The interactive course Curating Grief: Sorting the Stuff of Life & Loss is for any griever who wants to make a shift when it comes to the belongings and meaningful objects. This can look like:
– Feeling ready to face a home, storage unit or boxes that may contain emotional landmines.
– Not feeling ready to tackle the boxes yet, but wanting to take baby steps toward being ready.
– Identifying a desire to clear or create space in your home, whether for your loved one or something else that’s important to you.

Certified grief coach and author Charlene Lam will be teaching Curating Grief: Sorting the Stuff of Life & Loss. This interactive course is presented with the wonderful grief platform What’s Your Grief, with course materials and discussion forums housed in the What’s Your Grief Hub for Learning and Connection. (WYG Hub members get a special price.) While we will reference some of What’s Your Grief’s resources and content, the teaching and coaching will be provided solely by Charlene.

No. This course is not just about decluttering or getting rid of belongings, and you will never be told what to keep or let go of.

Sorting the Stuff of Life & Loss is about helping you understand why certain objects feel so charged, heavy, or hard to approach. Objects often carry stories, memories, emotions, and meaning — and by acknowledging that, many people feel less stuck and more able to choose with care.

Some people do clear space during the course. Others don’t. Both are valid. The deeper work here is shifting your relationship to the belongings, so that clarity and choice become possible again.

No, this is not a typical organizing or decluttering program. Charlene will not tell you what to do with your belongings, though she’s happy to share ideas and you can ask her anything about her own experience of dealing with her mother’s belongings. Charlene may also share helpful examples from her grief coaching clients (with permission, and usually anonymously).

Charlene’s role is to help you explore the emotional and meaning-making side of working with belongings after loss: validating your experience, helping you see more than two options (keep or throw away), and restoring trust in your ability to choose.

If and when you want hands-on, tactical organizing support (for example: timelines, systems, or practical decision-making), she can refer you to a professional organizer she trusts who understands the emotional layers of grief. Many people benefit from both kinds of support, at different stages.

You are welcome to take part in this interactive course even if you don’t have the physical belonging. (After all, not everyone has the privilege and/or the burden of having access to the belongings after a person dies.) While some of the modules will focus on dealing with physical belongings or spaces like storage units, the interactive course will be adapted to the participants’ circumstances. The Curating Grief framework is designed to help you process your grief and losses, whether you have the actual physical belongings or not.

Not at all! We’re going to start small, and you get to decide the scope of your project.

The goal of this course is not to finish sorting everything. The goal is to create small but meaningful shifts. For example, going from overwhelmed to more intentional, or from avoidance to being able to be with the belongings.

For some people, this looks like beginning to clear a space. For others, it looks like spending time acknowledging the meaning of the items, or creating a small ritual or dedicated place for their person.

You get to set your intention. There is no right outcome and no deadline imposed by the course. And if you do have a deadline or are in a time crunch, like needing to empty a house or storage unit? This course can support you through that as well. You are not alone.

Everyone’s path is different, and there is no expectation that you “move on” or do more.

If you’d like more time inside the Sorting the Stuff course, alumni can extend access for an additional 12 weeks for $75, which includes continued access to the curriculum, community space, and live calls.

Some people choose to continue their grief journey in The Grief Studio, my lighter-touch community with monthly calls and ongoing reflection.

Others feel ready for deeper emotional integration and meaning-making, and choose to move into the signature Curating Grief program, which focuses more on the emotional layers uncovered through this work and on creating an ongoing bond with the person who died.

There is no rush, and no single “right” next step.

This course will invite you to look at and think about the belongings and physical stuff. You do not have to actually move, let go of or change anything, but the content and discussions will center around at least seeing and considering the items. If you do not feel ready to do this, if it’s too activating or stressful right now, it’s OK. It’s so important to check in with ourselves and consider our capacity as grievers! The course will be run again, and the Curating Grief book will be available when you are ready.

If you’re in crisis, this interactive course is not designed to support you currently. While looking at and talking about the meaningful objects can feel therapeutic, this is not therapy. Coaching and grief communities are not a substitute for counseling, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, mental health care, substance abuse treatment, or other professional advice by legal, medical or other qualified professionals. If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, contact 911 or your local emergency and crisis care services. 

Participants in the Curating Grief course can get support in two ways:

• Posting in the online course discussion space. Charlene will respond to posts as appropriate, typically within 1–2 business days (Mon–Fri).
• Submitting a question for and/or attending the live calls. Calls are recorded, so replays will be available.If you’d prefer to ask a question anonymously, you can Direct Message Charlene, and she will respond in either the Course Discussion space and/or the live call.

Private grief support is not included in the Curating Grief course. Participants have the option of adding on 1:1 private grief support at an additional cost — email Hello@CharleneLam.com to inquire.