Who this is for
Adults grieving any loss - person, relationship, identity, ability. Active SI / complicated grief features routed to LCSW immediately. Pet loss recognized as legitimate.
What brings people here
Recent loss (<24 months); PG-13 elevated; bereavement leave returning; HR referral; self-referral.
Clinical framework
OneVillage-developed (standard grief outcomes literature).
How the 8 weeks run
Baseline assessments, your first SMART goal, and the 1:1 that sets up everything after it.
Specialist coaches rotate in, and sessions come thickest here. One change at a time, in the domains your baseline flagged.
Re-score, refresh the care plan, and check in 1:1 on what is and is not working.
The remaining domains, at a lighter cadence, and the work of making the early weeks hold under pressure.
Final re-score, relapse prevention, and the plan for what happens next.
When your sessions fall
The program is built in four-week modules. Sessions come thickest at the start, when what you decide matters most, and step down as things settle. That is 5 sessions of 45 minutes across 8 weeks, counting the visit before week 1.
| Module | Weeks | Sessions | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Module 1 | Weeks 1 to 4 | 2 | every other week |
| Module 2 | Weeks 5 to 8 | 2 | every other week |
Week by week
- Before you beginBefore you begin
This is the reading before your first visit. It is unusual for a health program, because the first thing it has to tell you is that most people in your position do not need a program. That is not a way of turning you away. It is the finding this whole pathway is designed around.
- Week 1What grief does to a body
Nothing in this week is asking you to feel differently. It is here because grief has physical effects that are better measured than almost anything else in this field, and because knowing that changes what you do about your body over the next two months.
- Week 2Sleep
This week you meet Kelly Day O'Brien, a sleep coach. Of everything in these eight weeks, this session has the best claim to changing something, and the reason is worth explaining rather than asserting.
- Week 3Continuing bonds
This is a short week on purpose. It explains the idea the pathway is organized around, and then it tells you exactly how much evidence stands behind that idea, which is less than you would guess from how confidently it is usually stated.
- Week 4Halfway: the sorting question, asked again
This week you see Cindy again and repeat the four measures from week 0. The point of the re-score is not progress. It is the same sorting question asked with four more weeks of information: is this grief taking its course, or has it become something with a name and a treatment?
- Week 5The things that carry real risk
This is the week the program stops being gentle about a few specific things. Not because grief is dangerous, but because three particular risks are raised after a loss, and all three are ones people tend not to raise themselves.
- Week 6Who you are now
This week you meet Kimberly Macon, a mindset coach. Before that session, you should know how the evidence for this part of the program compares with the evidence for week 2, because it is not the same and we are not going to pretend it is.
- Week 7Anniversaries, and the losses nobody counts
A great deal is written about anniversary reactions, most of it from clinical experience rather than data. There is one hard piece of evidence, and it is worth reading exactly rather than in summary.
- Week 8What continues
Week 8 is a handover, not a finish line. Grief does not run on an eight-week schedule and this program has never claimed it does. What ends this week is the structure. What continues is everything you decided to keep.
Who you will work with
Your Whole Health Coach takes your first visit and closes every module, so it is the same person from the first session to the last. The specialists below lead the weeks where their work is the focus.
Professionally, Cindy has been a clinical nurse for nearly a decade. She served in both clinical and administrative capacities throughout her career and holds a Master's degree in Nursing Leadership. As a staff nurse, nurse leader, and quality improvement specialist, she led multidisciplinary teams in academic medical settings throughout Boston, New York, and Ohio to deliver high-quality care to patients across complex diagnoses.
Kelly is a sleep behavior expert who connects to clients with genuine curiosity and compassion to unlock their potential for positive change. Sleep is a universal need AND is completely unique to the individual. No two sleep profiles are the same and Kelly uses multi-faceted and science-based approaches to support an understanding of the client’s desired outcome.
Meet Kimberly Macon, Professional Certified Coach (PCC), wife, mother, and a cancer survivor specialized in helping OneVillage members build mental resilience in the face of difficult situations and life changing events. Kimberly spent more than 15 years working in various roles across the Consumer Packaged Goods Industry within Marketing, Brand Management, Sales and Business Development.
What we work on
| Domain | What this pathway does |
|---|---|
| Nutrition & Metabolism | Grief disrupts appetite. Simple, regular meals. Hydration. |
| Movement & Mobility | Movement as grief support. Gentle, non-performative. |
| Sleep & Recovery | Grief disrupts sleep. ISI tracked. Avoid alcohol-as-sleep. |
| Stress & Resilience | Grief is exhausting at a nervous-system level. Daily rhythm. |
| Mind & Mood | PG-13 + PHQ-9 + C-SSRS. Complicated grief assessed at 6 months. |
| Relationships & Purpose | Re-engagement at member's pace. Anniversaries planned for. |
How progress is measured
These are the validated tools this pathway uses: at your first visit, at the mid-program review, and at the end.
| Tool | Cadence | Owned by |
|---|---|---|
| PG-13 (Prolonged Grief Disorder) | Onboard, q4 weeks after 6 mo from loss | Grief Coach |
| PHQ-9 + GAD-7 | Onboard, q4 weeks | WHC |
| C-SSRS | Onboard; PRN concern | LCSW |
| ISI | Onboard, q4 weeks | Sleep Coach |
| Activity / engagement log | Weekly during Rebuild | Exercise Coach |
The research behind this pathway
Your clinician playbook was built from the guidelines and studies below. They are listed so you can read them yourself: every one is a real, published paper and the number at the end of each line is its PubMed ID.
Guidelines this pathway follows
- Prolonged grief disorder criteria · DSM-5-TR and ICD-11
How this pathway distinguishes grief taking its course from grief that has become an illness. PMID 33432758
- Complicated grief treatment · Shear and colleagues
The evidence-based structure behind the pathway's later modules. PMID 27276373
Key studies
- Prigerson HG et al. (2009). PLoS MedProlonged grief disorder: Psychometric validation of criteria proposed for DSM-V and ICD-11
The study that set the criteria for prolonged grief disorder, distinguishing grief that is taking its course from grief that has become an illness. PMID 19652695
- Prigerson HG et al. (2021). World PsychiatryValidation of the new DSM-5-TR criteria for prolonged grief disorder and the PG-13-Revised (PG-13-R) scale
Validated the current criteria and the PG-13-Revised scale, which is the measure this pathway repeats. PMID 33432758
- Shear MK et al. (2016). JAMA PsychiatryOptimizing Treatment of Complicated Grief: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Randomized 395 adults with complicated grief to grief-focused psychotherapy, an antidepressant, both, or a pill placebo. The psychotherapy was what worked. PMID 27276373
- Boelen PA et al. (2007). J Consult Clin PsycholTreatment of complicated grief: a comparison between cognitive-behavioral therapy and supportive counseling
Compared cognitive behavioral therapy against supportive counseling in 54 people with complicated grief. The structured therapy did better, and the order mattered: exposure first, then cognitive work. PMID 17469885
- Stroebe M et al. (2007). LancetHealth outcomes of bereavement
Reviewed the health consequences of bereavement, including the raised risk of dying in the first weeks and months. It is why this pathway starts with practical support, not insight. PMID 18068517