Sanctuary

worst club, best people

Come find belonging and be gently guided in exploring the landscape of your grief.

Because when you grieve well, you can go on to love deeply, live fully and rebuild a meaningful life around your loss.

Be held, for 12 months, in a space that is specific to partner loss.

Losing your partner took your entire life off course, your friends and family just don’t get it (at best) and are losing patience with you (at worst) thinking that you just have to get back to “normal”. This happens to most widows (myself included!) and makes us feel alone, isolated, unseen and so misunderstood.

It’s also difficult to find grief support that is specific to widowhood & that acknowledges the complexity of having every corner of your life impacted by this loss.

This is why Sanctuary exists. To bridge the gap between the support that is offered to you after loss and the support you actually NEED.

Because while it is true that this loss has changed you & perhaps even made your whole life unrecognizable, it is also true that by talking about grief, getting GOOD grief support, being connected to people who get it & cultivating a deep and enduring bond with your person, you CAN not only survive, but create a meaningful and beautiful life.

When we allow ourselves to grieve fully, we can then love fully and live fully. This message of hope is what I want you to hear and what will guide our entire year together.

I hope that you’ll join me as we weave this feeling of hope throughout our time together over the next 12 months!

How the program works:

You’ll have support and inspiration in your schedule every month for a whole year, build friendships and feel held at every grief milestone.

When you join us, you’ll take part in a series of monthly workshops (with me & some absolutely amazing guest facilitators) & meaningful conversations with other widows, that will help you find your own unique path to healing and rebuilding a meaningful life in the “after”.

If you enjoy learning, self-reflection & contemplating life from the perspective that grief invites us into, you’re in the right place and we would be absolutely honoured to have you!

Sanctuary is a space FOR widows that is facilitated BY widows

(you’re held by people who get it)

The conversations you’ll be a part of will help you:

1. Integrate your grief in order to live a life of purpose and meaning

2. Connect with people who understand you and can become life long grief friends

3. Feel deeply connected to your loved one and carry them with you as you move forward with the love that never ever dies

At the end of our year together you will:

  • - Feel so much more in control and know exactly how to show up for your needs in grief with a huge well of compassion (you’ll have practiced it all year!)

  • - Understand the difference between grief and trauma and know how to tend to both (they are different and need different things from you!)

  • - Know how to care for yourself in the midst of grief waves and anniversaries

  • - Have built friendships with other widows that can continue to support you beyond the program (our participants have often meet in real life, traveled together and even attended Taylor Swift concerts!)

  • - No longer feel like you have to “let go” of your person and have ways of thinking about your ongoing relationship that actually guides you as you move forward

  • - Feel more connected to yourself and have a sense of hope that life can feel meaningful even after such a profound loss

Have a look at our schedule:

* all of our calls are between 75 and 90 min (mostly 90 min, not going to lie, the conversations are rich and it’s hard to stay on time!)

 

  • February

    1. Welcome Call with Marie & Katherine

    Facilitator: Marie & Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Tuesday, February 11th, 12 PM EST

    2. Trauma & Recovery

    Facilitator: Amelia Bradaric
    Date & Time: Monday, February 24th, 3 PM EST

    3. BONUS Call with Katherine: how to get the most out of our year

    Facilitator: Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Thursday, February 27th, 6 PM EST

  • March

    1. Understanding Grief Beyond the 5 Stages
    Facilitator: Marie
    Date & Time: Tuesday, March 11, 4 PM EST

    2. Self Love & Self Care in Widowhood
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Wednesday, March 19, 7 PM EST

    3. BONUS Call with Katherine: introducing your person to the group
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Thursday, March 27, 6 PM EST

  • April

    1. Coping with Stigma and Judgement Facilitator: Julia Warren
    Date & Time: Wednesday, April 2nd, at 1:30 PM EST

    2. Grief, Trauma & the Body
    Facilitator: Amelia Bradaric
    Date & Time: Monday, April 14th, at 3 PM EST

    4. BONUS Call with Katherine: your questions answered
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito

    Date & Time: Thursday, April 24th, at 6 PM EST

  • May

    1. Movement and Mindfulness Tools for grief

    Facilitator: Julia Warren
    Date & Time: Wednesday, May 7th, 1:30 PM EST

    2. Exploring Secondary Losses
    Facilitator: Marie
    Date & Time: Wednesday, May 20th, at 12 PM EST

    3. BONUS Call with Katherine: slowing down as a coping skill
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito

    Date & Time: Thursday, May 29th, 6 PM EST

  • June

    1. The Needs of Mourning (how we integrate grief)
    Facilitator: Marie
    Date & Time: Tuesday, June 3rd, 12 PM EST

    2. Grief through the Lens of Compassion
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Wednesday, June 18th, 12 PM EST

    3. BONUS Call with Katherine: what stands in the way of self-compassion?
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Thursday, June 26th, 6 PM EST

  • July

    1. Cultivating Resilience
    Facilitator: Karen Sutton
    Date & Time: Wednesday, July 2nd, 12 PM EST

    2. Joy as a Coping Skill
    Facilitator: Dana Frost
    Date & Time: Wednesday, July 16th, 4PM EST

    3. BONUS Call with Katherine: navigating relationships after loss
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Thursday, July 31st, 6PM EST


  • August

    1. Befriending your Inner Critic
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Tuesday August 5th at 7PM EST

    2. Let’s Talk About SUPPORT
    (How to feel more supported by the people in our lives)
    Facilitator: Marie
    Date & Time: TBD

    3. BONUS Call with Katherine: your questions answered
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Thursday, August 28th, 6PM EST

  • September

    1. Rediscovering YOU
    (Finding our identity from within)
    Facilitator: Marie
    Date & Time: Tuesday, September 9th, 12 PM EST

    2. Finding Meaning after loss
    Facilitator: Marie
    Date & Time: Tuesday, September 23rd, 12 PM EST

    3. BONUS Call with Katherine: member connection call
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Thursday, September 25th, 6 PM EST

  • October

    1. Post-Traumatic Growth
    Facilitator: Marie
    Date & Time: Tuesday, October 7th, 12 PM EST

    2. Early Holiday Planning
    Facilitator: Marie
    Date & Time: Tuesday, October 21st, 12PM EST

    3. BONUS Call with Katherine: holidays after loss
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Thursday, October 30th, 6PM EST

  • November

    1. Continuing Bonds
    Facilitator: Marie
    Date & Time: Wednesday, November 5th, 12PM EST

    2. The Other Side from an intuitive medium’s perspective
    Facilitator: Shelby May
    Date & Time: Wednesday, November 12th, 7PM EST

    3. BONUS Call with Katherine: cultivating an ongoing connection
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Wednesday, November 26th, 6PM EST

  • December

    1. Creating New Traditions & honouring your person
    Facilitator: Marie
    Date & Time: Wednesday, December 3rd, 12PM EST

    2. Holiday Party
    Facilitator: Marie & Katherine
    Date & Time: Thursday, December 18th, 4PM EST

  • January

    1. Orienting ourselves in a New Year
    Facilitator: Marie
    Date & Time: Wednesday, January 7th, 12 PM EST

    2. Closing Celebration
    (Honouring yourself & each other)
    Facilitator: Marie & Katherine
    Date & Time: Wednesday, January 21st, 12PM EST

    3. Closing Call with Katherine
    Facilitator: Katherine Brito
    Date & Time: Thursday, January 29th, 6PM EST

Because grief support should be flexible and accessible:

Pick the option that fits your grieving style

  • Option #1

    This is for you if:

    You are a private griever OR your schedule doesn’t allow you to attend all of the calls, but you want access to all of the information & have a desire to be in connection with other widowed people for a whole year

    You get:

    - Access to the portal with videos and workshops from previous years that offer helpful tools to tend to yourself in grief

    - Recordings of all of this year’s workshops & training materials that you can watch on your own time (the recordings are uploaded 24 hours after the session has taken place)

    - Our Facebook group where Katherine and Marie are active every week & you get to meet and connect with other widowed people!

    Investment: 57$ per month for 12 months

    Enroll now for 57$ USD per month

  • Option #2

    This is for you if:

    You want to attend & participate during workshops, meet with an intimate group of grievers regularly & connect personally with the facilitators

    You get:

    - Access to the portal with videos and workshops from previous years

    - A seat at the live workshops (with access to the recordings in case you have to miss one)

    - A BONUS monthly group call with Katherine to answer your questions, go deeper & build connections with the other members

    - Access to the Facebook group where Katherine and Marie are active every week & you get to know the other members

    Investment: 139$ per month for 12 months

    (only 4 seats left)

    Enroll now for 139$ USD per month

  • Option #3

    This is for you if:

    You want to be part of a group AND add individualized support to feel held and prepared when your grief milestones come up throughout the year

    You get:

    - You get everything from Option 2

    PLUS

    - 3 private grief support sessions with Marie

    (to schedule anytime during our year)

    - 3 private grief support sessions with Katherine

    (to schedule anytime during our year)

    Investment: 229$ per month for 12 months

    (only 2 seats left)

    Enroll now for 229$ USD per month

Pay in full

And get one month free

  • Option #1

    Investment: 625$ for the year (save 59$)

    Enroll now

  • Option #2

    Investment: 1525$ (save 143$)

    (only 8 seats left)

    Enroll now

  • Option #3

    Investment: 2500$ (save 248$)

    (only 2 seats left)

    Enroll now

When you join, you get to have grief support on your calendar for a full year at the cost of 1 therapy session per month or less

My intention is to make grief support as accessible as I can because I believe in how powerfully healing connection and education are to a grieving heart.

At the end of our year, you’ll understand yourself better & know how to tend to your grief in ways that help you connect to wholeness, meaning and hope for your future.

Give yourself a whole year of connection & support

Because after loss, you deserve to:

  1. Slow down and have a compassionate space to express & tend to your grief authentically

  2. Explore your grief with people who can acknowledge it and hold it without judging or pushing you to feel better faster

  3. Have the time and space to get to know yourself again & figure out how to put the pieces of your life back together

  4. Gently be companioned as you find your path forward to a full and meaningful life

About me.

Marie, is certified as a Death Doula who specializes in companioning the bereaved.

Her approach is based on the assumption that you are the expert of your own grief and her work involves stepping into the wilderness of your grief with you. Slowly, with patient and compassionate guidance, you get to make sense of your experience, to remember your loved one and to find your path forward.

She is the founder of Empowered Through Grief, a coaching practice and community that provides a brave space for healing and post-traumatic growth for women grieving all types of loss.

But more importantly, she is a human who has known deep loss. Having lost her life partner to cancer, she has an intimate understanding of the struggles widows face and she works every day, to build spaces that bring them together.

Her life’s work is to provide support and education by engaging in meaningful conversations surrounding death and dying. She deeply believes that by getting acquainted with death, we learn so much about living fully.

Marie has supported hundreds of widows through 1:1 coaching and group experiences. Her work is trauma informed and respectful of your religious & spiritual beliefs.

About Katherine Brito.

This year, the Membership is getting the expertise and compassionate guidance of Katherine Brito on a monthly basis.

We will be working as a team to support you even better!

Katherine is a grief coach and self-love advocate, supporting women through the heart-wrenching journey of partner loss.

As a widow who deeply cherishes the memory of her husband lost to cancer, she offers compassionate grief support as you recreate a life that honours your enduring love and connection.

As the founder of Grief Embraced With Love, her coaching is focused on guiding you back home to yourself and a path to live life alongside your grief, not from it. 

Meet your Guest Facilitators

  • Amelia Bradaric

    REGISTERED THERAPEUTIC COUNSELLOR

    Amelia is a licensed counsellor specializing in complicated grief, trauma and post traumatic growth and the clinical director of Adventuring Loss, a virtual therapy clinic supporting people navigating the impacts of grief, trauma & life transitions.

    In 2015, Amelia lost her husband to homicide. She learned over time that when people are in pain, they do not need to be fixed or pushed to get better, faster. Grief and trauma are embodied experiences.

    Amelia is trauma trained and uses an integrative approach of DBT, IFS, Somatics, mindfulness techniques and client-centered education.

    In honor of her late husband, Amelia founded “The Igor (Iggy) Bradaric Foundation” which provides scholarships to grievers while they navigate their path forward in the wake of loss.

    Amelia is a realist who believes in the depth and the resiliency of the human spirit.

  • Julia Warren

    GRIEF ADVOCATE & YOGA TEACHER

    Julia became a widow in 2021 when her husband, Doug, succumbed to his lifelong battle with addiction and died of an accidental overdose. This left her a solo mom of two young boys, a deeply unregulated nervous system,  and a burning desire to help many women just like her.

    She is deeply passionate about speaking out about the intricate layers that come along with losing someone to addiction and/or suicide to help educate others and to soften the stigma.

    As a 500-hour trauma informed yoga teacher with an extensive training background in guided meditation, energy work, yogic philosophy, nervous system energetics, and somatics, Julia supports her clients in finding their own form of healing by teaching them to connect with their bodies, emotions, and the felt sense that lives inside all of us through gentle body work and compassionate support.

  • Dana Frost

    GRIEF ADVOCATE & WRITER

    Dana Frost is Grief Advocate, Cancer Survivor, & Writer. She is the founder of both the Forced Joy Project, an organization that provides support and resources to those experiencing loss, and the Forced Joy Club, an online community to help better navigate the complexities of grief.

    In addition, she runs retreats for both widows and young adults with cancer.

    You can follow her story @forcedjoyproject or at www.forcedjoyproject.com.

  • Karen Sutton

    GRIEF COACH FOR WIDOWS

    Karen is the UK's first Widow Coach.

    Through group coaching programmes, retreats and day events Karen provides emotional and practical support, educating, coaching and mentoring, anyone dealing with the loss of a life partner, wherever they are in their grieving journey.

    Through her own experiences with loss Karen understands how difficult it is trying to navigate your way through these traumatic life events, and wants to help people re-imagine and re-build a full and vibrant life after loss.

    Karen also hosts The Widow Podcast, the UK's first podcast specifically for widows and surviving partners.

  • Katherine Brito

    GRIEF & SELF LOVE COACH

    Katherine is a grief coach and self-love advocate, supporting women through the heart-wrenching journey of partner loss.

    As a widow who deeply cherishes the memory of her husband lost to cancer, she offers compassionate grief support as you recreate a life that honours your enduring love and connection.

    As the founder of Grief Embraced With Love, her coaching is focused on guiding you back home to yourself and a path to live life alongside your grief, not from it. 

    She can be found on instagram @griefembracedwithlove.

  • Shelby May

    INTUITIVE MEDIUM

    From a young age I knew I was different. I’ve constantly been told I am extremely sensitive and too emotional. I couldn’t help but feel the emotions of other people around me. I would also sense things I couldn’t explain, causing me to have extreme anxiety.

    It wasn’t until my own personal healing, I discovered I had been blocking my ability to feel, sense, and communicate with the spirit world.

    Since then I have taken various courses, working with world renowned mediums, independent studies, and personal experiences, I have developed my knowledge and practice. I am always continuing to learn and grow.

    I am a tested, certified medium through Mark Ireland and The Helping Parents Heal organization.

You don’t have to walk this path alone. Give yourself the gift of being companioned through your yearly grief milestones; the holidays, anniversaries and birthdays.

Let’s explore your grief & your healing, together.

With love,

Marie & the Team

FAQs

 

When are the workshops held?

Please consult the schedule for the date and time of all workshops & connection calls.

The schedule is dependent on the option you enrol in.

A detailed scheduled will also be emailed to you when you register.

Where are the sessions being held?

Everything will take place on ZOOM and you will be receiving the link via the email a few days before the workshop or connection call.

Make sure to provide a valid email when you sign up.

Will there be a replay if I can’t attend live?

YES. Every workshop is recorded and uploaded to your portal where you can watch and re-watch for up to one year after the program ends.

Can I cancel my membership and stop making monthly payments?

If after the first 30 days of the program, you are not satisfied, please email empoweredthroughlife@gmail.com for a refund.

Beyond March 15th, we can no longer offer refunds or cancellations.

By signing up, you are making a commitment to yourself.

Please make sure that this is an aligned decision for you at this time.

Is this specific to partner loss?

Yes.

Will this help me process trauma?

Although this is not a replacement for 1:1 trauma support or therapy, we will be holding workshops with a grief & trauma therapist which will give you greater insight into how to work with traumatic grief. All members are responsible for taking care of their mental health and seeking support with the right professional for their specific needs outside of the program. This program is meant to give you tools and to help you move through your grief with more empowerment but this is not a replacement for 1:1 grief counselling or therapy. It can be a wonderful addition to your self care toolbox and can be used in conjunction with therapy.