The summer of my junior year in college I experienced what is called a Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI. After 3 days in the ICU, I returned home only to learn that my entire life was changed - I couldn’t read anymore and my memories were corrupted. I had to learn to rewire and rework my brain, and throughout the process, I lost my identity. During this time, I had one consolation - my mom.

My mom was my rock throughout the entire process. She was able to help me mentally while supporting me emotionally. Her love brought me to feel what I had been missing ever since the TBI - a feeling of acceptance, of love. So, when she died four years after my brain injury from cancer, I was devastated. It was as if my firm grounding - finding my place in life, my identity, my soul - had been ripped from me yet again. During that time, I was a flight attendant and therefore had only three days of bereavement, after which I was expected to be friendly and smile covering the shattering of a broken heart.

My heart, even years later, was still breaking despite emotional bandaid and other “quick-fixes” covering it. This was when my friend introduced me to the Grief Recovery Method, and where I truly discovered that I could move beyond the pain I felt with the loss of my mom without forgetting her, where I found I could live day-to-day while still rejoicing in her memories. This is also where I learned that my TBI didn’t just damage me physically, it damaged me emotionally. I learned that there are over 40 different types of loss a person can experience that never get resolved because we believe time can heal! But time doesn’t heal; action does.

I invite you to take action against your losses today. But don’t worry, you don’t have to do it alone. I would be honored to walk with you, hand-in-hand, through your journey of moving beyond the pain of your past to bask in the memories of yesterday, and to help guide you into the joy of tomorrow.