Testimonials For Marci Hogg, M.A. in Counseling

5.00 Stars

Please see my comments in this section above...

One-on-One Support
11/08/2023
Participant in Red Deer, AB
5.00 Stars

Marcia could not have been more supportive, in tune with, or flexible throughout the program. She expertly guided me through, while giving me ample space to arrive at my own conclusions with often eye-opening results. I couldn’t have asked for a better facilitator to walk along side me through the process. She gave me full confidence to be open with her, and to divulge things that I normally wouldn’t. She earned my explicit trust. Anyone would be safe in her hands!

One-on-One Online Support
11/05/2023
Participant in N/A, N/A
5.00 Stars

When I was first given the book by a counsellor, I reluctantly started to read it. I was reluctant because I had researched grief and believed that my problems were centred around grief, but I didn't really fit into the model of the 7 stages of grief...so I gave up on the idea of grief until I started to read your book. When I first starting reading the book, I was skeptical because the book initially seemed too simplified, and I initially thought that the book would really have nothing to offer me, but none the less I continued to read it, and do the activities. What I didn't have was a partner to work with and initially, as part of my scepticism, I thought it will be fine to do this on my own. I got to the part of the book where I would write my loss graph and I dutifully mapped out my loss graph, and suddenly when looking at it on paper, I realized the magnitude of my losses and grief. It suddenly became very clear to me that, indeed, I am suffering deep loss and grief. It was also at this point that I realized that the book had a great deal to offer and in fact was not oversimplified. In fact, I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to do this alone, and that I needed direction and guidance to find my way through this ocean of grief. I emailed the institute and was willing to travel from Canada to take a workshop or do sessions with someone qualified in this method, and my email was promptly returned saying that there was a grief specialist in my area. I reviewed the different counsellors and choose one. I have not looked back. Marcia and I started at the beginning and even that was helpful because I realized how much misinformation I had and I also began to really think about my STERBS in meaningful ways. When I initially did the work on my own I was dismissive, so it was only once I got into the loss graphs that I fully understood how those first chapters are critical to my understanding and my relationship with grief and loss. I came to this program after suffering a deep loss around my divorce three years ago. I was consumed by this loss, stuck, paralyzed for 3 years...I couldn't navigate my way through it. I was critical of myself that still after 3 years, I was not moving on. I told my story of grief and woe so often to anyone who would listen that even I was tired of my story of grief and woe. Interestingly, I did not begin my first relationship graph with this loss, I started with the loss of my relationship with my father. A toxic relationship that I suffered through my entire lifetime, and still suffered through as I approach 60 years old. Going through this process and dealing with the relationship of my father has released me in ways that I never imagined possible. Dealing with this particular grief has started to ease me from my stuckness. The image I like to use is for the last three years I have been encased in sand with only my head sticking out. Unable to move, but after dealing with this first and important loss, the sand is falling away, I can move a little, there is some ability now to make decisions and to feel that I am healing. So even though I haven't yet dealt with my most significant loss, dealing with this one has provided me a way to begin navigating my life post divorce. I will be forever thankful that I no longer carry the burden of the toxic relationship with my father into my future. Releasing me has saved me and now I am feeling confident that I can move forward and there is hope and faith that the future will be ok. I have not felt that the future holds anything but despair for three years now. I am going to be ok. My next step is to deal with my loss of my marriage, but funnily enough, I am changing the name of the loss. Initially I called it "Steve", but now I realize that it is not "Steve" that I lost, but my marriage. I don't have to give up "Steve", but I do have to let go of wishful thinking, the hope of more or better as it relates to my lost marriage. I was reluctant to even deal with this loss a couple of months ago because it was still so raw that I thought I wouldn't be able to do it, but now I know I can, and more importantly, I am ready to do it. I also know that once I start the process of dealing with the loss of my marriage that many of the other losses will also come into play. Financial loss, life style loss, friends and family loss...an ocean of losses I will be released from so that I can move forward without laying a claim to what could have been. It is this "could have been" that I am grieving...and just knowing this has released me of my despair.

One-on-One Support
03/23/2023
Participant in Calgary, Alberta
4.00 Stars

I found the program to be slow at the beginning and was really wondering if I was going to get any value out of it. However, the relationship chart and 3 statements exercise turned my opinion around. I'm not even sure how I can explain it but since I wrote my letter, I feel much more calm and less focused on my loss.

One-on-One Support
07/13/2021