Grief Ease
Loss Support
Welcome.
Let's face it, grief is just hard. Grief is the response to a change we did not want, and navigating through that change can be challenging. I am here to provide comfort and understanding during this difficult time, whether that is the loss of a pregnancy, the death of a loved one, or the ending of a relationship or season in your life.
Grief Ease Support
Tailored Care
Workshops
As a Teacher for the Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death, Michelle offers workshops for professionals and anyone wanting to deepen their understanding of life's sacred thresholds of birth and death. The workshops are experiential and include journaling, group discussion, meditation and reflection.​​​​​
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Support Circles
Based on the model of Amy Wright Glenn, founder of the Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath and Death, Michelle provides support circles that include discussion, journaling, meditation, gentle inquiry, and healing for birth professionals.
Baby Loss Support
1 in 4 women will experience the loss of a pregnancy, yet it is a subject that is often surrounded in silence. That profound grief can become lonely and isolating, especially if you choose not to share the loss with others, or those around want to diminish or rush your grieving process. Michelle understands the pain of perinatal loss as a doula, childbirth educator, grief and trauma specialist, and mother. She offers compassionate care in her online sessions.
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Grief Support
Michelle offers private online sessions where individuals can share their experiences and emotions in a safe and confidential environment. As someone who has experienced intense grief herself, Michelle is here to provide compassionate guidance and understanding during this time, helping you navigate your journey of healing. Remember, you are not alone in this journey, and it's okay to seek help and share your feelings.
"...the grief journey requires contemplation and turning inward. In other words, it requires depression, anxiety, and loss of control. It requires going to the wilderness." —Alan Wolfelt
Why Grief Support?
You may have noticed that we live in a grief-illiterate society that does not understand the process of grief. The bereaved are often expected to be over or have moved on from the pain within 48 hours of the funeral or at least within a couple of weeks. Many well-meaning people try to fix someone's grief, and while the bereaved may feel shattered, they are not broken, and they do not need to be fixed. These uneducated, unrealistic expectations can make a bereaved person feel guilty, dismissed, angry, or like they are going crazy. Grief can also take the form of the loss of a relationship, a job, one's health, etc. Compassionate grief support provides individuals with a safe space to express and work through their emotions while navigating the complexities of loss with someone skilled, willing, and able to sit in the intensity of the pain that loss brings.
Meet Michelle
Known for the soothing sound of her voice and calming presence, Rev. Michelle Smith serves as an educator and advocate who seamlessly weaves her compassionate nature with her professional expertise to guide others through life’s most profound moments.
As a clinical hypnotherapist, birth & bereavement doula, childbirth educator, and grief counseling specialist in Central Florida, Michelle has dedicated herself to empowering individuals, couples, and families to navigate the complexities and emotions of life's beginnings and endings, including the sacred spaces where birth and death meet.
Michelle is proud to be a teacher for The Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death. She is a professional midwife of thanatology (death midwife) and a certified Grief Educator trained directly by David Kessler—the World's Leading Grief Expert. She has trained extensively in perinatal bereavement, grief, and trauma, and is the host of the Birth Ease Loss Support podcast.
"Not all grief is traumatic, but all trauma contains grief within it."
—David Kessler
Stories of Healing
“Michelle held space for me in way no one else could, helping me gently process the grief and trauma I had carried for so long.”
Mackenzie
“The Holding Space for Pregnancy Loss course was poignant and healing. I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to increase their awareness and skillset.”
Nena
“Michelle's compassionate care made all the difference during the most challenging time of my life, the stillbirth of my son.”
Nydia