inspired. empowered. grateful.

Those were the 3 words I used today in the closing ceremony of the first day of my grief training. Yes, I signed up to be a volunteer at an incredible organization called Our House. Based here in LA, they offer support groups for those who have experienced a death of a loved one within the last year or so. And other than the clinical therapists that run the organization, the rest of it happens by the generosity of others who volunteer their time for free. So those volunteers will go through 24 hours of training (over 3 days) and if Our House feels they are a good fit for a support group, they will be assigned a group of either adults or kids and they will co-lead that group. So two volunteers to one group. And within that group, they are within similar age ranges and they've all suffered a similar loss, i.e, all kids who have lost a parent, or kids who lost a sibling, or adults who have lost a child, or a parent, or a spouse etc.

So earlier this year I applied and was put through the interview process and today, me and about 10 other people attended the first of 3 days of our training. Wow. While it was intense, I feel I'm in such a good space and so self aware of my own emotions that for me it was really more the words I describe in my title: inspiring, empowering and left me feeling grateful. Grateful to know that others have walked the path I have and also came out the other side, grateful that I haven't experienced what many of these people have. Grateful (most of all) that I have an opportunity to actually make a difference in people's lives in this oh-so important way.

I look forward to going through the other two days over the next few weeks and then finding out in August if/when I'll be assigned my group to co-lead. I've requested to work with adults but have no preference on what their specific loss was. I think this feels like quite possibly one of the best ways I can "pay it forward" in the sense that I feel so fortunate to have had the help of my incredible therapist for 18 months as she helped me find my way through a very dark and extremely lonely time. And for me to possibly help be part of facilitating an equally rewarding experience for others -- well that just sounds incredible and so fulfilling. And I'm also finding their methodology very similar to the rigorous training I went through for coaching so it feels like a good continuation of that and a nice chance to keep it all very fresh in my practice.

Here's to paying it forward.