I may be an accidental grief worker, but it is my calling.
I have had profound personal and professional experience with grief.
In the process, I developed a simple but surprisingly effective technique to accelerate healing and adaptation.
What I offer is companioning rather than counseling or coaching.
Rather than trying to fix things or remaining paralyzed or passive, we shift to active caring in ways that support you and others.
We get creative, sharing storytelling conversation sessions that explore your worries as well as your wild dreams for the future. Together, we co-design a supportive structure and foundational story, along with daily tools and practices and your intentional joyful action so you can guide yourself (and others) forward with care and confidence - despite the uncertainty.
There are two ways I can help you:
1) Bloom Zoom is a single 90-minute Zoom session* that helps you see, understand, and manage your responses to all that is going on, inspiring you to focus on your possibilities for your future in a far more proactive way. You´ll sketch out a plan to actively shift your awareness, your habits, and the work you do to align with your recognition of reality AND your dreams for the future.
*Bloom Zoom includes ongoing text/email/voice/video message support (your choice) for two weeks following the Zoom session.
2) Collapse Into Joy is a two-week series of daily 1:1 conversations via Zoom, text, and video/voice messages (your choice) with three accountability check-ins over the following three weeks. It gives you tools, tactics, and the tender tenacity you need to adapt creatively and inspire deeply through your own joy-driven project.
"What I loved most about my time with Maya was her prompts to share my stories related to Nature.
It was the beginning of a beautiful reconnecting to who I was as a child, happily playing in the creek and discovering new wonders daily.
Those stories and memories brought a new resonance to my life and work."
Jenny - photographer/film director, U.S.
"I felt completely isolated in my ideas, and was afraid to talk to anyone. Maya was warm and supportive. I was surprised by the depth of our conversation despite its casualness.
It was refreshing to laugh about the absurdities of our way of life with someone who really gets it! It definitely made the hard parts more bearable. I feel relieved and ignited."
Alexandra - communications director, Canada
¨I have advanced degrees in psychology, and had strong opinions about those offering mental health guidance without credentials. But I took a chance on working with Maya, and I am so glad I did. I learned so much about letting go of my biases and opening to creative disruption.
This series worked for me, and remarkably quickly. I am beyond pleased.¨
Katherine - child psychologist, U.K.
"I honestly don't know what I would have done without Maya's gentle kickstart.
It was exactly what I needed to face the fact that it was time for a big change.
Even though my project is new, I am heartened by our progress so far.
I love feeling wide awake and fully engaged instead of sleepwalking through my days!"
Dana - founder of a rewilding project, U.S.
"To be honest, I have been dissing the doomers. I thought they were just negative people. But now that I am talking with actual collapse-aware folks, I realize that we all long to feel optimistic, but in a REALISTIC way.
I thought accepting collapse might change my personality. I'm a positive guy. Now, my positivity is more balanced. It's based on the truth. Honestly, being open about it is a huge f#$*ing RELIEF.
Maya helped me find my courage. I finally talked about all of it with my wife, who encouraged me to leave the company. I launched a new project with a partner. It´s going well, but more importantly, it feels good. I am beyond grateful.¨
John - former sustainability lead for a U.S. corporation
"Okay, but will this work for me?"
It has for everyone so far, despite a huge range of rough starting points and major challenges. (Read more about the first women I worked with here)
Irina
psychologist
Ukraine/Poland
"Our city was destroyed. My son and I fled to Poland. As a psychologist, I recognized the severe trauma that all war refugees were experiencing, but I was terrified to try to help anyone. I felt too fragile. I feared I would be overwhelmed by their grief. This filled me with guilt.
Maya helped me to see that I could use my grief as my power. I had empathy and the skills to guide others through this unimaginable misery.
I started a free clinic for displaced Ukrainian mothers here. Working with them has helped me to heal myself each day. Although the horrors continue, we focus on caring for each other and finding small everyday joys. We look for reasons to laugh.
I have brought my remaining family members here. I support them through the work I do with private clients, but I continue with the free clinic.
It is the most deeply fulfilling work I have ever done.¨
You don´t have to be fleeing from conflict in order to experience a major shift.
Whether you're distressed by the non-stop drama of the daily news or directly impacted by the devastation and displacement of war, this process provides real, rapid, and remarkable shifts.
I don't pretend to be a climate psychologist or eco-therapist.
But I am uniquely positioned to guide you through this personal transformation thanks to:
🟦 my work helping 130+ individuals move through their grief in order to thrive in new ways
🟦 my own life experience processing profound grief and loss
🟦 my training and experience in trauma-informed facilitation, creative breakthrough coaching, and mindfulness
My work is also informed by:
🟦 my 30+ years of learning about deep ecology, behavioral psychology, and systems change via the work of Joanna Macy (The Work That Reconnects, The Great Turning, Active Hope), Donella Meadows (The Limits to Growth, Thinking in Systems), and others
🟦 my engaged exploration of collapse by studying scientific research and integrating relevant information from the work of Jem Bendell (Deep Adaptation, Breaking Together), Nate Hagens (The Great Simplification), Nora Bateson (Warm Data), Ginie Servant-Miklos (Pedagogies of Collapse), and others
🟦 my ongoing experience in creative adaptation while making major life changes - from living in seven countries and building entirely new communities to continuously immersing in new learning experiences that transform my own perspective and work
🟦 my deep concern for young people as a grandmother actively navigating future-related worries while focusing on joy and resilience
Sweet little faces blurred for privacy, but you get the vibe. 🧡
If you're ready to re-frame and re-imagine your view of the future
and keep your mind, eyes, and heart wide open
to both the challenges and the opportunities of this journey
from despair to determination, discovery, and delight,
I would love to partner with you.
Which of the two options resonates most?
Collapse Into Joy is for those ready to transform their vision of the future and take action right away.
It is designed to serve as
a deep dive
with inquiry and storytelling
and daily contact
for two weeks
with clear action steps -
followed by 3 weeks of accountability check-ins.
Collapse Into Joy takes you from the grief of recognizing all that is crumbling...
to gratitude for what supports you, including your new path through creative adaptation...
and downright giddiness about your plan for your personal and community acts of joy.
Together, we explore what is open to you in ways of thinking, living, and working with your deepened understanding of where things are going.
This series helps you pour your new energy into actions and adaptation practices that develop personal, professional, and community resilience.
We mix it up, using text and voice/video messages as well as Zoom calls.
This allows for more reflection between questions, dramatically increasing the depth of your insights and creating momentum to discover your opportunities.
Collapse Into Joy includes:
🟦 2 30-minute Zoom sessions (around Days 1 and 14)
🟦 ongoing storytelling and Active Inquiry-based sessions via text/chat, voice and video messages (your choice)
🟦 1 30-minute accountability Zoom session around Day 20
🟦 1 30-minute accountability Zoom session around Day 30
🟦 1 30-minute celebration Zoom session around Day 45
Your journey is YOURS.
We start where you are, focus on your needs and longings, and find your best way forward.
Collapse Into Joy is designed for:
🔹 entrepreneurs, consultants, creatives, and non-profit leaders
🔹those working in sustainability-related roles who recognize the shift that is needed
🔹those who are between roles or doing the critical work of caring for others
🔹curious folks ready to reframe their own ideas of what's possible
🔹anyone seeking solace and inspiration during this time of accelerating change
Price: US$1295
Reserve now for: 2 openings available in May
Looking for a more immediate and affordable option?
Consider a Bloom Zoom session with ongoing support for two weeks.
This insight-sparking 90-minute session gives you clarity about
what is possible,
what is pulling you forward,
how you can support your shift to creative adaptation,
and imagining doing some seriously impactful (and fun) joy work.
The Bloom Zoom follow-up series includes ongoing text/voice message support for two weeks.
One part heart-opening storytelling (yours).
One part creative breakthrough coaching.
One part gleeful strategy session.
PLUS ongoing text/voice encouragement and accountability.
Price: US$395
Reserve now for: 4 openings available in May
Now, the thing about creative adaptation is that it's not a one-time event. The emotions keep coming in waves, triggered by what we read, discuss, and experience.
So, I'm certainly not promising you will never feel sad or angry about the state of the world!
But through our series of conversations, you will:
1) recognize what triggers your personal swirl of emotions and how they show up for you
2) develop a greater ability to ride the waves and positively channel the energy they give you
3) create your own plan for how you want to adapt as you move forward with this new awareness in ways that lead to discovery and resilience.
Not everyone is ready to go deep,
even if they suspect there is light on the other side.
I work with those who would rather face reality fully than keep their head in the sand.
Ready to explore what is heavy for you and start living fully, deliberately, and joyfully with that new wisdom?
PLEASE NOTE:
I am not a licensed psychologist or therapist, nor am I offering traditional counseling or therapy.
My training is in creative breakthrough coaching and trauma-informed facilitation.
My unique weaving of storytelling, Active Inquiry, and companioning addresses both longing and belonging, and encourages personal evolution and action, including self-care, outreach, and activism.
Read about how I developed my process here.
IMPORTANT: Though I work with those struggling with grief, I am not the right person to help you if you have a history of severe depression or are currently experiencing suicidal ideation.
If this is true for you, please seek help immediately from a qualified mental health professional.
I care about you, and urge you to get the treatment you need. There is a path forward for you!
Questions about whether this is right for you?