Grief is a Sneaky Bitch: An Uncensored Guide to Navigating Loss (Paperback) - Lisa Keefauver

A comprehensive and compassionate guide to navigating loss.

'A truly helpful, honest, and important trail map for the journey we all eventually must take through grief' - Steve Leder, New York Times bestselling author of The Beauty of What Remains

'An immense amount of knowledge and science around grief and the grieving process' - Colin Campbell, author of Finding the Words

When social worker Lisa Keefauver became a widow in 2011, she was alarmed to discover that even though 100 percent of us experience loss, we're living in a grief illiterate world. In her work as a therapist, and in her search for help in the wake of her own loss, Keefauver began to see how the misguided stories we consume about grief lead to unnecessary suffering.

Responding to the problematic narratives that grief is something to move on from after completing the five stages like some sort of to-do list, Keefauver became a grief activist. Through this book and her hit podcast of the same title, she creates a safe place to be inside the messiness of it all, to discover the full spectrum of grief, and to find the tools that help grievers move forward, not on.

Grief is a Sneaky Bitch is a comprehensive guide-both a manual full of insights and skills and, even more importantly, a thoughtful companion that helps readers feel seen and held.

Keefauver shares her personal and professional wisdom alongside the lessons she's learned from clinicians, authors, poets, and friends. In place of rigid instructions and must-do checklists, Grief is a Sneaky Bitch invites reflection, encourages self-compassion and explores the therapeutic power of humour with, yes, a bit of profanity.

About the Author

Lisa Keefauver is an in-demand grief activist, speaker and author. She began her career as a social worker and narrative therapist in 2004. She expanded her activism in a variety of roles: clinical director, non-profit co-founder, clinical supervisor, facilitator of personal and professional growth and healing, and mentor. Lisa's wisdom and insights on grief are also embodied from her personal losses, including the death of her husband Eric in 2011.

Lisa's grief advocacy inspired her to found Reimagining Grief, with a mission to illuminate and dismantle the limited and misleading collective story of grief that causes so much unnecessary suffering. It also includes the intimate work of holding space and bearing witness for people as they navigate their grief journey.

Best known for her interview skills as host of the top-rated podcast, Grief is a Sneaky Bitch, she has spent much of her time sharing her warmth, wisdom, humour and compassion facilitating conversations as a moderator on stages, as an organizational consultant to facilitate grief-smart companies, leading workshops and retreats, and as an individual grief guide. Lisa's unique approach to shifting our grief culture led to an invitation to teach the Loss and Grief course at the University of Texas at Austin.