Good Grief
Like Stephen Jenkinson Pat believes grief is a skill of deep living.
It enables us to recognise the worlds suffering and is also the midwife for
being able to fall in love with being alive again.
These grieving programs began in 2004 when Pat worked for 12 months with 3 Jungian psychotherapists exploring myths, legends and fairytales, symbolism and colour. They melded all of this and began casting body parts to make meaning of loss and life events. Pat now pools all this intellectual and creative capital into programs that support people to find their joy – when it often appears there is none.
The casting work is inspired by the work of Christiane Corbat
Her PR Agent said “Pat, you are like a Spiritual midwife delivering people out of the darknesss”,
Pat is well ahead of her time in the regard of understanding what causes wellness and happiness within the human condition, and I have seen her lead many others into the discovery of this within themselves.
Contact Pat if you have lost any of the Joy in Life that is your birthright..she is a master at helping you to reclaim that beautiful experience of life.” Kym McDonald Transformational Coach.
Contact Pat to make an appointment
Pat Armitstead is no stranger to grief and loss. She lost her home and business twice; is a cancer survivor; endured a violent relationship; lost her first child – a daughter called
Willow, avoided bankruptcy by repaying $80,000 in 2 years; had 10 car accidents in 18 months ( none her fault so she says) ; and plummeted when her partner of 20 years left with another woman.
Pat knows full well that everybody grieves differently , and for those facing adversity from any source the passage is not linear. She says Grief is perceiving there is nowhere to place our love and sadness is love announced.
Pat’s grieving workshops are about restoring a sense of wellbeing and supporting people to be fully self expressed, through finding meaning in life events. Dr Russ Harris talks about the reality slap—those times when life brings a painful blow. And the slap is just the beginning as following the slap is the gap. This is the gap between the reality we want and the reality we have, and the bigger the gap the more pain we experience.
In the midst of pain, though, we often find great passion, creativity and the development of self compassion. This program explores grieving in context with its role and relationship to health and wellbeing and supports people to find meaning and fulfill their potential as a result of loss. We grieve for that which we have loved and the processes utilized by Pat honor that love.
Pat is available to work with you one on one, in groups and in her boutique Good Grief program, as described below.
She makes the distinction that she is not a counsellor, but a grief coach and artist, and supports you to integrate your loss and move forward into new expressions . She works very intuitively, melding NLP and Mbraining techniques along with other healing and creative tools
She says we live in a grief-illiterate society. This explains why people who have recently lost a loved one, having no familiarity with grief, experience the loss deeper . It also prolongs their feelings of pain and heartache. They often don’t understand the elements of the grieving process and don’t know who to talk about it. And so it is that they end up feeling lost and alone.
These are things she coaches people on all the time, helping to guide them to an understanding of how grief is a normal, even central, part of human existence.
She has worked with people experiencing grief and Depression following death, divorce, depletion, disappointment, dramas and disasters; Grief and Depression following a downturn, a drought, dementia; Moving through loss of family member; Honouring the loss of a child; Moving through redundancies; Recovering from bankruptcy ; Trauma following natural disasters; Release of patterns that don’t serve; Release of emotional pain.
Testimonial
“Three months ago I had turned and faced the growing suspicion that my husband was capable of being the abuser that my sons were hinting at. The shock, sorrow, guilt, disbelief and horror that consumed me as I staggered through the journey left me exposed and totally raw. I struggled with me. I was numb, surviving on adrenalin, so sad, devoid of anger and ‘normal’ grief responses.
I emerged from this program, wrapped in my spiritual cloak and holding everybody and everything in wings of compassion. I stepped into a journey of forgiveness and understanding for the abuser, pride for my sons courage and a seeker of knowledge. Everyone was concerned that I was just not coping, but I found a deep level of forgiveness and compassion early on.
The final result is not only a piece of art that expresses self, griefs journey but the revelation of my inner being and reconnection with my purpose in this time. “
Leah
Contact Pat to make a Discovery Call
Pat says “In the sharing of vulnerable moments we generate a degree of trust that is the cement of all relationship building. Many people experience deep loss and as with all losses we don’t get over them, rather we move through them. Journaling and storytelling, whether our own or others demonstrates the passage through tragedy and triumph and we learn who we really are and what our lives are about. It supports us to make meaning, and when that is then added to the artistic process, it provides another level of healing.
We become part of a multi generational quilt of community and find strengths we have forgotten. When we share these stories with other people we create a high degree of intimacy that satisfies our deepest yearning for personal contact… and that’s for the listener as well as the storyteller!
She will take you to a place where your grief can illuminate you .
Testimonials
” A bonding of self, abuse, pain, sorrow and spirit. Pat gave the gift of reconnection”
“Pats experience, training and her personal overcoming in her life, qualify her to hold your heart gently and help you through this time. She is a master at helping you reclaim the beautiful experience of life , walking with you through your pain , gently and with care”
“Pat has a very personal way of delivering, and being with her for the weekend was deep, intriguing, stimulating – the full range of emotions. “
Services offered
Grief and Trauma personal coaching session- 6/12 week program
Customised art as therapy healing workshops
3 day boutique immersion using the casting process- This can be in a retreat setting
Contact Pat for a 1 hour confidential and complimentary session