Virtual Grief Coaching

Is Grief Coaching Right For Me?

We grieve because we love. Grief does not follow a linear pattern. Grief coaching, an untapped non-therapeutic paradigm, shifts the perspective that grief is an illness that needs to be treated or cured. Instead, it empowers individuals to allow themselves to experience this normal and natural response to loss … giving themselves permission to grieve. Grief coaching will help them to navigate through and thrive in their own personal sense of new normalcy. Our lives will be forever changed when we lose a loved one, but that doesn’t mean that our lives no longer have meaning. At KDM, we strive to help our clients find a way to honor their loved ones, find gratitude and create a new legacy for themselves.

Grief coaching

Grief Coaching vs Grief Therapy

Many people confuse Grief Coaching and Grief Therapy. Although they have similar attributes, they do differ. Here are the important differences of Grief Coaching and Grief Therapy:

People consoling each other

Grief Coaching

  • Future Focused – Starts with where you are and emphasizes self-knowledge, self-development, and self-management – a goal of personal growth after devastating loss.
  • Seeks to move a client from functioning to highly functioning.
  • Assumes client is okay and full of potential. Cannot diagnose illness such as clinical depression or prescribe medication.
  • Action focused – emphasizes behavior and thinking.
  • Major changes and realizations can take place in a relatively short amount of time.
  • Seeks to help a client honor a loved one by helping them find a way to have an extraordinary life.
  • Client determines objectives based on how they want to feel and their goals.
  • A grief coach can see your strengths and talents and hold up the mirror for you to see too.
  • Requires a genuine desire to help people with a specific problem or goal. A Coach’s personal experience can be very helpful.
  • Some specialize in working with a specific type of client (ie: Moms that have lost a child).
  • Flexible and Convenient: Can be conducted in-person or virtually by phone, e-mail or video chat. Coaches can work with people across town or across the world.
  • Asks the question “What’s next?”

Grief Therapy

  • Past Focused – explore unresolved feelings surrounding the past relationship with the loved one.
  • Seeks to move a patient from non-functioning to functioning.
  • Diagnose and treat mental disorders – sometimes with medication.
  • Emotion focused – emphasizes feelings.
  • Usually considered a long-term commitment for realizing insights or change.
  • Seeks to heal medical disorders so their patient can deal with everyday life.
  • Grief Therapist determines objectives based on diagnosis.
  • Requires Advanced Degrees in Psychology or Psychiatry.
  • Patients rarely get to know any personal details about the therapist.
  • Regulated: Usually meet in person, licensed on a state-by-state basis. This can keep a therapist from working with someone in another state.
  • Asks the question “Why?”

What to Expect From Grief Coaching

The goal of Grief Coaching is to work through grief, create goals for life moving forward, find ways to honor your loved ones, and find the strength within to honor the legacy they started while creating your own.

Person in field

“Deep human connection is the purpose and the result of a meaningful life – and it will inspire the most amazing acts of love, generosity, and humanity.” -Melinda Gates

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