Overview
What you'll achieve
Goals and progress are fully determined by the coachee–not the coach.
Common goals include having a safe, trusted space to share thoughts and feelings around loss and grief
Developing practices, rituals, or tools to help navigate the grief journey
Practicing certain emotional intelligence strategies and developing skills to navigate emotions
Finding resources related to grief, loss, change, and relationships
Who this is for
Anyone who is navigating loss and grief. It doesn't need to be a recent loss either.
Anyone who has self-awareness and is looking for compassionate presence and support around their grief.
Anyone who is already or has worked with a therapist (grief coaching is not therapy and will not involved diagnosis or treatment for mental health issues.)
What's included
1:1 Grief Coaching Sessions (50-minutes)
Upon request: resources such as articles, books, podcasts, and guides
What you'll need
Verified Top Expert
Adam Bouse
Coach
Muncie, United States
11 years experience
Founder, coach, emotions educator, writer, possibilitarian.
Even before I was a coach, I was a student of what it means to be human. I’ve always been fascinated by what helps us grow, what holds us back, and how we can live with more curiosity and intention. My passions have taken me to work in museums, tech companies, non-profits, marketing, and L&D. The common thread has always been a deep curiosity about people and a desire to help them learn and grow. This is the foundation of my practice today.
For the last five years, I was a leadership and management coach (and a senior manager of a coaching team). In 2024, my family experienced the devastating loss of my wife, Stacey. And as cliché as it is, that kind of experience is clarifying, whether you wanted it to be or not. I don’t think these moments change your values as much as they make them abundantly clear.
What I am embracing in this season is that I can hold space for both the good and the bad, that grief can live alongside purpose and seeking out possibilities. In that light and with renewed clarity of values and purpose, I launched Optimistic Coaching as a business and my full-time work.
This work isn’t about formulas or one-size-fits-all solutions. It’s about showing up, being fully present with you, and creating a space where you feel truly heard and seen. I believe the most powerful moments of connection and breakthrough happen when you have a partner who listens with empathy, asks compelling questions, and helps you see the possibilities that still exist. Coaching, teaching and creating — this is what I want to be doing.
"FAQs
Still need more clarity? Here are answers to some commonly asked questions.
Is grief coaching a kind of therapy?
No, coaching is not the same thing as therapy. But it is a "helping profession."
Grief comes from something that has already happened (or is in the process of happening). So the past is relevant and part of the conversation. But coaching, different from some forms of therapy, won’t spend a lot of time looking for patterns in the past. It’s about identifying where you are today, holding space to include your full experience, and then deciding what you want and need in the present moment and going forward.
What is your approach to grief coaching?
Grief is about loss. Most of my clients have experienced the death of a loved one. But grief is connected to all kinds of loss—friendships, jobs, relationships, life transitions, and more.
Your grief is your own. Your experience won’t perfectly match anyone else’s experience. But there will be similarities. As a culture, we have a lot to learn about seeing the individual experiencing grief.
Grief isn’t linear. It isn’t a problem to be solved or an algorithm to hack. It’s also not an exact flow of stages. You have to learn your own rhythms.
Healing doesn’t mean you’re broken. Grief is a natural human experience. You don’t need to be fixed: you need to be seen, heard, and supported.
There are possibilities ahead, there is a way forward. My larger business is called Optimistic Coaching, but don’t think that means our grief work together is about a happy, sunny, “everything is great” mindset. It simply means that, even when we have no idea how the future will play out, there are paths we can take. There are still possibilities. And sometimes we need someone to hold on to that belief with us.