Grief Recovery Method Program

The Grief Recovery Method is a seven or eight week, action-focused heart centered program that helps you identify unresolved grief & gives you the emotional tools to effectively move through the pain that has you stuck.

Grief does not always announce itself.

It shows up as the anger that surprises you. The guilt that won't let you rest. The conversations you replay. The things you never got to say. The way your life split into before and after.

That is unresolved grief. For many people it does not ease simply because time has passed, and it does not respond to being told to stay busy.

What Is the Grief Recovery Method?

The Grief Recovery Method is an action-focused program that helps you identify unresolved grief and any unexpressed emotional communication. Rather than adding another set of coping strategies, it gives you a defined sequence and the emotional tools to work through what is still unfinished.

Grief is not limited to death. It follows any loss that changes how you live and how you relate to other people. Many of those losses are never acknowledged by anyone else, and that is often part of why they stay unresolved for years.

The program is time limited by design. Seven weeks of one-on-one sessions, or 8 weeks of a group format, offered in person in Pittsburgh and virtually nationwide. You finish with tools you keep.

The Grief Recovery Method Program is for:

The program works on one relationship or one loss at a time. That might be:

  • a person who died
  • a relationship that ended
  • a trauma
  • a loss of trust or safety
  • the life you expected to have
  • a change in your child's health or future

 

Have You Already Done the Work and Still Feel Stuck?

For a lot of people who come to me, it sounds like this:

You did the therapy and something in you still has not settled

You look fine from the outside but you are exhausted underneath

The anger arrives faster and bigger than you expect it to

The guilt and the what-ifs run on a loop you cannot switch off

Certain dates, photos, or conversations still hit you in the body

Nobody treated your loss as a real loss, and it still shapes your life

 

None of that means you’ve done anything wrong.
It usually means that the emotional work surrounding your loss was never fully completed.
Completion is not about forgetting the person or event, but being able to give voice to anything left unsaid and in doing so allowing you to carry the memory without the same pain that has had you stuck.

How the Seven Weeks Work

We meet once each week for seven weeks. Between sessions you have small, guided pieces of work to do on your own. Every session builds on the one before it, so you always know where you are in the sequence and how much is left.

You are not retelling your story over and over. You are changing your relationship to it. That is the difference.

 What you will do over the seven weeks

  • Identify the losses that are still unresolved
  • Focus on one relationship or one loss at a time
  • Name what was left unsaid and unfinished
  • Learn a set of emotional tools you can use long after the program ends
  • Complete what is incomplete in that relationship
  • Move forward with clarity rather than carrying it quietly

Who this program fits

  • Death of a loved one
  • Divorce or the end of a relationship
  • Trauma
  • Estrangement
  • Major life transitions
  • Pet loss
  • A child's diagnosis
  • Loss of identity or the future you expected

Whether the loss happened last year or twenty years ago, unresolved grief can still be addressed.

Session Details

Format
One-on-one, or group

Length
Seven sessions, one session per week, for the one-on-one program, check-ins by text or email available in between sessions and 8 sessions for a group, one session each week

Group program
Group cost is $500. Payment plan options available. 

Session length
Individual sessions are 60 minutes in length and group sessions are 120 minutes in length.

One-on-one, in person in Pittsburgh
$750 payment plan options available

One-on-one, virtual
$750 payment plan options available

Between sessions
Short, guided assignments and weekly check ins available by text or email

Also available
Helping Children With Loss Group. Cost of this group is $350, it is a 4-week group that is designed for parents, caregivers, teachers, school counselors, and anyone who regularly works with children. It equips participants with communication and other skills to help children developmentally cope with various losses — such as the death of a parent, sibling, or pet, divorce, illness, or major life changes — 

First step
Free introductory call, 20 minutes 

Why Grief Can Stay Unresolved for Years

Grief that goes unaddressed does not sit quietly. It surfaces elsewhere. It shows up in sleep, in focus, in how fast the anger arrives, in how much energy it takes to look fine at work all week. Many people carry it for years while functioning at a high level. The cost of that is invisible from the outside.

Some losses never get acknowledged at all. A divorce other people treated as a relief. An estrangement nobody asks about. A diagnosis that changed your child's future and left everyone asking about the child instead of you.

Being told to give it time is not a tool. Neither is being told to keep busy. This program exists because grief responds to specific action, and most of us were never taught what that action is.

I am not here to have you move on or leave anyone behind. The goal is to move forward with clarity, and to feel hope and joy again.

Kristin Darcy, MSW, Certified Grief Recovery Method Specialist

I'm Kristin Darcy. I hold a Master of Social Work, and I am a Certified Grief Recovery Method Specialist and a Certified Trauma-Informed Grief Coach. Before this work I spent more than ten years as a grief and trauma counselor in a variety of clinical settings with individuals and families living through profound loss and trauma: child loss, adolescent bereavement, sexual abuse, domestic violence, families impacted by the 9/11 Pentagon attack, victims of crime, and those in emergency medical situations. 

What brought me to this method was watching people do everything right and still feel stuck. They had talked about it. They had read about it. Something stayed unfinished, and no amount of coping closed the gap.

This program gave me something concrete to hand people. A defined sequence, a set of tools, and an end date.

I see clients in person in Pittsburgh, PA and virtually across the country.

WHAT CLIENTS ARE SAYING

"I didn't know it was possible to stop the endless loop of painful thoughts and regrets running through my head since my husband died, I feel so much lighter since completing the Grief Recovery Method Program. Kristin was exactly the person I needed to support me through this work."  

 

"Kristin's personality, knowledge and empathy made me feel comfortable. I felt free to express anything related to my life and relationships. Kristin always responded to me with kindness and sensitivity. Kristin's guidance in progressing through the homework assignments was meaningful especially by clearly explaining the assignments to avoid any confusion. I thought Kristin was outstanding as my counselor. I had been through counseling several times throughout my life and she has been the best by far! I love her for the beautiful soul she is and I will always hold my time receiving her guidance with high regard. Kistin is a truly wonderful person. She helped me complete my goal which was to find peace in my heart. Thank You Kristen, I have to go now. Good bye..."

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How much does the Grief Recovery Method cost?

The one-on-one program cost is $750. Group pricing is $500. The introductory call is free and comes with no obligation to book. Scheduling and payment are handled after that call and payment plan options are available.

How is the Grief Recovery Method different from grief therapy or a support group?

The Grief Recovery Method is action-focused and time limited. It helps you identify unresolved grief and gives you the correct emotional tools to address it, rather than offering ongoing coping strategies or open-ended discussion. It has a defined sequence and a defined end point.

Is the Grief Recovery Method the same one on one and in a group?

Yes. The method is identical in both formats. What changes is the setting. One-on-one gives you private time and a schedule built around you. A group adds the experience of other people doing the same work at the same time.

How long is the Grief Recovery Method program?

The one-on-one program runs seven weeks, with one session each week and short guided assignments in between. The group program runs 8 weeks. Both are time limited by design, so you know at the start when the program ends.

Does the Grief Recovery Method work for losses other than death?

Yes. It addresses any loss that still affects how you live and relate. That includes divorce, estrangement, trauma, pet loss, a child's diagnosis, a loss of trust or safety, and the future you expected to have. Losses like these often go unacknowledged by other people, which is part of why they stay unresolved.

Do I have to talk about my loss over and over?

No. You are not retelling your story each week. The program follows a defined sequence that changes your relationship to what happened rather than asking you to revisit it repeatedly. Many people find the mental replaying quiets as they move through the seven weeks.

Is grief coaching the same as therapy?

No. Grief coaching is education, structure, and practical emotional tools to help support you in moving forward with clarity. It is not psychotherapy, diagnosis, or mental health treatment. I hold a Master of Social Work and worked for over ten years as a grief and trauma counselor, and this program is offered as coaching rather than clinical care.

Start With a Free Call

If any of this sounds like what you have been carrying, the next step is a short conversation. Twenty minutes, no cost, no commitment. We talk about the loss, the format that fits, and whether this program is right for you.

Choose Connections Coaching
Pittsburgh, PA
410-409-3116
info@chooseconnectionscoaching.com

2600 Boyce Plaza Rd., 2nd floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15241.

Grief coaching is not crisis care. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or call 911.

Socials