Testimonials

Meet lisa - Grieving the loss of a mother and father

Lisa originally came into the program wanting to work through the loss of her mother. Shortly into her journey, she realized she hadn't completely grieved her father who had passed decades before. It wasn't until doing this work, she felt more at peace with the loss of her father. She felt well-equipped around how to approach future losses moving forward.

MEET Haley - GRIEVING THE LOSS OF A MOTHER due to cancer

Haley had been struggling with the loss of her mom for years. It had been one of the most difficult journeys she had ever experienced. She saw how her grief was affecting her ability to live a fulfilling life and how it also affected her relationship with her family. Through our work together, Haley learned her grief wasn't something she needed to fear. She became more comfortable and confident about how to handle her grief and be able to express herself openly and honestly with her family.

MEET Nicole - GRIEVING THE LOSS OF A FAther

Nicole had been struggling with her guilt and certain images surrounding her father's death that plagued her everyday. She felt devastated and couldn't imagine what her future was going to be like without her father. During our time together, she discovered how her views and beliefs on grief shaped how she grieved. As we worked through transforming her beliefs, she finally felt she could grieve her dad fully without feeling she would tarnish or betray the memory of him.

Meet amanda - grieving the loss of a sibling

Amanda lost her brother to a drug overdose in January 2021. She had been struggling for months with how he had died, the guilt she felt around preventing his death and how she could continue creating a bright future for herself without her big brother in the picture. It was through our work together, that she discovered she could honor John by learning how to love her life again.

Meet michele - grieving the loss of a father & improving a relationship w/ another family member

Michele lost her father to COVID January of 2022. As she was navigating through the shock and devastation from his death, she found it difficult speaking to family and friends since no one knew how to support her. She started feeling alienated by those she loved most which added to the heaviness of her grief. During our work together, she learned healthier ways of communicating and how to release painful thoughts around the death of her father.

meet MELODY B: GRIEVING a parent-in-law and discovering how to help her children grieve in healthy ways

I started working with Sarah in 2021. There was so much loss with the pandemic, friend loss and also the loss of my father in law.

I wanted to be able to know how to help my children with grief. Throughout the process, I learned so much more than how to help my children. I learned and accepted that grief is different for everyone. I learned how to express myself in my own grief and how to be there for people in my life in their grief.

Sarah has been a safe space to share all my struggles with grief and a support to nudge me in a gentler understanding of it all. She was open and honest with me at all times and it was a pleasure to have her coach me in this area of my life.

The program itself has been eye opening. It taught me to be open about grief. Everything I had seen or been taught about grief was so blurred with societal beliefs, how to grieve and what we say to people while they are grieving. I would recommend this program to everyone because we will all grieve something and someone at some point in our lives.

-- Melody B

meet MELODY H: GRIEVING MULTIPLE FAMILY LOSSES & LOSS OF PHYSICAL HEALTH

My name is Melody Hawley and my experiences leading up to meeting and working with Sarah have included several areas of grief, loss and change.

In 2018, I was diagnosed with Blast Phase Leukemia. After months of strong chemotherapy, I received a life saving bone marrow transplant. My recovery has included side effects and overall loss of certain aspects of my health. I lost my career of 31 years as well as a large financial loss.

As I was starting to recover in 2020, COVID hit. I switched my focus to caring for my parents and trying to keep them safe. September 2020 my father passed away from kidney failure. Due to my mothers dementia, I immediately became her primary caretaker. Just a few months later, my only sibling (my younger brother) passed away January 2021. I was now responsible for everything from attorneys, accountants, medical decisions for my mom and funeral arrangements for my dad and brother.

By the time I found Sarah in November 2021, I was spiraling in complete overwhelm and numbness. I was surviving but nowhere near thriving. I wasn’t even really sure how to heal or move forward. I had kept so busy with details I didn’t take time to grieve or heal.

As I spoke to Sarah about her 1-on-1 program, I had mixed feelings of hope and fear. I knew if I was going to commit to my healing and this process I would have to be all in. I knew I didn’t want to feel the way I was feeling for the rest of my life so I did it, I committed to the work and I’m so glad I did.

A few months into our working together, my mom passed February 2022. I won’t say it’s been easy but I will say I have tools and a mindset now that I didn’t have before and I’ve been able to navigate and allow space for my feelings…knowing whatever they are at the time is absolutely okay.

Letting go of lifelong conditioning and expectations of myself and others has been huge. I have a new perspective on loss, grief and change. Understanding how perfectly normal it is to feel many things all at the same time helps so much. I now don’t feel guilt or shame when I feel joy or happiness; emotions are so complex we can feel several things simultaneously and I discovered it’s all okay.

Working with Sarah was a big commitment and working through my grief was scary at times. I can testify that many times the greatest gifts are on the other side of fear. Sarah is great at listening without judgment, she offers insight and ideas to consider while respecting your space and your own ideas. She' s genuine, authentic and freely shares her own experiences if she thinks it may be helpful to you. I would absolutely recommend consulting with her to see if she can facilitate a healing journey for you.

-- Melody H

Sarah The Grief Coach