Living with Traumatic Death

The WayFinders Program offers experiential healing by retelling the trauma narrative in a way that leads to deeper transformation and resilience.

  • Learn new skills and tools through current trauma-informed education

  • Enhance emotional literacy and somatic processing for better coping strategies

  • Access memories that commemorate their life, while integrating their death

  • Build new external and internal skills and resources

  • Develop a sense of personal and relational integrity and well-being

The WayFinders: Program Overview

The WayFinders:
Living with Traumatic Death

When traumatic events hit us, everything changes. Feeling stuck, angry, powerless, overwhelmed, and alone, we may have difficulty moving forward and accessing positive memories of our lost loved one, or who we were before the trauma hit. 

For those who have lost loved ones to traumatic deaths, their narrative is a powerful source of healing. The WayFinders bereavement support program offers solace and a pathway toward healing and recovery by holding a safe place to express all of the images, emotions, fears, and complexities you may be experiencing. Integration is possible by exploring the deeper story and addressing somatic and nervous system responses that have been frozen.

Death events may include:

  • Suicide or Homicide

  • Medical: Long-term Intense Experiences, or Covid-19

  • Accidental

  • Death by Drug Use

  • Mass Shootings (Acts of Terrorism)

Kind Words from Our Clients

  • “Being listened to in a safe place with facilitators and other participants who personally understand traumatic grief, helped me feel reconnected and face my future with courage and compassion. I no longer feel so alone. Talking honestly about my daughter without judgement was a unique gift. Finally, there may be a life out there for me. I feel a spark of joy for the first time since her tragic death.”

    K.P. | Long Island, NY

  • “… the program was the best thing that I could have done for myself. The support and love was genuine. They fully understood the trauma and addressed everything I needed for the grief that followed. I felt the load taken off my shoulders, and sharing with others in the same emotions was more liberating than I would ever have thought. Highly recommend."

    Jane L. | Seattle, WA

Creating space between your pain and everyday life.

Everyone experiences the traumatic death of a loved one differently. They may believe that normalcy will be forever inaccessible to them, they may feel consumed, they may try to control everything in their power, and they may feel called to support others instead of seeking support for themselves.

Learning how to cope and live with violent or traumatic death is a journey. Incorporating support early on and finding a safe place to share your experience can help reduce long-term health repercussions such as post-traumatic stress, major depression, and substance or alcohol abuse.

Offering both individual and group programs, we walk through specific techniques to help witness, hold, and move through complex, painful, and intense emotions.

The WayFinders program is a powerful adjunct to your work with mental health providers. It focuses on helping to understand the differences between trauma and grief and provides a safe, non-judgemental shared space to navigate your journey. Over 6-8 weeks, we focus on distinct areas: 

  • Somatic/mind-body exercises to calm the nervous system

  • Restoring resilience through emotional education and support

  • Introducing your person's life to others in the group

  • Processing distressing images of the death

  • Resources for continued support and connection

Learn More: The Program’s Roots

In the United States, more than seven people per hour die a violent death. In 2020, more than 25,000 people were victims of homicide and over 47,500 people died by suicide. It is estimated that from those numbers, there are an additional ten to twelve people connected to the victim who are significantly impacted by this loss. These numbers do not take into account returning soldiers and their families who have been impacted by violent death as well.

Dr. Edward K. Rynearson, MD was the first and leading theorist in violent death bereavement. He discerned that when we lose someone in a violent way, it is different in these possible aspects: (1) It is violent - a horrific death, (2) a violation - or wrongdoing, (3) it is volitional - an act done on purpose, and (4) often voyeuristic - with public exposure or news media.

In an unnatural death, there is:

  1. No choice, time to prepare, or time for good-byes

  2. Difficulty understanding the way they died

  3. A violation of you and your loved one

Our WayFinders Program is a modified 6-8 week version based on the Restorative Retelling model, with the additional integration of current research on somatic exercises and techniques for toning the vagus nerve to heal traumatized nervous systems.

Group & Individual Formats Offered

The WayFinders: Living with Traumatic Death
Group (In Person)
Winter 2024

8-wk Program: Starts Feb 5th – Mar 25th 2024
Mondays from 4-6pm (PST)

Have Questions Now? Schedule a 30min Free Consult

Ready to begin this program? Book your Initial Assessment now.

Winter 2024 Group Facilitator: Rebecca Mullins, ACGRS, CTRC

The WayFinders: Living with Traumatic Death
Individual (In Person or Online)
Custom Schedule

6-wk Program: Available to schedule year-round
Custom Scheduling - In-person or Online via Zoom

Have Questions Now? Schedule a 30min Free Consult

Ready to begin this program? Book your Initial Assessment now.

Individual Facilitator: Rebecca Mullins, ACGRS, CTRC

Upcoming Groups for 2024:
The Autumn 2024 Group - In Person program dates will be announced by Aug 1st 2024.

To keep updated on program dates and announcements, join our newsletter at the bottom of each page on the site.

“Grief is like a long winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape.”

— C.S. Lewis, British Novelist and Author of ‘A Grief Observed’

(Nov 29, 1898—Nov 22, 1963)