My name is Josephine Carlson, I live in Cheyenne, WY and I own a consulting firm that specializes in Grief Recovery Method services. My educational background includes an undergraduate degree in health science and advanced patient care, and a graduate degree in forensic psychology. Professionally, I have had the honor to work in human services ranging from crisis intervention and peer support, to crime victim advocacy in the largest judicial district in my state.

My grief journey began at a young age. Adding to my own experiences, and like most kids, I inherited a hefty load of unresolved loss and trauma from my family. As the years lurched on, I limped along – accumulating more and more losses to the pile.

When I was 21 my beloved cousin died, by 22 I was divorced, at 25 I said goodbye to another relationship and my first business while entering the dark and dangerous territory of dating a violent and unrelenting abuser. Surviving and healing after prolific abuse allowed me to assemble the sturdy infrastructure I wanted to build upon. By the time my 40-year-old brother died in 2019, I had cultivated a healthy and safe life with my husband and had access to many tools to cope. Then, two weeks later, my dad died. Just two months after that, my grandfather died right before I began a dream career. Fast-forward another 2 months, a colleague at my new dream job died of an aneurism, working late with me, alone in our building. Christmas 2019 saw the passing of my mom’s oldest brother…

In the time between 2019 and today, I have suffered even more losses while accumulating even more grief. The education, support networks, and tools that sustained me in the seasons after each loss certainly are credit to much of the grace I have allowed myself and in my ability to keep at bay, the utter despair I know would have deconstructed my entire life and left me with a pile of grief next to a pile of rubble.

Surviving is not enough. Once I learned I could not only tie up my loose ends tethering me to the load of loss, but that process also meant I could complete my grief, I couldn’t run toward the Grief Recovery Method fast enough. This program allowed me to realize the myths I created and consumed that were holding me back, while offering me an evidence-based instruction manual on how to process loss in such a way I no longer have to carry it around. And neither do you, so let’s get to work.