one-on-one or in a group setting. Both formats provide the space to:
- Tell Your Story: Sharing your story helps you face the accompanying feelings, allowing them to do their necessary work.
- Release and Soften: This isn’t about forgetting or moving on, but about softening around the pain and finding gratitude for the experience of what you have lost.
In the Loss and Grief Circles I offer, you can tell your story and witness the stories and wisdom of others. There is often great healing in being part of a community facing similar challenges.
Having navigated my own journey through grief, I have discovered a supportive, healing, and meaningful way to process it. It would be my honor to accompany you on your own journey of grief, helping you find a path towards healing and renewal.
