Through conversation, reflection, practical exercises, and personal storytelling, participants will discover that healing does not require forgetting. The goal is not to “get over” someone. It is to learn how to carry their memory while rebuilding a meaningful life. Beyond The Goodbye offers an honest, compassionate approach to grief—and reminds us that even after profound loss, our story continues.
This class challenges the idea that grief follows a neat series of stages or that eventually we are supposed to simply “move on.” Students will explore how grief can affect emotions, relationships, identity, routines, and our understanding of the future. We’ll talk about the emotions people don't always admit to experiencing—including anger, guilt, regret, loneliness, relief, fear, and even moments of happiness—and why there is no universal timetable for grieving.
Throughout the class, students will develop practical tools for navigating difficult days, anniversaries, unexpected triggers, changing relationships, and the moments when it seems everyone else has returned to normal while you haven't. Through guided reflection, meaningful exercises, storytelling, and discussion, students will examine not only what was lost, but what remains: memories, lessons, traditions, values, stories, and the ways another human being permanently changed us. I teach this subject from both an educational and deeply human perspective.
As an educator, author, life coach, and someone who has experienced profound personal loss, I understand that grief cannot be reduced to a textbook definition. I believe people need more than someone telling them that grief takes time. They need honest conversations, practical tools, permission to feel what they actually feel, and reassurance that continuing to live does not mean leaving someone behind. Beyond The Goodbye isn't about forgetting, “getting over it,” or pretending everything eventually returns to the way it was. Some losses change us permanently.
This class is about learning how to carry that change differently. Students will leave with a deeper understanding of their grief, strategies for moving through difficult moments, meaningful ways to honor the people they have lost, and a clearer vision for the life that still belongs to them. The goodbye may have happened. The love didn't end there.
I’m an educator, author, certified life coach, and entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience helping people learn, grow, and navigate life’s challenges. My background includes degrees in psychology, education, and divinity, but my connection to grief is also deeply personal. Losing people I loved, including my partner and my best friend, changed how I understand death and what it means to move forward. I created Beyond The Goodbye to provide the honest, compassionate conversations about grief that we often avoid—and to help people discover that continuing to live doesn’t mean leaving those we love behind.
