Hi, I’m Karen SuttonU.K’s first widow coach & your grief retreat leader!
My Grief and Healing Journey
In 2016, my world fell apart. I lost my husband and my children lost their father. I didn’t know how my life would continue and in those early days, I wasn’t even sure I wanted it to. My grief was quite simply unbearable. I felt permanently exhausted, anxious and overwhelmed. And utterly alone.
Slowly, over time, I started to stitch together a new life for myself and my children. My daughters returned to school, birthdays and holidays came and went, we laughed and cried, we fought and loved and we learnt to navigate our new normal. However, I was still struggling to make sense of my feelings.
I knew I needed something more than counselling to ensure I thrived in this new life I had created. So I began to work with a life coach. And this decision was transformational. I learnt to work on my mindset, values, gratitude, stress, diet, sleep and much more. I learnt not to give up when things got tough. I developed a ‘can-do’ attitude and I started to care less about what others thought or expected of me.
My experience was so life-changing that I vowed it would be something I’d share with other widows. And, since 2020, I have been doing just that - providing widows all over the world, with emotional and practical support, wherever they might be in their grief journey.
By channelling my own experience of loss, I help widows navigate their trauma and manage their grief in a more positive way. It’s my mission to help those struggling with bereavement look after themselves, take back control and build a more fulfilling life.
My Widow Support Qualifications
I am a certified grief educator, committed to delivering the highest level of widow support through education, experience and insight. I draw on the unique methodology, tools and experience of world-renowned grief expert, David Kessler, to help widows fall in love with life again.
As an integrative nutrition health coach, I have also developed a deep understanding of holistic health and sustainable behaviour change which helps me to support my clients with their physical and emotional wellbeing.
My Beliefs on Grief and Healing
Self-care is non-negotiableWhen my husband died, my life spiralled into chaos. I found myself out of control, responding and reacting as best I could to whatever life threw at me. This soon took a toll on both my body and mind and I reached breaking point. I knew then that I needed to press pause, take a breath and create some time and space to identify what it was that I really needed.
And so I reset. I learnt to listen to my body and nourish myself emotionally. I learnt to push back on expectations placed on me by others and set my own goals. I discovered what soothed my mind and made me feel better and over time I learnt how to unplug and switch off from life’s daily demands.
I firmly believe that our healing is our responsibility. It is up to us to pay attention to what our bodies are telling us and to give our minds the quietness they deserve. And I speak from experience when I say that turning down the noise and learning to be still will truly help you to understand what’s going on in your heart and ultimately unlock a deeper sense of peace.
‘We don’t heal in isolation, but in community’As a grief coach, I have come to realise that when you bring together people with shared experiences, something magical happens. Some of the most cathartic breakthroughs I have witnessed, have occurred as a result of widows discussing their grief collectively.
Listening to other widows speak openly about their loss, reminds us that we’re not alone and that we too have a voice. It encourages us to be vulnerable, to be brave and to talk about our grief in a safe and compassionate space.
And as we start to open up and share our loss, we begin to shed the stigma and fear that’s been holding us back. We no longer feel isolated and disengaged from the world and instead start to develop a sense of belonging and connection to those who’ve walked our path and experienced this unique trauma. And we begin to learn from each other. By absorbing the insight, advice and experience of other widows, we learn to reframe our perspective and arm ourselves with new tools and strategies with which to tackle our grief.
Why I started Widow Retreats
Throughout my time as a widow coach, my beliefs around self-care and group support have framed my work. They sit at the very heart of the advice I give my clients and they shape my own thoughts and behaviours.
And so I have come to realise that holistic grief retreats are the perfect next step in my coaching journey.
Combining self-care with peer support, my retreats will provide widows with the time and space they need to rest and recharge, whilst also being able to lean on others and learn from their experiences of loss - all in a relaxed and supportive environment.
