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maryamdegroef

@maryamdegroef

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📖 PhDing in Anthro @ UWO
🗣️ NSR Coach, Storyteller, Grief, Loss, Trauma, Faith
#griefandjoy #childloss #organdonor
📩 [email protected]

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Grief often lasts longer than society feels comfortable with. That does not mean a mother is weak or stuck it means her love continues. Grief has no timeline and needs no one’s permission. 💜

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“You made it”, she would have said. Yes baby girl (Isabel) I made it, and I had so much fun in the process too.

Thank you to everyone ❤️❤️ Special shout out to those close to me who were able to show up, you made it even more special. And lastly, I couldn’t have done it without @maryamdegroef 💪🏼 love you lots girl!

@nightmarketintheforest looking forward to the next one ✨

#urbanjungle #houseplants #londonontario #indoorplants #plantdecor

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🕯️🤍 Each name represents a precious life, a beautiful soul, and a love that will never fade.

As my husband and I write each baby's name, we take a moment to honour their life, the imprint they have left on this world, and the parents who will carry them in their hearts forever.

Though their time here may have been brief, their love and light continue to shine beyond this earth. ✨

Tonight, for the International Wave of Light, we honour our Autumn and all the little souls who are forever loved and never forgotten. 🌻🤍

There is still room for more names. If you would like your baby (or babies) honoured alongside ours, please message me. It would be an honour to include them.

#waveoflight2026 #pregnancyandinfantlossawareness #bereavedparents #griefjourney

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It’s not a secret…..people die….and as a result, there are Death Stories. 💜 This is just a little sample of what sharing one could sound like.

Christa (@deathsapprentice.ca ) and I, are so grateful to @maryamdegroef for being our featured guest during September’s Death Stories gathering. Thank you also for sharing Zeynah with us. 💜

Our next Death Stories is coming up October 25th. Registration is free. Link in bio.

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Maryam De Groef is a grief educator, nervous system regulation facilitator, and integrative health coach whose work blends lived experience with professional practice.

After the sudden loss of her 9-year-old daughter Zeynah in 2023 and her family’s decision to donate her organs, Maryam became a public voice in pediatric loss, compassionate care, and legacy.

She leads somatic grief retreats, trauma-informed workshops, and speaks widely on navigating loss, emotional regulation, and healing through the body.

Maryam is the founder of Refuge of the Heart and Restore & Rebalance, and has presented at institutions including LHSC and King’s College. She is also a 2nd-year PhD researcher in Anthropology at Western University, where her work examines grief, meaning-making, and pediatric organ donation in culturally diverse clinical settings.

Her research combines autoethnography and ethnographic fieldwork at London Health Sciences Centre to understand how bereaved families navigate end-of-life decisions and construct meaning after child loss.

She is also our very special guest this Sunday for our monthly Death Stories gathering. Register for this free online event and join us for a memorable and meaningful hour.

Thank you Maryam for all you do! We’re grateful to you for sharing your time and story with us. 💜

Link in bio.

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Many of us want to share, we just need space for that sharing to be encouraged and held. We got you. 💕

Join @deathsapprentice.ca and I online September 27th for an hour of listening and sharing Death Stories.

This month’s special storyteller is @maryamdegroef

Free. Not recorded. Link in bio.

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“Death Stories” is back for Season 2. 💕🙏

A monthly free event to gather and share the experience of being present at a death, because no one else in our lives is asking us to talk about it. 😅

Next gathering is Sunday, September 27th.
4pm Pacific
5pm Mountain
6pm Central
7pm Eastern
8pm Atlantic

We never know who has a story so please share. 💕

September’s special guest is @maryamdegroef . More to come on Maryam in a future post. 💜

Registration link in bio.

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Today is #RemembranceDay, and we join @aafanational in honoring and remembering those we have lost to food allergies.

Each name on this list represents a life that mattered deeply — a son, daughter, sibling, friend, classmate, colleague, or loved one whose life was tragically cut short by something as simple as eating.

What makes these losses even more heartbreaking is that many were likely preventable.

We hate that this list is so long, and sadly, we know it is not complete. If you know someone who should be remembered, please leave their name in the comments.

Today, we remember. Tomorrow, we continue the fight.

We fight for better education in schools, restaurants, healthcare settings, and communities. We fight for increased access to epinephrine, stronger policies, more research, better training, and greater awareness.

We cannot allow these lives to be forgotten. We owe it to every family represented here — and every family still at risk — to keep pushing for change.

Please take a moment today to honor those we have lost and hold their loved ones in your heart.

Leave a ❤️ in remembrance of these angels.

#FoodAllergyAwareness #RedSneakersForOakley #FoodAllergies #AnaphylaxisAwareness

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Part 2 | Mother’s Day series: Reflections on Love, Loss & All That Lives On — direct quotes from guests who have sat with me on the @griefandlight podcast and shared the most honest part of their grief and love.

Mother’s Day looks different when you’ve loved and lost.

Whether you’re grieving the loss of a mother, a child, or simply navigating the weight of what this day brings, we see you.

There is no one way to feel today. May you feel held in and seen in these conversations.

To everyone for whom today is complicated, heavy, bittersweet, or all the things at once, this one’s for you.

We’re in this together.

💜
Nina Rodriguez @itsnrodriguez
Founder x Host | GRIEF AND LIGHT™️

ℹ️ Comment PLAYLIST and I’ll send you the direct link to this curated playlist.

Share this with someone who may need these stories today.

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Today is Bereaved Mother’s Day. A day no mother ever wished existed, and yet here we are.

It falls the week before Mother’s Day, acknowledging our journey of motherhood even when our children are no longer here physically.

As bereaved mothers, we want you to honor us and our children on both Bereaved Mother’s Day and Mother’s Day. To speak their names, to remember their lives, to recognize that our motherhood did not end when theirs did.

I put the call out to my clan of bereaved mommas, and they showed up.

Thank you to every one of you who bravely shared your love and your words. We see you, and we will say their names with you.

Junie. Charlie. Fletcher. Rory and Baby Girl. Elsie. Baby 1 & 2. AJ. Melinda. Lydia. Harlow. Zeynah. Poppy. Carson. Finn.

Help us carry this video far and wide in honor of the mothers carrying soul-bound children.

Give these women your time. Their words matter.
Honor their love. Honor their children.

#BereavedMothersDay #ChildLoss #AlwaysAMother #SayTheirNames #MotherhoodAfterLoss

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When April started I knew it would be a quiet month with travel plans. It turned out to be deliciously expansive and painfully resistant, both in life and business. Four takeaways — I hope it gives you permission to trust your own way:

1. Learning to trust yourself is the greatest gift you can give yourself. Not the expert, not the framework, not the process. Trust yourself.

2. Abundance is available to you like the air you breathe — and it becomes obvious when you train yourself to notice it.

3. You don't always get what you want but what you need to move to the next expanded version of yourself.

4. Many may not get your way. Trust your way anyways.

Here's to a good May — and to remembering that you are the main event.

con cariño,
—evelyn

#newmonth #businessenergetics #maincharactermoment #monthrecap

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Behind every second chance… is a donor and a family who said yes

Honouring the lives behind the gifts. 💚 Each face you see gave more than words can hold, and each family made a selfless “yes” that changed everything.
Their legacy lives on.
#giftoflife #giftoflife

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