Grief Peer Support Services: Counseling & Coaching
What is Grief Peer Support?
- Working with someone who has experienced grief themselves and is trained to create a brave space to help and provide education to others who are going through grief and loss – any type of grief and loss, not just a death loss (e.g. job loss, family estrangement, divorce, etc.)
- Talking about feelings related to grief and doing activities that help with healing.
- Sharing stories, creating rituals, and identifying self-care routines/plans.
- Identifying and connecting to resources.
- Learning to live a meaningful life again.
*Note: Individual grief peer support is NOT a replacement for professional help for mental or medical concerns. It’s not meant to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. See next page for more information about the difference between clinical grief support and peer grief support.
Genna’s Role as a Grief Peer Support counselor/coach
Genna started processing loss and grief at a young age and experienced her first death loss in elementary school. In the early 2000s, Genna was one of the founders of the Los Alamos, New Mexico chapter of the Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention and Awareness organization. She later served as President in response to the suicide death of a friend. She also wrote the curriculum for and led a local survivors of suicide support group. She was a social sciences university educator/researcher in her early career, has cared for young adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, became an INELDAtrained death doula in 2022, and a Certified Grief Educator in 2023. She currently offers grief and endof- life support through her business, Invictus by Genna: Grief & Loss Services, and serves as the New Mexico Community Liaison for HeartLight Center (a grief support and education non-profit) and Steering Committee Chair of the Grief Networking Alliance of New Mexico. Genna also has personal experience with other types of grief: career transitions, divorce/conscious uncoupling, the end of challenging relationships (romantic/friends), infertility, natural disaster loss, medical trauma, chronic health issues, (early) menopause, loss of family traditions, estrangement, and more.
Through her many experiences and training with grief expert David Kessler, Genna has learned that people who are grieving aren’t broken and don’t need to be fixed. Grief is tough, and there’s no set timeline for healing and much to learn. Each person knows their own life best, and she helps them explore grief and find ways to honor it. Genna is here to be your “first mate” and create a brave space where she can talk with you, set goals, and provide ideas to process your grief. She is NOT a licensed mental health or medical professional, so she CANNOT diagnose, treat, or cure any mental or medical issues.