I help people use their despairalysis to heal themselves and others.
Our superpower? Embracing JOY as a tool for transformation.
Welcome! I´m Maya.
Post-grief optimist, storytelling futurist, and accidental grief worker.
I help people transform their anger, grief, and worry about the state of the world into intentional acts of joy as ritual, resilience, resistance, and renewal.
TRUTH: Joy is what will get us through the hard times ahead.
So, why not lead with it and leverage it?
We choose to grow gratitude, spark laughter, and rally solidarity via creative actions that are visible, community-focused, and contagious.
If you're tired of swimming in the swirl of 2025 emotions, and you´re looking for a way to do something that is meaningful, safe, and (dare I say it?) fun, you're in the right place.
Let's be clear: collapse is already happening.
Social. Ecological. Political. Economic.
We are beginning the most tumultuous time of our transition.
If you´re feeling sideswiped by all of it, you´re not alone.
This chaos is taking a very real toll,
even on those lucky enough to be safe and financially secure.
It is a form of trauma that is:
🔶collective (though unevenly distributed)
🔶ongoing (and accelerating rapidly)
🔶high-stakes (ultimately affecting all ecosystems)
The silver-ish lining offered by this colliding of crises?
Even with the losses we face, we can move toward
a deeper connection with Nature,
a stronger sense of community and belonging,
and a more conscious and collaborative way of living.
Things are changing quickly.
It´s time to move past the ongoing OMG of this moment into a more elevated, engaged, and energizing level of adaptation - one that stirs up some joyful mischief while strengthening you and your community.
Our approach: using creative disruption to accelerate adaptation.
It has worked wonders for 130+ individual clients in 18 countries.
Rather than weekly counseling/therapy/coaching sessions over a period of months,
we dive into a process of prompted storytelling and
daily deep imagining of the future you long for.
This is NOT about denying or ignoring grief.
Healing is an ongoing process, especially with today´s crisis-of-the-hour news cycle.
So, we recognize our despair AND tap into the energy of longing, funneling it forward.
Despite the heaviness you may feel when we begin,
you will emerge with greater
clarity, creativity, and commitment...and a big-sigh sense of relief.
You will have:
🔶awe-inspiring adaptation practices that support you
🔶a strong concept and strategy for your action
🔶tangible progress and grin-worthy momentum
Oh, and it all happens in about a month.
Despair is an appropriate reaction to what we are experiencing.
And we get to CHOOSE how we dance with it.
You can start blooming faster than a marigold grown from seed. 🌱
Rather than weekly coaching sessions for months, Collapse Into Joy offers personalized, ongoing 1:1 attention every day for two weeks.
This builds momentum from Day One, with mind-shifting insights that are continuous and compounding.
Being heard deeply and encouraged consistently releases your emotions AND your flow of ideas, and that sparks energy and creativity.
¨I lost the job I had loved for twenty years. I spent months at home, watching terrible news.
I hit rock bottom, fearing for the world and myself.
Maya worked her magic in loving ways. It felt like plotting with my best friend.
In that first month, I put up a flyer and held my first group meeting.
We did our first joyburst.
A week later, I was offered a paid position based on my idea and leadership! I am beyond thrilled to continue this exciting work.
I feel transformed by this experience with Maya.¨
Maria - event facilitator for a community organization in the U.S.
I am good at grappling with grief.
I have been wracked by grief,
walloped by grief,
and yes, I have wallowed in grief.
Each time, I walked back into the world
more wide-eyed and full of wonder.
And I help others find their way there, too.
How did I learn so much about grief?
VOLUME....and a very early start.
Some people spend months or even years struggling with their grief about our present and fear for our future.
But there´s another way.
¨Maya guided me almost daily during our time together. Our voice chats were like having a personal coach in my pocket!
I feel so much lighter despite everything that's going on, because I can see that I am having an impact.
Instead of fearing the future, I am actively creating it.
I have new rituals and tools for building resilience that energize me daily. I bring this bright energy to those I serve (who are facing cuts right and left) and it truly is contagious.
I did not expect such deep change in such a short time."
Noreen - owner of a community-building consultancy in the U.S.
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¨After COP29, I spent days in bed, unable to function. For the first time, I realized that there may be no way to stop the collapses that are already happening.
Maya helped me reach a level of acceptance that could work for me - more savvy wisdom than doom and gloom.
And after two weeks, I felt like a new person! I can recognize my triggers and reflect on my reactions without sinking into despair.
Grief and anger? Still there when I read the news. But I embrace each day with a real and upbeat sense of what is possible, focusing on building resilience in myself and those I lead. Weaving my new joyful adaptation habits into my mission feels aligned and inspiring."
Laura - executive director of a climate-focused organization in the U.K.
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"I was ready to close up my non-profit at the end of 2024.
I felt guilt and shame for giving up right when we need to do so much more.
Maya helped me see that I was overwhelmed and fearful rather than hopeless.
We worked on ways to build resilience for myself and my organization, inserting joy into our work in fun and surprising ways. I am already seeing results!
I am so thankful for this new joy, and for feeling re-inspired to do this work."
Reyna - founder of a social justice non-profit organization in the U.S.
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"I was basically the class clown in our small company, but everyone knew I took my work seriously. So when I explained that we needed to dramatically ramp up our efforts like 10x or not bother, they thought I was joking. But I brought the graphics. They could see the truth.
At the end of the day, the CEO told me that we couldn't move forward with my mindset. He said that positivity was the priority.
I went home and cried. I knew I had changed the course of my life in that one meeting.
I reached out to Maya, and honestly, it was the best thing I have done for myself in years.
She has given me tools to see the future in a realistic way that still gets me excited about what I can do.
I cannot overstate what a life-changing experience this has been.¨
Sara - freelance climate risk consultant in the U.S.
Curious about how I started doing this work?
Like a lot of other projects, it started during the pandemic, when things were rocky and foggy for so many of us.