The Imprint
Six weeks to discover how their love is still shaping you.
Specific to partner loss. Limited to 8 women for real intimacy & sharing.
Tuesdays, 5:00 to 6:30PM EST, September 8th to October 20th
$ 650 USD
Most grief groups give you a space to talk about grief. This is different. Here, we will turn towards the love.
Over the past six years of sitting with widows, I’ve noticed that almost every woman eventually asks the same question:
Who am I without the person I was building my life with?
When the person who dies is the one person who knew us most deeply, with whom we felt safest and most ourselves with…. the grief can feel profoundly disorienting, as though we’ve lost our anchor.
But have you ever stopped to wonder just how much of who you are today exists because of your person?
The way you love. The courage you’ve found. The values you hold and live by. The way you are moved by beauty. The way you care for others. The dreams you still carry for yourself. The way you take care of yourself in grief. How much of that exists because of them?
Too many people and spaces in grief will attempt to push you towards letting go.
They’ll tell you that you need to move forward, to try new things, build new relationships and find a renewed sense of purpose after your loss.
But for those of us who lost someone who made us more of who we are… who saw us fully and loved us in ways that healed something deep within us, I think that the way forward is to bring our person along.
To notice the ways they’ve become a part of you.
To internalize them and begin to notice just how much they have shape how you think, what you hold dear, the way you navigate the world and the way you relate to yourself.
Through my own personal experience with this loss and the work I’ve done with so many mourners, I believe that love can continue to deepen, even in absence. I believe that we can feel deeply connected to our person in ways that aren’t dependent on signs, dreams or any other spiritual set of beliefs. When we are given the time and space to reflect deeply on our person’s life, on their love and on the ways they have altered the very fabric of our being, we can carry them with us in ways that inspire us and gently shape our lives in meaningful ways, now and always.
What a gift it is to discover the ways we continue to be part of one another in ways even death can not touch.
Let’s do that together.
For six weeks, we’ll gather in a small circle of widows to remember the ones we love by telling their stories and by exploring the imprint they’ve left behind on our lives and our very being.
Together, we will remember and share who they are (you’ll get to introduce them to new people!). Who we are because of them. And we’ll begin to notice something many of us feel but rarely have the words for, that the people we love don’t just leave us with memories, they leave us changed. They become a part of us. The way we see the world, the way we love and live and the inspiration that carries us forward in life post loss… our lives stay intertwined with theirs in ways even death can not touch.
Is it the right time for this experience?
The Imprint was created for widows who have moved beyond the early months and years of grief and are longing for something different than processing the loss itself.
While there is no timeline for grief, this experience is best suited for women who are at least two to three years beyond the death of their partner and are ready to gently explore the ways love continues to shape who they are.
If you’re still in the very early days of grief and simply trying to make it through each day, a more supportive, stabilization-focused space may feel like a better fit for you right now. Our upcoming group for early grief might be a better fit.
Click here for info.
Have a look inside
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Week 1
Getting to know one another
Building the trust and friendship that will hold us during our time together.
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Week 2
Introducing your person & your relationship (part 1)
Bring your loved one into the space and introduce them to new people! We will turn towards their life and the love that made your relationship unique
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Week 3
Introducing your person & your relationship (part 2)
Continuation of week 2, bring your person into our space and help us know them deeply.
Have a look inside
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Week 4
The Imprint
Discover and share all the ways your person has shaped and is continuing to shape who you are.
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Week 5
Their legacy
Take part in creating a legacy map reflecting on all the ways your person light and spirit is still impacting you and the world.
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Week 6
A letter from them
You’re invited to write and share a letter written “from” your person’s perspective. See yourself through their eyes. Imagine the worlds they’d want you to hear.
Love is transformative.
And if that love transformed us while they were alive, why can’t it continue transforming us now?
Time & Place: Join us Tuesday evenings, 5:00 to 6:30 PM EST over zoom
Duration: Our time together begins September 8th and ends October 20th - we take a weekly break the week of October 12th.
FAQs
What if I can’t make one of the sessions?
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Life happens and you will have access to a recording, But of course, you’ll get the most out of the experience if you can make it live with the other participants each week.
Is this a grief processing group? Will I have to share about my person’s death?
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This is not a typical grief support group. Although we may briefly mention our late partners’ passing in the sharing of stories about their lives, the focus is on who they were as individuals who lived and the way their love lives on within you.
How do I know if I’m ready for a group experience like this?
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This experience is appropriate for anyone who has done enough grief processing and tending that they can connect to the love and legacy of their person. If you long for a community to explore and share your grief, this might not be a good fit for your needs at this time.
What happens after the six weeks?
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You leave with new grief friends, with a deeper connection to your late partner! If you’d like additional support beyond our 6 weeks together, I would be honoured to support you individually.
About me:
I’m Marie Goudreau,
A certified Death & Grief Doula trained by Dr. Alan Wolfelt at the Center for Loss and Life Transition. I've been companioning bereaved individuals since 2020, through one-on-one sessions, groups, and workshops, and have sat with hundreds of people in some of the most disorienting experiences a life can hold.
My approach is rooted in a philosophy of grief care called companioning. Companioning means that I walk beside you, not ahead of you. I don’t bring a map or a timeline and healing doesn’t mean a return to who you were before. Rather, healing in this context means that we can find our wholeness again and go on to live meaningful lives that will forever be informed by the loss (as well as by the love that never ever dies). I believe that grief and loss often act as a portal, putting us in touch with the impermanence that’s embedded into this life and in doing so, clarifying what’s most important. In this way, grief can change us, making us people who carry wisdom, heart and depth. But for that transformation to happen, we first need to receive support.
I also know loss, personally and deeply, having lost my life partner to cancer in my early 30s. I don’t know that I’ve done anything more meaningful with my life than to walk my person on his journey between life and death. His death has changed the trajectory of my life and this work is part of his legacy.
Testimonial from past group memberFrom Susie W. - “You are such a skilled facilitator. The space, shaped by your expertise, experience and emotional intelligence is perfect for sharing. The world is a better place because of your work”.
