I have faced my own death twice, sexual assault, family breakdown and separation from loved ones through death and rejection.
Worked as a teacher, nurse and therapist in the education, health and funeral sectors and have been privileged to hold many peoples' hands as they journeyed through abuse, separation, disease, dying and death.
This has taught me that endings are truly one of the hardest yet greatest teachers and inspirations for leading a meaningful life.
Learning how to experience emotional pain and transform shame in ourselves and others is the path to an openhearted life of love, compassion and abundance.
About Samantha
Sam finished her Bachelor of Education in 1988 but found her true calling in nursing and has been working as a nurse, facilitator, educator and therapist for over 25 years. Little did she realise that her nursing career could lead to working in the funeral industry but it was a critical meeting in coming to understand the full cycle of life and death and the importance of grief in that process. Sam has been working both nationally and internationally with corporations, groups and individuals around the topic of grief and empowerment to provide people with tools for greater communication, compassion and fun.
Personally Sam experienced mental and physical health issues and lived with diagnoses of depression, anxiety disorder and chronic pain for years. By becoming a grief educator she finally discovered the underlying cause of it all and was able to finally heal the wound that had been silently festering internally for 35 years. The power of acknowledging and honouring grief was truly transformative. Utilising her understanding of the physiology of the body and the mind body connection we are all able to change, especially when we use grief as a guide and not a foe.
"The way the body and mind work is nothing short of absolute miracle and we only need to stop and listen as it talks to us and tells us what to do to heal and live the life we want"
Working in intensive care for 12 years Sam became aware that the majority of people she cared for would not have been there if they had processed painful feelings in healthy ways. By working in oncology she also learned that death was the greatest teacher about what really matters. Emotional pain is the precursor for so many issues in our society. Suppression or destructive expression of emotional pain can lead to mental and physical diseases, conflict, addictions, stress, and relationship breakdown. Through Sams work with grief, nursing and education she has developed the uncanny ability to diagnose the emotional cause of a problem, articulate the issue and facilitate a solution in any situation.