My first experience with profound loss came when my brother died when I was 24. I had never navigated grief before, and I didn’t really know how. Looking back, I became a grief stuffer. I tucked the pain away and kept moving forward.
Years later, I lost my first dog, my Duchess, after 13½ years together. That loss became the brick that took my house down.
Suddenly, it wasn’t only the grief of losing her. Years of grief I had tucked away came bubbling back to the surface, and I began to understand just how much we can carry with us when grief has never had a place to go.
That experience changed the way I understood grief—and eventually, the way I wanted to support others through it.
I realized I couldn’t navigate the loss of my Duchess alone. I needed help understanding what I was feeling and a place where my grief—especially the grief of losing a beloved dog—was understood and taken seriously.
That search led me to grief coaching.
Having someone walk alongside me through my own grief showed me how meaningful that kind of support can be. In time, it also planted a seed: maybe I could be that person for someone else.
I went on to become a Certified Grief Coach so I could offer others the same kind of compassionate, judgment-free support that I once needed myself.
Grief isn’t something I only understand from losses long ago. I have experienced immense losses very recently, leaving me to navigate profound grief while still trying to find my footing in a life that suddenly looks very different.
I’ve learned that grief doesn’t follow a timeline, and it doesn’t always come one loss at a time. Sometimes losses pile upon losses before we’ve even had a chance to process the one before. I know what it is to carry that weight while the rest of the world keeps moving.
That lived experience, together with my training as a Certified Grief Coach, is at the heart of Grief & Grace with Heidi.
I won’t tell you how to grieve, how long to grieve, or that it’s time to move on.
I’ll meet you where you are, listen to what you need, and walk alongside you as you learn to carry your loss in a way that feels right for you.
There is room here for the sadness, the anger, the laughter, the memories—and everything messy and beautiful in between.
Grief never leaves us; we simply learn to carry it with us while we keep living. The waves of grief can be so hard to navigate alone. Moment by moment, we can survive those crushing waves together.
I appreciate your being here and I hope we have the chance to pull up a chair and grieve on, together. The first step is always the hardest, isn't it?