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Beth Flax

@bethflax

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Just a Midwest gal living new dreams everyday in sunny LA! ☀️🌴🌴☀️🌳🌳☀️🌺🌷☀️🌊🌊☀️

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They told you that you’d eventually “get over it.”

They told you that grief has five neat stages and then it’s done.

But if you’re here, you probably know the truth: Grief doesn’t have an expiration date, and it certainly isn’t a linear checklist.

Hi, I’m Beth Flax. 🤍

As a 2-time survivor of suicide loss, I am no stranger to grief and what it means to navigate life alongside it. Our grief evolves, but it never ends.

I created @grieveandglowforward because I believe we don’t “move on” from the people and things we love…we move forward with them.

As a David Kessler Certified Grief Educator and a grief coach-in-training, I’ve spent deep, intentional time learning how to sit in the “messy middle” of loss. My mission is to help you bridge the gap between the heavy darkness of grief and the soft, persistent “glow” of finding meaning again.

On this page, you can expect:
✨ Validation for the days that feel impossible.
✨ Education on the non-linear path of grief (there is no “doing it wrong”).
✨ Practical tools to support your nervous system when the waves hit.
✨ A safe harbor where your story is honored, exactly as it is.

Grief is as unique as a fingerprint, but you don’t have to carry the weight of it alone.

I’m so glad you’re here. Let’s start the conversation: What is one word that describes your heart today?

Share it in the comments below. 👇

#lifeafterloss #suicidestrength #healingjourney #griefandloss #griefquotes

grief healing, loss of a loved one, mental health support by @bethflax

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6 months ago

I was today years old when…

I became a Certified Grief Educator! 🥸

What IS that, you ask? 🤔

A Certified Grief Educator is committed to providing the highest level of grief support through education, experience, and insights into the often unacknowledged rocky terrain of grief.

I completed a certificate program designed by world-renowned grief expert, David Kessler. As a Certified Grief Educator, I bring his unique methodology, tools, and decades of experience to help people navigate the challenges or grief.

Grief deserves language, education, and compassion.
I’m proud to do this work and owning it, with a little sparkle ✨ and a lot of heart 💜

#GriefEducator #griefcertification #davidkessler #griefislove #griefsupport by @bethflax

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8 months ago

Wow, what a day! 😍 Pasadena’s 10th Anniversary Walk and my first time publicly speaking and sharing my story as a suicide loss survivor. My heart is full. 🥰

A big Thank You to @kellymanning_afsp and @donnastokley for inviting me to be this year’s loss survivor speaker. I am honored for the opportunity and immensely grateful for your unwavering belief in me. 💜

Another shout out to @louisa.rocque for being an incredible role model and mentor for this loss community. Thank you! 🙏🏼 💫

And of course I have to thank my fellow @afsp_lacentralcoast board members for all that you do for AFSP and your continued support in my own healing journey. 💙
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☎️📱𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘴, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘵 988 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘛𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 741-741 ☎️📱
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#mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters #suicideprevention #suicidelosssurvivor #keepgoing #YouAreNotAlone #BeThe1To #TalkAwayTheDark #philanthropy #publicspeaking by @bethflax

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3 years ago

Exquisite 😍

Exactly the vibe I wanted for my solo decompression digs, post yoga retreat!

@salachoengmonbeach gorgeous and comfortable 10/10 would recommend! 👩‍🍳💋🔥 taken in Koh Samui, Thailand by @bethflax

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3 days ago

Lil Bits of Lotus Rising Vietnam 🇻🇳 2026!!
(Part 1!)

Grateful 🙏🏼 Thankful 💜 Divinely Protected ✨

If my yoga retreat vacation looks epic, that’s because IT IS!!! Join me on the next one - Fiji 2027!! 😎

PS - how many yoga poses do you count?! 😜 by @bethflax

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9 days ago

Koh Samui is magical! Te La Nai: Lagoon is breathtaking 😍

Thank you - Khop khun kha! ขอบคุณค่ะ - @getyourguide and Grand Sea Discovery tours for an absolutely amazing and unforgettable experience!

#grandseatours #grandseadiscovery #islandlife taken in Talay Nai Lagoon by @bethflax

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16 days ago

From witness to guide…I am proud to share that I have completed my training and am now a Certified Grief Coach! 🥰 🎓

Earlier this year I shared that I became a Certified Grief Educator through world-renowned grief expert, @iamdavidkessler David Kessler’s certification program. That program started me on a path I didn’t even know I was taking at the time. But the universe is funny that way. 😏

After 18+ years of lived grieving experience, alongside my suicide awareness advocacy and volunteering efforts, I felt it was finally time for me to expand my ability to hold space for my fellow grievers.

So when David introduced that he partnered with Master Coach @nancy_levin Nancy Levin in creating a Grief Coaching Certification program, I immediately said YES!

Not only can I support you through the acute stages of your grief, I am now also equipped to guide you on your journey of where you are to where you want to be, living fully alongside your grief.

Grief is the most universal experience we all go through eventually, and yet it’s also the most lonely and isolating. I’m so honored that I am now in a position to do for others what wasn’t available to me at the time of my losses…provide a safe space to feel and be seen and heard.

Ok, but what the heck is a grief coach you may ask? Great question! 🙋🏼‍♀️

As a Certified Grief Coach, I bring a proven coaching model, deep listening, powerful questioning, and compassionate compatibility to guiding clients to access their own wisdom. This work honors the journey someone has traveled, while supporting them toward the future they’re creating.

I’m proud of how far I’ve come and grateful for this opportunity to serve others on their grief journey. 💜✨ by @bethflax

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a month ago

September is #suicidepreventionawarenessmonth . A part of society that is often forgotten are the survivors of suicide loss who talk about their stories in an effort to help others, while also swallowing the reality that their loved ones did lose their battle to suicide.

Beth Flax @grieveandglowforward @bethflax shared her story of losing both her mother and her stepmother to suicide 12 days apart from each other.

As someone who's been speaking openly about mental health for a long time, as someone grieving her parental figures for almost 18 years now, Beth shared with us how she enters this conversation with grief and gratitude. Grief that never leaves and gratitude for hope and healing. We thank Beth for sharing her story with us, while acknowledging that grief support for survivors of suicide loss is a lifelong necessity. Even those who've practiced wearing their grief over the years need support, dedicated support for survivors of suicide loss, known as 'Postvention'.

Postvention is Prevention.

Thank you for sharing your story with us, Beth.

If you'd like to share your story with us, please click the link in bio.

Video compilation by volunteers @nineplusvoices

#suicidelossgrief #survivorstoryshare #postventionisprevention #makingspaceforyou taken in Los Angeles, California by @bethflax

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a month ago

Today was the first time in years I’ve been on a playground swing. Frankly, I wasn’t even sure if I could still jump off. But I wasn’t scared either. And when I went airborne, it felt exhilarating. Light. Carefree. Capable. ✨

I haven’t felt that exact childhood sensation since before 2008…the year I lost both my mom and stepmom to suicide just 12 days apart. Grief has a heavy way of burying our lightness, making us feel like experiencing joy is a betrayal of the people we lost.

But 18 years into this journey, I’m reminded that healing isn’t about a destination where pain doesn’t exist. It’s about your life growing bigger around the grief and expanding your capacity to hold it all.

Today, looking at the palm trees against a cloudy gray sky, I felt the exact coexistence of a heavy history and an exhilarating, free present. I am living proof that you can live fully alongside your grief. 🫂

Whether your loss happened two weeks ago or two decades ago: give yourself permission to touch the sky today. You are strong enough to land. 💜✨
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Mental health, grief, grief support, grief coaching by @bethflax

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2 months ago

Have you lost a loved one to suicide and need support?
👥🫶👥

Is movement a regular part of your life or do you want it to be? 🏃🏼‍♀️

Perhaps you need an outlet to release the restless, pent up anger, sadness, energy, or frustration your body is experiencing? One that isn’t solely just sitting in a circle talking about your loss and trauma?

Then join me this fall for my grief movement community - a free walking grief group where we believe that movement is medicine and community is everything.

Join for the inhale, stay for the exhale. 😮‍💨

Visit emotion-mc.org/events/gmc-ca-playa-del-rey to learn more and sign up!

No platitudes. Just honest support with light movement to help you start rebuilding life on your own terms. 💜✨

📸 @luwinphoto
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A little about me, your E-Motion Inc. PDR Movement Community Facilitator:

I am a Certified Grief Educator (& Grief Coach In-Training) and I am about to tell you something that’s so unthinkable...

...so unimaginable...

...it usually pushes people away.

You ready? 👀

My mom and my stepmom died within 12 days of each other…😩

By suicide. 😳🎤

Yep - can’t make this stuff up.

I get it - that’s a lot.

And I tried a lot of things to deal with it.
Many didn’t help.
But one thing did.

I started to move my body to release the pent up anxiety, anger, and restless grieving energy that was coursing through me on the regular.

And it suddenly hit me…movement really is medicine! 🚶🏼‍♀️🏋🏼‍♂️ 🧘🏾‍♀️ 🏊🏿‍♀️

Physical activities got me out of my head and into my body, which helped immensely with regulating my nervous system, in turn allowing space in my brain to process the muck, fog and trauma I was facing.

You know what also helped? Finding a like-minded community to move with grief together…this increased the depth of my healing and provided support that I was unable to find elsewhere.

And if you’re a suicide loss survivor too, that’s what I want to offer to you!

A safe space where you can get out of your head, into your hands and feet and move with your grief in a community of others who just get it.

Nobody wants to be a part of this club, but if you are, you are not alone.

💜✨ taken in Los Angeles, California by @bethflax

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2 months ago

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”

~ Ernest Hemingway by @bethflax

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3 months ago

18 years ago today my mom, Susan Baker Hyams, devastatingly ended her life. 💔

18 years?! 🤯
My grief is old enough to have graduated HS! 🎓
My grief is old enough to be legally independent in the eyes of the law! 👩‍⚖️
My grief is old enough to be able to process complex ideas and future consequences! 🧐
My grief has officially transitioned into adulthood! 🫣

But has my grief waned?
No, never.
Grief is never ending, only evolving.

And my grief certainly has evolved in the last 18 years.
I miss my mom terribly, and while the pain and scars from the trauma of her mental decline and subsequent death by suicide are ever so present, they don’t control the way I live anymore.

The glimmers I couldn’t see in the early days or even the middle years, have become more apparent and more frequent as time continues to roll on.

I’m able to feel more joy than pain most days.

Movement has become an integral part of my healing and grief journey and given me positive tools to move with my grief.

I’ve learned to move through life with more grace and compassion, not only for myself, but for others.

Some people say grief is a gift.
It took a long time for me to understand how.
Do I wish my mom had stayed and worked on getting healthy?
Of course. That would have been the ultimate gift.

But she didn’t…and I’m the one still here. So it’s up to me to figure out why I’m alive and how I want to show up in my life moving forward. It’s the best way I know to honor HER life and the breath she gave me.

I love you Mom. I will always miss you. And your heart will always live on in me. 💜✨
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To my fellow suicide loss survivors:

Eighteen years has taught me that we don’t have to carry the weight of “what comes next” entirely alone. If your grief is evolving, changing, or feeling too heavy to navigate today, my door at @grieveandglowforward is always open. DM to connect. 💜✨

If you or someone you know is struggling with loss or mental health crisis, please know you are not alone. Support is available 24/7 by calling or texting 988. by @bethflax

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3 months ago