Grief is universal—but support isn't always instinctual. When someone we care about is grieving, especially after a heartbreaking loss like miscarriage or stillbirth, we often feel unsure of what to say or do. Well-meaning words can fall flat, silence can feel like abandonment and the desire to “fix” their pain can cause more harm than healing. That’s why this workshop was designed to help you show up with compassion, confidence, and care for those walking through grief.

Who This Workshop Is For?

This experience is designed for anyone who wants to offer meaningful support but isn’t sure how. We welcome:

• Family members and friends wanting to better support a grieving loved one

• Churches and spiritual communities seeking to provide compassionate, informed pastoral care

• Workplaces and companies aiming to build a grief-informed, inclusive, and human-centered culture

• Nonprofits and support organizations that work with vulnerable or grieving populations

• Healthcare and helping professionals seeking to provide support through loss to their patients

Whether the grief is fresh or longstanding, this workshop equips attendees to move beyond avoidance or awkwardness toward presence and connection.

Why This Even Matters?

Grief is isolating. Pregnancy loss is especially so! It is often unspoken, minimized or misunderstood—even by those closest to the person experiencing it. Many parents suffering this type of loss have heard phrases that sting and complicate their healing. When Words Fall Short teaches how to be present, hold space, and respond with empathy when words are hard to find.

What You’ll Learn:

In this engaging and experiential workshop, participants will:

✅ Understand what grief, especially after pregnancy loss, can feel like emotionally, physically, and relationally

✅ Learn the common missteps and myths about grief support and what to do

✅ Explore supportive language and behaviors that bring comfort instead of confusion and additional pain

✅ Practice supportive skills

✅ Build emotional literacy and self-awareness for supporting others through loss

✅ Receive tools and handouts that can be used long after the workshop ends

This is not a lecture. It’s a guided, interactive experience that encourages reflection, connection, and growth to address and close the grief gap in pregnancy loss support.

Delivery Duration: 2 hours

Format: In person

Includes: Interactive discussion, reflection exercises, grief-informed communication tools, take-home guide

Group Size: Minimum 10, Maximum 30

Facilitated by: A licensed mental health professional with lived experience and clinical expertise in grief and pregnancy loss

Workshop Outcomes After attending When Words Fall Short, you will be more equipped to:

• Respond compassionately when someone you care about is hurting

• Normalize the emotional complexity of grief

• Reduce the fear of “getting it wrong”

• Show up consistently and meaningfully over time

• Create a culture of care within families, communities, workplaces and organizations

Are you ready to create a community where no one has to grieve alone? Whether you're a hospital team member, church leader, HR director, nonprofit program manager, or simply a person who wants to show up better for those you love—this workshop is no doubt for you! Grief is hard and many times weird but being a trusted partner through the journey, you will be better able to care for the grieving instead of unintentionally inflicting additional pain while trying to be helpful.

Grief comes in many forms. Whether you’re grieving the death of a loved one or a pet, the end of a relationship, pregnancy loss, a major life transition, or the future you've imagined.......your experience matters, your pain is real and you don’t have to face it alone! At the heart of healing is the ability to feel seen, heard, and supported in your sorrow. All emotions are welcome in our work together including sadness, anger, confusion, numbness, guilt and even moments of relief. This journey is not about "moving on" or "fixing" your grief, it is about honoring your experience and helping you carry it with compassion.

Grief is deeply personal. There is no timeline, no checklist, and no “right way” to grieve. Many people who are grieving silently struggle with messages they’ve received from others—or internalized themselves—such as:

• “Crying won’t change anything.”

• “Just stay strong and keep going.”

• “There’s no use dwelling on the past.”

• “If I let myself feel it, I’ll fall apart.”

• “Other people have it worse so I shouldn’t complain.”

These statements often come from a place of emotional suppression for survival, not because you are weak. These statements reflect how we were taught to disconnect from pain rather than process it. Truthfully, pushing grief away doesn't make it go away. It only delays the healing and "quietly" deepens the hurt. Ignoring grief doesn’t protect us—it isolates us.

Unacknowledged emotions build beneath the surface, showing up as irritability, anxiety, physical exhaustion, or emotional numbness. In our work together, we gently turn toward what’s been avoided not to stay stuck in sorrow, but to move through it with intention, care, and support.

You're likely:

• Feeling overwhelmed by waves of sadness and longing

• Experiencing anxiety, isolation, or guilt

• Numb or disconnected from yourself and others

• Wondering who you are now or how to rebuild

• Tired of people telling you to "be strong" or "get over it"

What Our Work Together Could Include:

• Setting Boundaries

• Identifying What You Need from Others

• Processing Your Loss at Your Own Pace

• Naming and Validating Complex Emotions

• Exploring the Meaning Within Your Life Story

• Integrating Your Loss While Reconnecting with Yourself

• Finding Comfort in Honoring Rituals, Memories, and Values

We'll move at a pace that feels safe to your nervous system because this is not about rushing to feel better but about feeling supported as you navigate the realities and uniqueness of your grief. You deserve a space where your grief is not minimized or pathologized but honored as a reflection of your love, your hopes, your humanity.

Whether you’re newly grieving or still carrying a loss from years ago, it’s never too early—or too late—to seek support. Grieving is a sign that who or what you miss mattered to you very deeply. It is a natural response to loss, of any kind. Acknowledging grief is a gateway to healing and healing doesn't mean forgetting, it means allowing yourself to be emotionally held as you remember, rebuild, and rediscover life in the midst of loss. You don’t have to do this alone.