Hello! Today is the day you decided to take a step towards coping with grief and rediscovering the hope and goodness in your life. My name is Monique Hayes and I'm proud of you for trusting in the healing process and seeking the support you need. I understand the deep and seemingly bottomless pain of loss you may be feeling . In July 2020, my beloved mother unexpectedly passed amid the Covid-19 Pandemic. This was an earth shattering and devastating loss for me just as we had begun to rediscover each other as mother and daughter in my adult years. Then, my grief was compounded during my birthday weekend in Sept. 2020 when my grandmother died after an emergency hip surgery. In the span of 3 months, I lost the only two maternal figures I knew.
I spent over a year in therapy but oftentimes found that I was pretending that I was fine. During that time in therapy, I still felt this heavy, but hollow unbearable weight that kept me frozen in place and stuck—all I could think of was what what would be missed in my life. When I found the Grief Recovery Method, I swore I didn't need more help outside the year-long therapy. I felt my 15+ years working as a counselor/coach was enough to get me through the feelings of ‘stuckness’. Needless to say, I was completely WRONG!
I went through the Grief Recovery Method training and words cannot describe how it changed my life and helped me find my way back to myself—back to feeling joy and being hopeful for things to come. This new sense of direction helped me decide I wanted to help people who were struggling to move past grief. Now as an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist, I want to help you know that grief doesn’t have to be a life sentence. My wish for you is that we can work together to rediscover your sense of self, happiness and completion after loss. I am in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area eager to work virtually with people 1:1 around the world push through to the other side of grief. Let's get started!