WHAT IS A GRIEF EDUCATOR?
I like very much my teacher, David Kessler's definition of a grief educator.
""A Certified Grief Educator is committed to providing the highest level of grief support through education, experience, and insights into the often unacknowledged rocky terrain of grief. Certified Grief Educators completed a certificate program designed by world-renowned grief expert, David Kessler. They bring his unique methodology, tools, and decades of experience to help people navigate the challenges of grief."
I have often been asked why I chose to become a grief educator and grief specialist. Fair question of course, as we usually do not get up one morning saying that we are going to become a grief educator.
I lost my father just before turning ten and that was the first big blow in my life as I am the youngest of three and was everything to my dad. Then when we were sixteen, a very good friend of mine took her own life. After that, I lost someone in a war and my partner whom I was very much in love with. He passed from a cancerous condition. I also lost two other good friends to suicide. All this inspired me to become a trauma focused hypnotherapist as well as a grief educator and a grief specialist.
This work is about having the knowledge, applicable tools, techniques, and an effective style to help others in grief. I take a holistic approach in my work.
I offer an individualized approach to grief. And I want to remind you that there is no timeline in grief, and I know there is not a cure. But as a grief educator, I can reflect and guide people in grief towards creating a life that honours their loved ones.
As a grief educator, I understand that:
- Grief can be traumatic and transformative. People in grief are not broken, and I don’t need to fix them. I offer people in grief my utmost respect and serve them based on their needs and their unique experience.
- The foundation of serving comes from a place of connection. Empathy,, genuineness, honesty, and respect are essential elements of being a grief educator.
- True expertise in grief lies with the griever.
- Connection is important to our well-being. I use a mind/body/spirit approach to grief and remind people of the importance of connection to themselves, their friends, family, and community as well as cultivate an ongoing relationship with their loved one who had died.
- We are committed to providing a safe space for those in grief.
- As a grief educator, I offer a holistic approach to grieving. I focus on the past, present, and future and understand that in addition to the loss, culture, community, spirituality, and beliefs play a role in the individual’s grief.
- As a grief educator, I understand that the responsibility for change lies with the griever. I can inform, reflect, and support others. But their journey is ultimately their own.
LET'S TALK ABOUT THE 6 NEEDS OF THE GRIEVING
1. To Have Your Pain Witnessed
Grief is brutal. It is crucial to begin by acknowledging their loss and let them know that they are seen and heard. Having grief witnessed is about making their loss real. There is no greater gift you can give someone in grief than to ask them about their loved one, and then truly listen. Show them you genuinely want to know. When we see our sorrow in the eyes of another, we know our grief has meaning. We get a glimpse, maybe for the first time since the loss, that we will survive, and a future after the loss is possible.
2. To Express Your Feelings
IOnce they have become more comfortable with their pain and discomfort, it’s important to be able to express how they are feeling. My job as a grief educator is to empower them to find that language and their voice.
So often, when we ask people in grief how they are, they go into their grief story. It becomes an overwhelming and repetitive pattern. My job is to get them to connect with how they are today, at this moment by creating a safe space for them to do so.
3. To release The Burden of Guilt
Guilt and grief often go hand and hand. When working with people in grief this usually comes up again and again, layer after layer. We naturally wish we could do things differently. Our minds would always rather feel guilty than helpless. This is how our brain is wired. One of the things I teach is how to switch the “what-ifs” to “evenifs”. It’s important to explore our feelings of guilt in grief and then release them and forgive ourselves as well as others.
4.
I help you avoid material clutter by showing you how to get rid of it and help you get more organized in your daily life. I also help you avoid emotional clutter by clearing out your mind. The same way you clean the place you live, I help you declutter your mind and throw out things that are no longer needed.
5.
You are a confident person with a go-getter attitude in life? Then I am here to help you put your talents, skills and abilities to good use to reach your full potential. And last, but not least I help you stay accountable. I do my very best to help you stay on track by being accountable to yourself, your goals and your dreams, so that you can get the life you desire and deserve as no challenge is too big for your mind.
TESTIMONIALS
Nadija has a gift, a huge heart and a true passion for helping people. She truly knows how to turn your personal power on! Her compassion and insight are exceptional and she can discuss and understand any situation. She emanates love and kindness and you can feel lucky having her in your life! She is an amazing person that is going to make a huge difference in this world. I can only recommend her services!
AURÉLIE (CANADA)
For years since I have been a child, I have always struggled with my self-confidence. Even though I have a strong and independent personality, loving life and challenging myself in many ways, I couldn't really set me free from the feelings that I couldn't be loved, that I was not interesting enough or not good and smart enough.
Then I met Nadija and started therapy and mind coachingand I can't explain how it happened but month after month all my fears disappeared little by little making such a big difference in my professional and personal life. I became cheekier, more creative, trusting my intuition and with the capacity of understanding who I am what I want and what I am worth. After months now, I can really feel like I finally accept my whole self and I am proud of who I am. I'm not scared anymore.
Nadija is very talented and powerful and I am very grateful I have met her.
LAURA (DUBLIN)