Brave Widow Academy Q&A REPLAY 8/7/25
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[00:00:00] Toward here, and I'm gonna get started. Just making sure I've got everything set up. We're good to go. Okay. Hi. For everyone who's joined, thank you for joining. I would love to know in the chat where you're from or how long that you've been widowed. That just helps me know a little bit more like who's in the audience and who I can speak to.
And the goal for today is to share with you what the Brave Widow Academy is and to answer all of the questions that I've received about it. So what is the Brave Widow Academy? The simplest way that I can explain it is a program and container that I have created after my own experience, after having invested in multiple programs and coaching and doing the work myself, and also years of coaching other widows on healing their heart.
As a foundation and grief recovery as [00:01:00] a foundation, but really a place where we start to rebuild our life from the ashes. Naomi, 13 years widowed. Thank you for sharing that. If you think about most typical, and I'm gonna stereotype, I actually am licensed and certified to facilitate one of the grief recovery programs that are out there.
I love it. I use it as a tool. It's part of my program. But what often happens is people go through a grief recovery program, whether it's grief, share, grief, recovery method. There are several out there, and they learn about grief. They learn how to navigate grief. Maybe you even learn some tools and you get equipped with some tools.
And then you get released back out into the world. And so most widows come to me, and the number one question they have is, what am I supposed to do next? Is this it, this right here, this is my life, my reality now. Like I, I'm just supposed to go out there and figure it out. [00:02:00] So I started Brave Widow because I, and everyone else that I knew is a widow.
Was extremely confused and lost. Okay, you go to counseling, you go to grief groups, you do the work, right? You take the time to emotionally heal and process, but then what are you supposed to do with the rest of your life when you don't even know who you are anymore? You don't know what you want for your future because the dreams and goals that you had are gone.
They evaporated with your person. Cindy, three years this August. Welcome, Cindy. And so I created Brave Widow Academy as a framework and a space where widows can join other widows who are on this journey of rebuilding a whole new life for themselves. So often we wanna go back to the life that we had. We want to go back to feeling normal.
We wanna go back to the person that we were [00:03:00] when the reality is we can't go backwards. We can't go backwards. But what we can do is we can decide that we're going to rebuild something new and rebuild a new life. As I share with you today, all about the academy and answer the questions that I've received, what I just, I want you to remember 'cause things can be very overwhelming, right?
You don't have to remember everything I tell you about the academy. There's no pop quiz, there's no test, don't worry. You don't have to remember all the details, but know that everything in the academy is designed to help you. Go from feeling stuck, from feeling like you're just surviving from feeling like you're just kinda hollow and going through the motions.
Do you guys feel like that? Like you're just going through the motions to actually feeling very clear on who you are, on what your next step is on feeling connected with [00:04:00] other people? So if you're feeling lonely and isolated, we teach you how to build friendships. You also have the opportunity to connect with widows there, and we teach you how to be hopeful again.
So in the academy I have five, I call 'em modules or steps, however you wanna think about it, that I walk you through. It's our curriculum, our syllabus. I walk you through over the next six months what this framework is that will help you go from an emotional chaos to a life that actually feels like yours.
And so one of the questions I often ask people is, when is the last time you actually felt alive? When was the last time you actually did something fun? And a lot of times we can go for years just feeling like a shadow of ourselves and feeling very hollow and very dull. Okay, so in the academy one of the questions I got is, okay, what's all in the academy?
So it's everything that you need to be able to [00:05:00] move forward emotionally, spiritually, practically, with guidance every step of the way. We meet every Monday from 12 to noon central time. So this is 12 central time in case you're in a different time zone. So we meet this time on Mondays for two hours every single week.
The first hour is typically me providing education and helping you learn and grow. And the second hour is open coaching. So questions you might have. Feedback that you want, input that you need, you have time for that every single week. So every week we come together live. We talk through your biggest roadblocks, your questions, your next steps.
This isn't something that you just, you're in a big sea of people and you're just listening and you're passively taking it in. You get real coaching, real feedback. [00:06:00] And breakthroughs that you can experience. So just the calls alone are worth the investment of the program. So then we have five frameworks that we walk through as we're moving through our journey together.
Okay. Let's do this. Okay, so the first one that we walked through is called the Calm Chaos to Calm Blueprint. So in the Chaos to Calm blueprint, you are gonna be able to find peace, develop a routine, find relief from being overwhelmed so that you can actually breathe again and stop living in survival mode.
How many of you feel like you're in survival mode, like fight or flight mode, or you're all 10 step all the time, or you're living on adrenaline, you're living on just being very reactionary to everything that's happening around you. Maybe you feel very overwhelmed or like you can't get things done that are on your to-do list.
You can't ever find time to do them. So we tackle that in the first module. Chaos to [00:07:00] Calm. The second module we have is the self-trust system. So this is where you stop second guessing every decision. You learn how to trust yourself. You learned how to make confident decisions, and you learned how to actually feel good about your decisions.
Okay? Katherine? Yes, I am trained and certified by multiple organizations. And I had share my full story on some other videos. I would be happy to send you the link to those videos explaining my journey. But I'm certified by multiple accredited organizations. The Connection Protocol, so this is our third module that we walk through.
So connection protocol is how do we go and meet people and make friends? Even if you are an introvert, even if you're a homebody, even if you hate small talk, like how do you actually make friends out there in the real world? I always felt is there an app for that? Is there like, I feel so awkward.
The [00:08:00] fourth module we walk through is discover your purpose plan. So this is really getting clarity around what makes life meaningful without feeling the pressure of having to have this really big mission. Oh, this is my one purpose in life, right? You can have purpose and you can have meaning without having to have that big mission.
And then the last one is the move forward method, which is how you honor your past and you honor the love and the life that you had. While also building a life that you can love and enjoy again, how to navigate guilt, how to define healing on your terms, and to know what comes next. So all of that is part of the academy.
You also will have private one-on-one messaging support with me. You can message me 24 7 365. I respond to messages typically twice a day, Monday through Friday. What I love about this and where people get really comfortable is sometimes you need to just verbally [00:09:00] process stuff. You just need someone to talk things out with.
You just need to say it out loud. You need to, maybe you get caught up in I call it a mind, like a thought spiral where it's just like all these negative thoughts over and over, and like you can't get out of it and you just need. Someone to shake you awake or get you like, refocused on things.
And normally our one-on-one messaging support is about half the cost of the entire program itself. But you will get that included as part of the overall program. So you can text, you can send voice messages, you can send video messages, whatever you're most comfortable with. But you are part of the group, and then you also get one-on-one private messaging support.
Also, this is the, I don't know if I'm gonna offer this going forward, but this time I'm gonna do three private, one-on-one coaching calls. So for people who are part of the academy, but not the full one-on-one coaching, I'm also giving those folks [00:10:00] one-on-one coaching calls and you can use them whenever. I would do one like beginning, middle, and end, but you have that as a deeper dive of support and strategy on exactly what you would, you could focus on next.
Okay. For those of you that are joining, if you have questions, just toss 'em in the chat and I will get to those questions. Hi Sue. Good to see you. Sue now Sue's a real brave widow, og. She's been with me almost three years now. Maryanne, Karen, really good to see you guys. Okay, so let me get back to my question list here.
So if you have a question, throw it in the chat and I will answer it for you. What if I can't attend live? Do you record the calls? Yes, all of the calls are recorded and we upload them into a private portal so that you don't ever fall behind, so you can watch the replay anytime. I also upload them to a private podcast.
So if you're someone who likes to multitask [00:11:00] or listen to them in the car, listen to them on the go, you have access to listen to all of the replace. So if you can't come live for some reason. It's not a problem. You have access to that. Okay. The next question, how much time should I plan to spend each week?
So really, it's very flexible. Our weekly call is two hours a week, and we do it on Mondays. And when we first did this, I wasn't sure how people would respond to it being on Mondays, but the feedback that I ended up getting was that they love Mondays because Monday sets the tone for the rest of the week.
Gets 'em up on the right, gets 'em started, sets the tone. They know that they're supported for that week. So we have two hours for our weekly call and then typically people might spend another hour or so just going through the materials or reflecting. There's typically no major homework or quizzes or anything that we assign there, but what I encourage [00:12:00] people to do is from.
The learning and the coaching that we do every single week is to pick one thing, just pick one thing that you wanna implement or that you wanna focus on for that week.
Okay, my next question, what technology do I need to participate? We meet over on Zoom. So if you're on Zoom with me, then. You have access to the app and you can connect. A lot of people now are connecting on their phone rather than connecting on their computer. So you can connect through Zoom.
And we are also using the Telegram app, which is a free app for messaging, for chatting. I'm gonna put the links in there just to make it as easy as possible to get connected on the calls and all of that. Okay. I'm just checking my chat. Go. Okay. And I don't know, I, sorry. I highlighted
I don't know how I did this on my Zoom screen. One second.
Okay. I don't know. Hopefully it's just a weird view I have on my side and not on everybody's [00:13:00] side. Anyways, we're moving on. Okay. How will I personally be supported through the academy? Every week, not only do we have the group. Where we're meeting together, but then also I have a form, call it a progress tracking form that you would complete each week and I set aside time on the call to do it so you don't have to do it in your free time on your own.
Okay. So based on what you supply through the feedback form, then I'm able to give you. Specific feedback, whether it's just written feedback back to you or whether it's recording a video and sending it to you. And then again, for this round only, I'm also including three private, one-on-one coaching calls to make sure that you're fully supported and that you're not struggling, not feeling overwhelmed, or any of that.
Okay. My next question, do I have to talk in front of other people? Here's the thing. While I would love for you to [00:14:00] share and participate as part of the group, there's definitely not a requirement and I will never ask you to share something that's, that you're not comfortable sharing. So whether it's part of our live group, whether it's in the chat, whether it's in our one-on-one, it really is up to you on how much you wanna share and how much that you wanna participate.
One of the great things about being in a group coaching experience is that you get to learn from other people's experiences. So things that they're going through, you might go through in the future, or you might be able to pull out a lesson that you could apply to yourself. The other great thing about group is that you can also prevent problems that you haven't faced yet or maybe that are coming down the road.
So for example. We have several widows right now, like literally right now, who are in the process of selling their house. Buying a house, building a house, and then I have [00:15:00] others who are thinking about. Buying and selling a house in the future. And you don't necessarily think about buying or selling a house as something that would be part of a widow coaching program, but this can be a really big emotional rollercoaster of an experience.
It can be overwhelming 'cause there are a lot of steps and things to consider. So even if this is something that you're thinking of. Buying or selling a house a couple years down the road, you get to learn and watch other people's experience as they're going through that, and then learn from that and apply that to yourself in the future.
Okay. I'm just gonna scroll here. If you have any questions, drop it in the chat. For me. Okay. Where did you go to training? Okay, so I was certified through the Faith-Based Coaching Academy which was, is accredited and was founded by a 20 year practicing clinical [00:16:00] psychologist. And what I loved about her program was she incorporated psychology.
Tools, counseling, coaching and spirituality and faith, which is very rare to find in an expen experience or a program like that to incorporate all of those things together. But it was a amazing experience. And she also had shared a story where. She had lost her own daughter in a terrible drowning incident at her own home.
And so I was really drawn to the fact that she was familiar with grief and she actually had a grief, has a grief program called Hurt to Hope. I got training from her and then also from the Grief Recovery Institute, which is the only evidence-based grief recovery program in the world, which is awesome and I love it.
Okay. So those are the two main places that would apply here. Okay. How is the Academy different from other grief support groups?
That's a great question. There's another question [00:17:00] here about therapy. So if I've tried therapy or I've done grief groups, like how would this be different? What is different about this? So what we do, very much compliments. Grief support and therapy. So I view emotional healing and grief recovery as the foundation, like it's the beginning.
Okay? So we wanna start from a place of processing our grief of healing emotionally, and then that's where we wanna start. A grief support group or a grief recovery group. A lot of times that's where it ends. It's oh, we've taught you the tools. You've gone through this multi-week program. Now you're finished and you can go through it again.
But where they finish is where we pick up, which is essentially our focus is to help people rebuild their life. To create something that they can enjoy again, they can love again, we go, that they can be excited about. So it's beyond emotional healing and more [00:18:00] into decision making, rebuilding confidence, making friends, discovering your purpose and creating what you want this next chapter to be.
So it's not just about talking about the past, although that is very much part of what we do. We're doing both at the same time. We're processing and honoring the past, and we're building and creating the future, and we do both simultaneously, and it's one of those things you may just have to experience it to understand it.
That's what we do. Okay, what can I actually, what can I expect to actually change in my life as I'm going through this? So one of the things that I love about what we're gonna be doing in the academy is that, and one thing I love about coaching is that it's very action. Based, it's very forward focused.
So you don't come to the academy and listen to a lecture and take notes and get a pop quiz or a test. In the [00:19:00] academy, you are gonna learn a lot, and it's going to be like, the reason it's over six months is because I don't want it to be overwhelming, but you are gonna learn things at a very in depth level.
That then you take and apply in your real life. So it's not just about learning theories. It's not just about learning. Oh, how does it work to make friends? Each week you'll have something that you focus on or implement that you actually do, that you actually take action on. And so my philosophy is that I like to.
Push people just on the outside edge of their comfort zone in a gentle but very firm way of you don't have to feel ready, you don't have to feel comfortable. You just have to take the next step. And we call it Brave Widow because we step forward through the fear, we step forward through the uncertainty.
To actually do [00:20:00] things. Bravery isn't, I feel confident. I'm comfortable. I can do all this, and I have no fear. Bravery is, I feel the fear, I feel the anxiety, I feel the uncertainty. I feel like what throwing up and I'm gonna step forward and do it anyway. And by stepping forward. I am building my confidence and the more I step forward through fear, the more I step forward and do something that's just outside of my comfort zone, the easier that it's going to get over time.
That is what we are focused on in Brave Widow. Sue says, being here is a beautiful way to step forward. Yes. What a great point. Being here with me with each other is a beautiful way of stepping forward.
Excuse me. Do you offer payment plans or flexibility? So yes, we do a monthly payment pro plan at $600 a month or if you wanna pay in full it is a discounted rate of $3,000 for the full six month [00:21:00] program, and you can start receiving support right away. The real question because people get very squishy around.
Cost and am I worth investing in? And is this something that I should do for myself? And I don't know, that just sounds like a lot. But the reality is where you are right now by, by joining, you are investing in yourself. By not joining it is still costing you what I like to ask people is if you continue to stay stuck and frustrated and just waiting for time to magically make things better, what does it cost you emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially?
What does it cost you to stay there? For me, I would've paid anything. I would've paid and done anything for me personally. I was not satisfied just knowing how to help myself, how to get myself out of a rut, how [00:22:00] to get through grief, but I invested multiple tens of thousands of dollars to learn from some of the best.
Like how do you actually go from, I am completely shattered, my life is in ashes to, I have an amazing, vibrant life that I love while still loving the life that I had. Being able to hold both of those at the same time. So for me, I was willing to pay anything to get unstuck because I hated where I was. I hated feeling lost and feeling frustrated, and nobody understood or got it, and I didn't wanna stay stuck there.
Do you offer any kind of guarantee? Yes, if you show up to the call, if you participate by completing your form each week and by implementing action, and at the end of six months. You still come and say, you know what? I don't. I didn't move forward at all. I didn't see any progress. Nothing changed [00:23:00] for me.
If that is truly how you feel at the end of six months, I will continue to work with you for free until you feel you have moved forward. There is not one person, not one that I have worked with over the past two and a half years who has not been able to say that they have moved forward. And one of the ways we track that is through your weekly tracking form, so that you can see it for yourself, so that you can see, oh, when I first started, my confidence was a two and six months later, oh my gosh, my confidence.
I'm putting like eights and nines on confidence every week. Whoa, look at me. I feel so much more confident. So that is part of how we track how you're doing in different categories and areas so that you can see for yourself that you have been able to move forward. What, let me read this question a little closer.
What if I'm the only one who feels broken or lost? Okay. I'm gonna pause here for just a second.
The first thing that I want you to hear. [00:24:00] Is that you are not broken. You're not broken. You might feel broken and your heart might feel broken. You may be heartbroken, but you as a person are not broken. You don't need to be fixed. You might feel lost. You might feel stuck. You might feel uncertain. But you're not broken, and so you are not gonna be the only person who feels lost, stuck, unsure, unclear.
That's 90% of people that I talk to. Okay? But this program helps to give you structure guidance in your exact next step so that you don't feel lost, you don't feel unsure what should I be focusing on? What should I be doing? You are going to know every single week, okay? Now it's true that everyone has a very different grief experience.
Everyone's experience is unique. Even if you lost your spouse the same way as me, the same way as someone else, [00:25:00] it doesn't matter because your relationship was unique and different. So even though sometimes we look at grief, you guys can let me know if you've ever done this, but. Sometimes we look at our grief experience and someone else's and we go, oh at least I guess I shouldn't feel so bad because at least I didn't have to go through that.
Or we feel righteous. Oh, that person, yeah, they had a loss, but me, I had it way worse. We compare pair Ann. The reality is we all have a different grief experience, but when people grieve, they don't grieve halfway. This is what Grief Recovery Institute teaches us. You don't grieve at 50%.
When someone grieves, they grieve at a hundred percent. So it doesn't matter if you were married one year or 90 years, or if you had kids or you weren't able to have kids or whatever your experience, you had a great relationship with your spouse. You had the worst relationship with your spouse. Grief [00:26:00] is grief.
Pain is pain. And so everyone's experience is different, but everyone experiences grief fully for them.
What if other? Okay, next question. What if other people are further along than me? So the framework that we walk through, the curriculum, the syllabus, whatever you wanna call it, the modules, they are designed to meet you where you are and help you take your exact next step forward. So it doesn't matter if you feel like you're in the beginning and you are in deep grief.
If you are in deep grief, I'm gonna recommend that you do grief recovery method parallel to the Academy. So Grief recovery method. We're starting another group I think in September, so I recommend that you do that like supplemental with the Academy. But if you are further along, you are still gonna have things that you're doing, learning and growing from.
Every week you will be able to find something that you can take away something [00:27:00] from that and apply it into your life. Alright? Have you guys ever done yoga or like an exercise class? If you have this might resonate with you. One thing that I liked about yoga is when you go to yoga, you have people who are like, it's their first session and they're brand new.
And you have people that have been doing it for years and years, right? So you have people that are doing like the handstands and all the funky positions and they like able to do all this. And then you would have like me, who could barely touch their toes, right? But the great thing about yoga is everyone can come and everyone might have a different level of what all they can do, but the instructor accommodates to that person.
That instructor meets the person where they are. And gives them what they can work on and moves on to the next person. And for each person, the instructor is just pushing them one step forward, pushing them another step forward. There's no guilt. There's no [00:28:00] shame. If you just need to lay there and rest, nobody cares.
It's like everyone is doing what they can and everyone is trying to push themselves one step further, but everyone is on the same journey. So think about that. Maybe as an analogy with Brave Widow.
I am not sure if I'm ready. How will I know? Okay. I always love this question about being ready.
I'm not sure I'm ready. Someone else asked it, like maybe the academy sounds a little advanced. I don't know if I'm ready for that. So here's what I would say. You are ready when you decide that you're ready. Nobody feels ready. You become ready by taking one brave step, and then we walk every step with you.
The harsh reality, one of the biggest myths in grief, you've heard people say, time heals all wounds. Just give it time. Just give it time. You're gonna feel better. The reality is that time alone doesn't heal you. [00:29:00] Time on its own doesn't help you feel ready. Okay, so time mixed with action is what helps you to feel confident, helps you to feel ready, help you to take, helps you to be ready to take that next step.
So the reason I call it Brave Widow and Not Fearless Widow is because bravery requires something special. Bravery requires that you step forward into the future version of yourself before you feel confident, before you have all the answers, before you know how it's all gonna work out. Being brave.
Stepping forward in faith, believing that some way somehow it is possible to have a life that you love and enjoy again, even if you don't see the path to getting there.
So you are ready when you decide that you're ready.
Okay. I have just a couple questions left on my list, so if you guys have any other [00:30:00] questions, stro 'em in the chat for me. Gone through a lot. I'm more like a question marathon. Okay. What if I've been stuck for years? Will this still help me? A thousand percent, yes. So many of the people that I talk to or that I have worked with have felt stuck for a period of time, whether it's for a year.
Four years, five years. One of the widow clients that I work with has been stuck for 10 years before she started working with me. Okay? The great news, the most wonderful, amazing news is it doesn't matter how long you've been stuck, it will not take you that long to get unstuck. So I, what I typically see with most of my clients.
Sorry, I've gotta go to the doctor and knock this cough out. It's annoying. It's annoying me. I know. It has to be annoying you. Okay. So what I see with most of my clients is that within the first month, they're feeling more hopeful than they have in a long time. More hopeful maybe even than years. I have a widower client, and [00:31:00] that's exactly what he said in the first two calls.
He's you've given me more hope on these first couple of calls than I've had in years. Literally. Okay, so in the first month, typically they feel more hopeful. In the first three months, they start to notice like, oh. I'm showing up a little bit differently. I'm looking at life a little bit differently.
I am starting to see some traction. I'm getting my feet underneath me, and then typically at the six month mark from three to six months is typically where people tar start taking really big steps forward. Okay, so the first month it's oh, I can see this is exciting. I see I'm taking my baby steps, and from month one to three, I'm taking more and more baby steps.
And in month three, I've I'm rebuilding my confidence and I'm getting excited about trying things that are scary and new and different and awkward and weird. And so in month three, I'm gonna take my next big step and oh, look at me. I did it. And then I'm taking another big step. And then I'm just, I keep going.
I keep going. [00:32:00] And usually by six months they look back and they're like, wow. I just feel like a different person. I don't hardly, I, you can listen to Michelle's story on my website, but Michelle, in six months, she's come to our celebration call and she's who am I on this call? Listen to me.
I got my confidence is like way up here. And my confidence used to be so low and I just, I'm listening to myself like, who am I? I don't even recognize myself. I'm a totally different person. So it doesn't matter if you have felt stuck for years, you can see progress in a short amount of time. Now to be fair, does that mean that your life is perfect in six months?
Of course not. I can't promise you that my life isn't perfect. Okay? But in six months, you are gonna see some really big shifts and changes in your life, and other people will start to notice those changes. If I've been stuck for years, will this really work? [00:33:00] Yes. So the biggest thing, the biggest reason why people feel stuck, there's lots of reasons why, but the biggest thing and the number one focus, the number one reason why Brave Widow exists is to get people unstuck.
So you feel stuck. You've tried. Counseling. You've tried therapy, you've tried the books, you've tried the podcast, you've tried the courses, you've tried a lot of things, but you still feel like, there's no roadmap. There's no blueprint here. What am I supposed to be doing? Like somebody, please, I wanted the checklist.
Like just gimme the checklist of what all I need to do. And that's what this program helps to give you is like your next step forward. So by taking steps forward, by default, you become unstuck. You are not stuck anymore. And even when you are moving forward, even when you are in a good place and then you have a bad day or you have a hard moment, or you just have you got overwhelmed and it brought [00:34:00] you down to your knees and you are like, oh, I feel like I'm going backwards.
The reality is you're not going backwards. You haven't started over. It's part of the process. You're gonna have days that are harder, you're gonna have moments that are harder. And what we learned to do is expand our capacity and be able to hold both, which is I can grieve and be sad and miss my person, and I can still experience joy and hope and hope that my life isn't over anymore, that I can build something new.
Okay, that is my list of questions I had for today. Thank you guys for hanging out with me. If you have any other questions, go ahead and put them in the chat or you can if you're on YouTube or I guess if you're on YouTube, you can't DM me. You just have to comment and I'll get back to you. For my TikTok audience, you guys can comment or DM me.
And you can go to brave widow.com, you'll find the link [00:35:00] to the academy. You can also schedule a one-on-one consult. I do those for free. I will actually even provide you a document of these are the things you expressed where your challenges, and this is the way that I would help you move forward and the things that we would focus on and how the academy would help you.
And so you get all of that. I'm not a big. Salesy Pressy person because I believe the people that are meant to work with me are going to be. Called out, they're going to be pulled forward. They're going to be attracted to me and Brave Widow and the work that we do there. Really my goal is just to help widows heal their heart and build a life that they love again.
So thank you all so much for joining me. I would love to see you in the academy. We start, we kick off on Monday, and Monday will be, it would've been our 24th. 24th. Wow. Why does that sound weird? We would've been married for 24 years on Monday, and [00:36:00] so Monday's a special day for me and I'm excited for everyone who's in the academy and for everyone who will be joining us in the future.
With that, thank you guys very much and I will see you next time. Sue says, thank you for all you do, widow. Thank you for all you do for widows. Emily, you are welcome. Thank you guys for being here. I appreciate you and love you, and to my brave widow tribe that's on. I will see you on Monday.
