Hi, I'm Gina and my heart aches for you. I know you are hurting right now, but I want you to know that you can heal. You can laugh again. You can find joy in the little things again. You can think back on your loved one and feel at peace. 

I know what it is to lose loved ones and to not know how to grieve. I was 22 when I lost my dad unexpectedly. I didn't deal with it well, choosing to ignore my pain and hide it in the hopes it would fade away. It didn't. Then, five years later, I lost my mom, also unexpectedly, while pregnant with my first child. The pain was unimaginable, but it made me realize that I had never dealt with my father's death. I was determined not to make the same mistakes and was ready to find peace. 

Those losses allowed me to see how people grieve differently, even in the same family. My sisters’ grieving processes were nothing like my own. I realized how very unique grief is to each person and wanted to find a way to help others move through the pain of loss in ways that were most meaningful and effective for them. Cookie-cutter approaches did not work for me and those around me.  

I quit my job in corporate marketing and turned my focus to being a resource for those in grief. I obtained my Master’s Degree in Minnesota and completed the Grief Support Specialist Certification at UW Madison and today work in a funeral home as a grief support specialist. In 2018, I opened Hope's House in Northeast Wisconsin to provide a grief resource for children from ages 4-18. I've written a curriculum that is used in schools to help kids process loss and manage grief and I've authored books and pamphlets on grief and grieving. I have worked with kids and adults for many years now, and take my experiences as well as what I have seen work for hundreds of people to develop a core healing program for you.