Danielle Southwick

My Experience

Grief Recovery has transformed nearly all of my relationships on some varying level. It's helped me understand and identify my personal grief/losses, which I was unaware of previously, determine the root cause of my trauma/limiting beliefs/grief, and overall gain a healthy toolkit for processing emotions both in the moment and from the past. That is life-changing work. The lessons I learned and the work that I did in my Grief Recovery class with Danielle is extremely important to me and I expect the benefits of this class will only compound with every relationship that grows deeper and every year that passes. I believe time is emotion and the emotional progress that Grief Recovery helps you achieve is like the equivalent of gaining several years of extra time in this life. Outstanding program. Outstanding instructor (Danielle).

My Experience

I've been doing personal work and healing on my own for the better part of two or three years on my incomplete relationship with both of my parents. This work revolved around reading and journaling about my feelings and past experiences. Slowly I was able to heal and own my feelings and emotions. I was relieved to be introduced to the GRM because I now found a structured practice in which I could do my personal work (which I learned was grieving) in. This structure/ class/ instructor was amazing and, even though the eight week class was a bit too long for me, I was able to apologize and forgive my mother for pain I've held onto for a long time. I was able to complete things that needed to be said. I burned my completion letter along with the work I've done at the end of the eight weeks. I'm not exactly sure how I was supposed to feel or how I was supposed to act. A few weeks after my mother and I had a discussion while on vacation. A lot of our unsaid feelings came up and instead of being triggered by her accusations and her pain, I was able to be a heart with ears and to offer her space to feel her emotions! I offered her space to spill everything she was bottling up. It was amazing-- like I was Neo in the Matrix. While it was painful for her we had a breakthrough conversation and the air was cleared. We are on great terms now and understand what our needs and expectations are of each other. She understands what I need from her and I understand her needs. It was amazing to experience and we have a newfound respect for each other. I'm still technically confused how finishing my completion letter and burning my work brought us to this moment (would love insight here!) but it did and I'm glad for it. Thank you Grief Recovery Institute! Thank you Danielle!

My Experience

I learned a lot about myself and my family. It was deep hard work, but work that prepared me to grieve better in the future. I believe that this was a stepping stone to prepare me to better raise my children and lead my family.