Awaken Grief Support Testimonials

I’ve learned so much from Heather and the group support is amazing. It helps you gain a perspective from others experiences. I have also learned to face grief as I progressed instead of stuff it. I would say the support is invaluable and never any judgement, I’ve felt accepted from the very first call, though I was one to hide. I love the weekly groups, meditations, community, grief yoga and journaling. I find I do better with the group meetings!

I found a group of friends that checked in every week and made life-long connections. The Facebook group was great to share resources or even ask for help. Heather has the most calming voice and demeanor and is so helpful in guiding the mediations and discussions afterwards. The smaller sized weekly groups made me feel comfortable and I always had an opportunity to ask questions or share what came up. It's a group unlike any other and I am truly so thankful for this program.

Before this course I was having anxiety and depression. The weekly practice was powerful, but integrating my practice into my daily life was especially helpful. I am calmer now. Even when I focus on my grief, it doesn’t seem as overwhelming.

This course provided me with much more growth opportunity than I expected. I am living more fully, breathing more deeply, and I have a better awareness of myself. I am truly grateful.

I came to Heather’s programme when I was floundering after the death of my partner. I bought many, many different books on grief and loss but this particular book has become my trusted companion. The programme has been my life jacket in a very stormy sea of grief. I am the person who ultimately has to swim and get back to land but having this programme has given me hope that I will get there, in my own time and with the help of Heather and my companions in the online sessions. Access to the virtual materials and especially the weekly online meetings with Heather are invaluable. Twelve months after the death of my partner, I use the meditations regularly and refer back to the book often and as I need to; certain chapters chime with my changing situations and are an anchor. My alumni group has become a precious focal point, being with people from 3 continents in a virtual environment of trust and respect is so very powerful. I can only speak for myself, but I am starting to live with my grief and be able to think about a future again. With gratitude and love to Heather and my group.

Awaken has not only helped me through the acute stage of grief by giving me a supportive community, but Awaken has given me language for grief, an invaluable sense that what I'm going through, although terribly terribly hard, is normal. The meetings are the most important things on my calendar each week and when I need support outside of meeting times, the website is full of resources I can access day or night. With Awaken, I don't feel alone in my grief.

Awaken isn't group therapy. Awaken is about learning mindfulness tools that will help you manage the intense and life-altering experience of grief. There are chances to share and connect with community, but Awaken gives you tools for your individual journey. Awaken is the best thing I have done to help me get through losing my mom.

All the aspects of Awaken are important to me, but I especially resonate with the weekly groups. Since losing my mom, I've experienced a lot of isolation and having a place to show up more than once a week where everyone understands what I'm going through has given me an anchor each week, a place to go where I feel myself (slowly) healing. I feel deeply connected to the community I've met in the meet ups.

The meditation practice has been crucial to helping me gain some level of calm and acceptance about life on life's terms. Heather's guided meditations involve the body, the mind, and the heart, and are often exactly what is needed. Her gentle presence is a weekly respite from the relentless pain of grief, and her wisdom about the grieving process helps to normalize all that we experience as we move through it. I'm very grateful to Heather for her book and for creating the Awaken program.

I have attended other grief support groups, but what was missing was a knowledgeable mediator and tools! Each time I met with the Awaken group online (even from the other side of the world) I felt comforted, heard and validated. Heather has created an incredibly safe space full of kindness, patience and compassion. I've processed grief in a very healthy way which I feel allows me to look back at those difficult events calmly and can communicate this part of life to my child to normalise death and grief.

If you need more tools to process your grief, joining Awaken might be the healthiest decision you can make for your grief process/mental health.

I mostly attended a weekly group call online, for me it was great to have a structured session. I've also benefited from the community a great deal.

Unless there is one and I didn't utilise it, a central list of guided meditation. Perhaps so you can have a folder on your phone with meditation for sleep or on the go.

Heather offers a unique and effective approach to grief by beautifully entwining grief education with expressive arts, mindfulness, and journaling. Her online programs offer excellent meditations and discussions about grief related issues. Heather’s calm and compassionate presence are a healing balm in times of great loss. She explains grief so well that you feel as if she walks through the process with you and deeply comprehends the ever changing path of grief. I found her program to be both educational and experiential, an unusual combination in the field of grief. I greatly appreciate her expertise, wisdom, intuition, and compassionate approach. I recommend her programs without reserve! Thank you!

This course reminded me of how powerful the breath can be in experiencing the here & now, and letting go of what we cannot change…. the past. It helped me get out of my head and back into my body. It helped me improve my awareness of deeply held beliefs that I could benefit from examining. It is a step towards healing my grief.

The group is a very supportive community that understands what you are growing through. Awaken gives you access to a virtual library with various modules to assist a person through the grieving process. You can come to Awaken just as you are. Heather and the group will meet you exactly where you are in the moment. Heather knows her stuff! The membership to this group is one of the greatest gifts I have given to myself to help me with self-care and the grieving process. I really enjoy the weekly groups and our special community. I always feel safe and loved.

This course has brought me back to a mindfulness practice and has been instrumental in my finding peace and equanimity with the loss of my husband and the resultant changes in my life. I recommend this course for anyone who has suffered from the loss of a loved one.

Those moments when I was just in angst or couldn’t sleep…I could turn to the processes in the modules or things we had shared on calls and find those moments of peace and eventually the moments linked into hours and days and weeks. The community support is amazing…its wonderful to sit with others who just “get it”. You don’t have to explain yourself. Its all been good and depending on what I was experiencing each part was helpful.

My experience has been that I have found in Heather´s online course a refuge where I can connect with awareness my ongoing grief process. The lessons of each week allowed me to relate intimately with what in my grief appeared either in my thoughts, emotions and physical sensations. My relationship to life after this loss is about a profound change and I appreciate Heather’s support to discover it.

It has normalized grief, when much of society doesn't care to even acknowledge grief, or want people to rush off of it fast. It's helped to have a place & space where I have been supported in meeting myself in my grief. It's safety, it's connection, companionship, support. It's taught me so much, and continues to do so. Heather brings a beautiful mix of mindfulness, deep compassion, and knowledge around grief both with a degree specifically in it, and a very real way of translating her personal grief learnings to education & support of others. She helps us center in ourselves, our hearts, and to meet the tender places with great care. I have had so many losses I have lost track quite some time back, and I don't know how well I would have managed this ongoing grief terrain without Awaken and Heather.

Awaken is a great community with not "just" education about grief, how everyone processes is different ~ but also the wonderful grounding into our own experiences, our bodies & emotions, the depths of where real grief and trauma live. It's ultimately not just about grief, though grief can feel all consuming. It's also tools to live in a healthier way in managing life, along with a beautiful community of people who are also living into their hearts & living life from the heart. It's helped me so much through many losses, medical traumas/grief. I honestly don't know how I would have come this far without Awaken.

The groups help to not only learn new tools, but to share connections with others learning to live in & through grief. I love the guided meditations, they help me feel more peace. I love grief yoga, it really helps move the energy & emotions, and help me be more present in my being, to help process emotions & be more *here*. I truly love the community! I call it "My People" because we can understand each other in ways others who haven't met themselves or their grief in the same way that we have learned to do. I have met just some of the best, kindest, truly wonderful people through being in the Awaken community. I am very grateful, and all the better for it.

What was missing for me with other support group was tools and validation. Heather doesn't just lead/administer the group, she hears you, receives your pain in such a beautiful way. If needed shares some wisdom, tools or maybe heartfelt validation. You know you have been heard by someone skillful in grief and others who know your pain all to well. I really needed reliable tools, validation and acceptance in my (complicated) grief journey. This is such a welcoming, healthy and safe space to process grief. I attend the weekly group sessions, its an important part of my week! Its also wonderful to have the opportunity to connect with others we meet during those sessions.