Who are we?

Our Story

Grief doesn’t follow a timeline. There is a deep need these days for finding supportive circles that offer compassionate spaces to ease the journey of loss and learn to live life with meaning.

What sets us apart is the deeply personal and sacred nature of our work. We’ve each walked the path of loss, and those experiences have become our inspiration to be of service.

Here, our focus goes beyond support. We’re committed to creating a space where you are genuinely seen, heard, and understood. We honour the power of both individual and shared healing, offering tools, insights, and compassionate coaching and education to help you find ways to move forward alongside grief.

We are grief educators supporting loss through education, coaching, and guidance rooted in compassion and respect for each person’s unique journey.

Our Mission

Thank you for visiting us here and taking the time to get to know us.

With our combined experience as Certified Grief Educators, along with hospice volunteering, life coaching, psychotherapeutic approaches as well as group facilitation experience, we are committed to holding safe and steady presence for all. In addition, our values and compassion are foundational for holding open-hearted space for healing work.

Our approach to grief is to bring and invite authenticity and to welcome moments of vulnerability. We offer  open circles where judgments are left at the door and meaningful connections are present.

We serve our communities by holding compassionate space for loss as well as offering educational services for everyone to be grief informed. You will discover how to walk your own journey and build a unique relationship with grief. Grieving is not about forgetting, getting over it or moving on. There is no fixing. Grief does not make us broken. It’s about learning to live, be open to  love and accept the loss, all side by side. When we face our grief, we honour the depth of our relationships with our loved ones, and begin to transform pain into growth. We rediscover the resilience of our human spirit. 

Your Grief Educators

MARIELLE SOONG

Certified Grief Educator & Integrative Life/Soul Coach, Group Facilitator, IFS Informed Therapist and Compassionate Inquiry Practitioner

Marielle’s path has been shaped by her own lived experience with loss, beginning with the death of her grandmother at a young age, and then her father in 1993 and has continued through the loss of many others loved ones over the years.

Since 2013, she has walked alongside those facing death and loss, serving as a trained shamanic practitioner and has worked for 24 years as a life+soul coach with a background in psychotherapeutic approaches such as Compassionate Inquiry and Internal Family Systems (IFS).

After completing the David Kessler Grief Educator Certification, she became a volunteer moderator with David’s Tender Hearts online community groups. She continues to support coaching clients through life transitions, building authenticity as well as navigating grief and losses.
COLIN REDISKY

Certified Grief Educator & Coach, Group Facilitator, Hospice Volunteer

Sometimes our purpose is born from personal experiences with profound loss and the healing that can follow. Colin’s path began early in life, with the loss of his parents, who both had cancer. During his mother’s illness, a hospice worker provided invaluable care and support, leaving a lasting impression on Colin.

This experience inspired him to volunteer with the Central Okanagan Hospice Association (COHA) in early 2022, where he found a calling in supporting others through their final moments and was asked by COHA to guide grief groups because of his ability to connect with everyone, from family members, nurses and practitioners, to those in the dying process.

To deepen his understanding and ability to help others, Colin completed the David Kessler Grief Educator Certification and has led numerous support groups, including men’s groups and most recently individuals in an addiction recovery healing centre.
Grief isn’t something you fix—it’s sacred, and it’s something to honour, to hold, and to walk with.

As Certified Grief Educators, we have trained with David Kessler, a bereaved father and a leading expert on grief and loss. Our work is rooted in lived experience, compassion, and a commitment to guiding you through the often-unspoken terrain of loss.

We believe that learning to be grief-informed changes the way we show up—for ourselves and for others. It’s about how you hold space, not just for sorrow, but for the full range of emotions that grief carries.

Whether through individual coaching or group support, we walk alongside you, offering understanding, tools, and a place where your grief is acknowledged and witnessed.

Grief is a part of life that many may shy away from, but the irony is that when we meet it, it transforms us. We are very aware of the pain that partners grief. Death, loss, and transition are woven into our human experience, and while they change us, they also invite us into the unknown.
Our approach is not about moving on—it’s about coming along side our grief, to find meaning in the midst of loss.
It’s discovering moments of sacred connection, love, and even gratitude.
You are not meant to walk with grief alone. In the hardest moments, our intent is to offer you a steady presence,
a safe space, and a reminder that even in grief, life still holds room for something new.

 

Our Training

As Certified Grief Educators, we are honoured to represent the wisdom teachings from David Kessler, and others, to support our work with you.