What Collapse Companioning™ Is And How It Has Helped Individuals in 20 Countries Turn Anxiety, Grief, Anger, Loneliness, and Helplessness Into Creative Energy, Inspired Action, and Engaged Community

🔶 Deep Presence, Compassionate Curiosity, and Daily Support for Creative Adaptation

Collapse Companioning™ is a highly-personalized form of deep presence, compassionate curiosity, and daily support for individuals navigating their emotions, thoughts, and responses related to their recognition of uncertainty about the future.

It is becomes increasingly clearer that it is no longer useful to rely on old models that were never intended to address the collective despair, isolation, and harmful coping mechanisms that are now affecting individuals of all ages. 

Collapse Companioning™ is designed to help those who are aware of accelerating change leading to systems failures and the colliding of our entangled crises.

Collapse Companioning™ is a unique and effective process that leads to creative adaptation through emotional steadiness, a revitalized sense of agency, and a powerful transformation that naturally leads to heightened imagination, creative energy, and intentional action.

🔶 A Proven Alternative to Coaching and Therapy For Those Facing Climate Anxiety, Anticipatory Grief, And ¨Despairalysis¨

Based on a deep understanding of loss and grief, the latest research in human behavior and habit change, and a recognition that traditional models of therapy and coaching were not designed to address the accelerating levels of global change we are facing, Collapse Companioning™ was developed as a focused process to address mounting levels of despair and paralysis, which she has dubbed despairalysis.

Unlike traditional coaching, Collapse Companioning™ is not centered around performance metrics, productivity systems, or goals. 

Each person's emotions, responses, and habits are viewed as understandable under these circumstances. These individuals are seen as having the capacity to expand their creativity, deepen their sense of connection, and experience real joy and meaning alongside their growing awareness.

Unlike traditional therapy, Collapse Companioning™ is not focused on diagnosis, clinical treatment, or memories from the past. 

Each individual's legitimate concerns are not seen as something to fix, solve, or cure.

Instead, Collapse Companioning™ sees collapse-aware individuals as responding to reality in ways that are appropriate and deeply human.

These clients are viewed as courageous in their willingness to see, holding the capacity to recognize patterns and understand reality without denial. They share a longing for both depth and lightness, and are welcomed in a thoughtful, emotionally intelligent space where complex human experiences can be explored with steadiness, imagination, and care. 

Clients describe the experience of Collapse Companioning™ as having a trusted thinking partner and co-creator during one of the most important transitions of their lives.

🔶 The Human Behavior Research That Inspired The Collapse Companioning™ Process

Collapse Companioning™ was first offered by Maya Frost, a mindfulness trainer, trauma-informed facilitator, and creative breakthrough coach, in early 2020 as a way to help those who were struggling during the pandemic. 

 

In the beginning it was focused on addressing the needs of women who had lost loved ones to COVID and were unable to say goodbye, hold a funeral, or process their grief among others due to the imposed isolation requirements.

Due to the deep despair these women were experiencing, their isolation, and the lack of programs to support them, Ms. Frost recognized the need to offer daily support rather than the traditional weekly or bi-weekly schedules used by coaches and therapists. 

Concerned about their risk for self-harm or suicide, she offered her guidance at no cost. 

Her process, requiring daily and ongoing conversations over a period of 30 days, has been proven effective in creating natural consistency, momentum, and lasting change. 

 

The Latest Research In Human Behavior Change and Habit Formation

Frost's Collapse Companioning™ approach is influenced by two areas of research that are particularly relevant to those struggling with collapse-related anxiety and habits of isolation.

The research of Brown University neuroscientist and psychotherapist Dr. Judson Brewer and others have shown that generalized anxiety (what many people are experiencing in this time of uncertainty) is actually a habit, not a condition. Like most habits, it can be changed with steady effort over a short time. 

In his study, Dr. Brewer found that anxiety can be dramatically reduced in 30 days using techniques focused on curiosity and awareness.

This reinforced Frost's own experience as a mindfulness trainer. In 2003, she created a simple 30-day online course that turned mindfulness into a fun game that increased awareness throughout the day using simple self-selected cues as prompts to notice. 

Her playful, eyes-wide-open approach to everyday awareness was embraced by thousands of subscribers in over 100 countries, and was featured in over 150 media outlets worldwide. 

Based on this experience, validated by Dr. Brewer's related research and the premises in the bestselling book by James Clear, Atomic Habits, she chose to once again use the 30-day model.

In addition, Frost was inspired by the work of Dr. BJ Fogg, professor of human behavior at Stanford University and the author of Tiny Habits, describing the most effective ways to change our behavior by focusing on small shifts daily.

 

It is important to note that Dr. Alan Wolfelt, founder of the Center for Loss and Life Transition, is the creator of the concept of companioning for those dealing with grief. Both Dr. Wolfert and Frost developed their ideas around the idea of companioning at the same time (2019) without knowing about each other.

Frost's work started as a direct response to the very beginning of the Covid pandemic in late 2019 in China (where she had spent several years previously) while living in Argentina. At that time, Dr. Wolfert had been a grief therapist in the U.S. for over 30 years. 

And while Dr. Wolfert sells an array of books, programs, and training courses on loss, grief, and companioning, Ms. Frost focuses on serving individuals struggling specifically with challenges related to systems failures. These include a range of emotions, responses, and habits around uncertainty, change, and adaptation. 

🔶 Education, Personal Experiences, and Influences That Inspired Maya Frost To Create of Collapse Companioning™

Maya Frost is a lifelong student of motivation, human behavior, mindfulness, and creative adaptation. 

She grew up in rural Oregon, surrounded by woods and fields, and from an early age felt like an outsider within her own family as both an adoptee and stepchild.

At 15, she survived a car accident that killed four other teens. Urged to remain silent about the tragedy, she carried survivor guilt in isolation. In response, she created a mindfulness practice that became a lifeline and sparked her lifelong interest in psychology, human behavior, and resilience.

Supported by scholarships, she studied psychology and Asian Studies and spent her senior year living and studying in nine Asian countries, where Buddhist philosophy deepened her interest in mindfulness and awareness.

 

Recognizing Despair In Isolation At the Start of the Pandemic

It was Frost's empathy for those who were suffering during the pandemic that inspired her to develop and apply her process. 

She knew what it felt like to suffer in silence, and to know that no one was coming to help.

For nearly three years, she offered her services at no cost to her clients. These years of pro bono work were intense, often heavy, but always gratifying. 

Frost was profoundly moved as she witnessed her clients heal using the very same tools and techniques she had created to help her through her losses as a teen and an adult.