My guest in this episode is Dr. Elizabeth Graves, Ph.D., LCMHC-S. Elizabeth is a private practice therapist in Asheville, NC, where she works with persons with life-threatening illnesses, terminal illness, or those suffering complicated bereavement, grief, and loss. Most recently, she spent 10 years in academia training clinical mental health, marriage and family, college, and school counselors while maintaining her small private practice. Prior to that, she spent 10 years working with children and adolescents in rural Appalachian schools, and over 5 years as a child/adolescent/family therapist in a psychiatric hospital, and crisis mental health assessment specialist in the emergency department, and as a therapist in a community mental health center for adjudicated adolescents. 

 Her research focus areas are:  a.) factors that foster resilience in survivors of child sexual abuse and trauma, b.) intersections of counseling and spirituality, c.) factors that influence mastery of clinical skills, and d.) meaningful end of life. Her current professional practice includes: counseling/therapy, spiritual direction offerings for individuals/groups, Soul Collage groups, licensure supervision, death doula/end of life planning, and Motivational Interviewing trainings for professionals working with adolescents and marginalized populations.

 Among many topics we discussed:

·      Death doulas’ role of transitioning out of this world.

·      Acorn theory

·      Bowing to your journey [we get really vulnerable]

·      David Whyte’s poem: Well of Grief