Exciting news

I’m excited to share with you that I’m joining the team at the Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death as a teacher for their course, “Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss.”

As you know if you’ve talked with me IRL or followed me on the interwebs, bereavement work is near and dear to my heart, and has been for some time. I am a bereavement doula; I run the Mother Well’s bereaved moms community group and host the Mother Well’s annual bereavement retreats. But in addition to directly supporting families through and after early loss, I also have a passion for helping people support their friends and family through and after early loss.

I think this passion comes from my own story of feeling inadequate in the face of someone else’s loss. That’s how I started my path to becoming a grief worker to begin with; I felt frustrated and unsure of myself when someone told me about a loss. Through reading and taking trainings, I felt more equipped for such situations. I’d love to help other people feel that same way. (Heck, as a sociologist, I’d love to make the whole society feel that same way!)

This is a passion I’ve been able to live out through writing blog posts (especially the ones that intersect both the “Bereavement” and “Supporting others” categories on this blog); through answering FB and IG messages from people who want ideas or advice; and recently through presenting at a conference on how to prepare to walk with someone experiencing a miscarriage.

Now there’s another way I’ll get to do this.

One of the most comprehensive trainings I’ve taken on supporting people through early loss was the “Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss” course at the Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death. Me taking that course was a team effort, even beyond the time support and encouragement of my husband. My birth doula trainer, Robin Elise Weiss, connected me to the organization and recommended that training in particular. The deNicola Center for Ethics and Culture awarded me a grant that financially facilitated my desire to take the training. Friends and colleagues listened to me process the readings verbally with them as I worked through questions of companionship, ritual, networks, and more (concepts I think about a LOT in both my sociological work and my birth work). I am so grateful to every one of these people and groups.

A few months ago, I was invited to apply to become a teacher for that same course, and I’m excited to tell you that I’ve been accepted. (Even that application involved multiple people – thanks to Victoria for the letter of recommendation!) So after I complete teacher training, which will take me a couple of months, I’ll be able to begin offering the “Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss” course as another way to help people support others through early loss.

If you want to learn more about the course, or if you have ideas for other ways I can live out this passion, please let me know in the comments section below! And if you want information about when I’ll start teaching, please fill out this three-question form.