- Love, Loss and Saying 'Yes' to Life
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Rev Patti Shaffner, Certified Grief Educator, Grief Literacy Advocate
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Maya Etienne
Widowed Warrior Grief Support
Patti Shaffner
Reverend, CST, CZT
Certified Grief Educator
The Widowed Warrior Team
Widowed Warrior Workshops
Maya and Patti are currently re-working the concepts of workshops to consider having monthly gatherings that would be by donation. Please reach out if you would like to join us for such gathering to talk about grief and of course we are both familiar with the loss of a partner. If life has un-partnered you...we can support your leaning in to life and being seen and heard in your grief.
Important Information for Participants
We are anticipating welcoming you into our community for grieving hearts. Please dress comfortable. We suggest you wear layers to moderate your temperature and comfort. Please bring paper and pen. In our opening ceremony we will honor our beloved. Please bring a photo or memento to participate in the ceremony.
Disclaimer: The retreat facilitators are not licensed psychologist or specialist healthcare professionals. Our services do not replace therapy or counseling from a healthcare professional. We are peer to peer.
ABOUT PATTI
Patti's partner of nearly 30 years, David Cowan, RN, CHN, CNMT, died suddenly in May of 2019, nine months before the start of the Covid pandemic and launched her into grief in physical isolation. She had previous experiences with grief with the loss of both parents, a favorite niece and many friends. Her husband David had been a home-care and hospice nurse during his career and so there was a general familiarity with grief and loss as a reality of our lives. Nothing though, had prepared her for the experience of wildly trying to surf the tsunami of grief his loss created.
Since David's death she has gone on to study with David Kessler and become a Peer to Peer Certified Grief Educator providing deep listening and witnessing for others who are grieving. She had previously become a Reverend with the Universal Life Church and is a Cranio-Sacral Therapist and Certified Zentangle® Teacher. Patti hopes to continue to support other Grieflings and help to educate those who love and support the people in their lives who are grieving as well as provide information on what helps and what hurts in grief support.
ABOUT MAYA
Maya is a keeper of light and hope. In December 2015, she lost her husband and the father of her two young children to a hit-and-run accident. Soon after she began a journey to protect and hold space for herself, mourn, grow and develop her life after such a tremendous loss. She did not have a community to support her. In 2021, Maya decided to share all that she had uncovered with positive psychology, meditation, exploration, and living in the present by facilitating group support calls and private coaching. Widowed Warriors was created. Maya looks forward to walking beside you as you navigate this uncharted territory.
We believe that community with other Grieflings is vital to moving forward in our lives with the vast ocean of grief and love that we are so often adrift on. Our goal in creating workshops is to provide a safe space in which to be witnessed and heard in ALL the ways that grief can arise. We aim to provide tools, rituals and resources for the ways in which our lives unfold after deep loss. Together we all become the soft landing places for hearts shattered, cracking voices, shaking bodies and the love that continues for our beloveds, even when they have been physically absent for a long time. We are not here to fix. We are not broken. We are all here to hold sacred space for each other.
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