Loss & Leadership
The loss of someone close to us often signals profound change at the deepest level. Paradoxically, when you’re feeling like nothing will ever be the same, the world keeps turning and remains the same. Your business keeps operating, clients still need your product or service, employees need your leadership.
The urge to yell, “Stop the world I want to get off!” is stifled by an inner voice that is saying, “You have to keep going.”
Your need for self-love and compassion is overridden by the drive that led to you to become a leader.
Thoughts of “it’s okay, I’ll be right, I’ve got this,” propel you forward when all you really need is to stop and give yourself time to grieve.
How do you lead when you are feeling broken?
Yvonne knows how to support you in the early days, weeks and months because she has experienced the most profound loss – that of losing a child. Yvonne was leading a vibrant school community when her 20-year-old son, Ben, was killed by a drunk and drug affected driver. She knows how it feels to have your executive functioning go offline but she also knows the immense value in allowing yourself the gift of grief.
The problem with loss and grief is that it is foreign to us. We don’t experience deep loss often and are caught off guard but it’s profound impact. We are confused about how to navigate it. This is normal. What isn’t normal is the pressure we continue to put on ourselves to remain in control and to make important decisions when profound loss has momentarily stripped us of those skills and abilities.
GROWTH2050 has the knowledge, understanding, skills and experience to help you when you need it the most. Bruce can co-lead your team to keep your business operating successfully while Yvonne will support you through your grief journey.
Yvonne’s deep understanding of loss and grief is reflected in her book Soul Stripped Bare – growing through grief.
testimonial
Soul stripped bare
Byron Bay woman shares her grief journey after son killed by drunk driver
Source:ABC North Coast|Program:North Coast Breakfast
Like all high school graduates Ben Donohoe was full of optimism for the life ahead of him. Two years after this picture was taken, Ben was dead, killed just few hundred metres from where he’d accepted a lift from a drunk driver who took off at speed and struck a power pole. Now his mother Yvonne has explored the passage of grief; her own and 15 other bereaved parents. Joanne Shoebridge spoke to Yvonne Donohoe about her book Soul Stripped Bare – Growing Through Grief on the day Ben should have turned 30.
Soul Stripped Bare
Soul Stripped Bare – growing through grief
The death of a child signals profound change at the deepest level. Paradoxically as the world remains the same, when you lose a child, nothing can ever be the same.
Yet as you shut down you notice your state of awareness is expanding. How can that be?
Come on the profound journey with one mother, whose 20-year-old son was killed by a drunk and drug affected driver. When she began receiving messages from the other side – messages that defied her concept of normality and went completely against all spiritual and religious conditioning – the scene was set for her to be stripped of false security and to be cracked open. She realised that when the worst loss happens, you can continue to shut down or you can grow.
Experience the grief journey like never before as she challenges grief constructs and norms and proposes new ways of looking at what she came to realise was the most normal of all responses – grief. How grieving is like breathing – it is natural and normal – we all know how to grieve; and how through trusting her grief, she was able to live again.
An educator for almost 40 years, through using story, analogy and poetry, Donohoe has the rare gift of explaining the complex concept if grief.
‘The profound pain of grief was like birthing my son into the next stage of his Eternal life’
Meet 15 other families who share their stories.
Yvonne chose to grow. And she shares her journey of heartache and growth in her book Soul Stripped Bare – growing through grief.
New memoir offers a compendium and resource manual for anyone experiencing loss, giving hope to all who grieve
Yvonne Donohoe announces the release of ‘Soul Stripped Bare’
SUFFOLK PARK, Australia – “Within days of losing my son, I began to write my story. Words flowed like tears and writing became my solace as pain and disbelief poured onto the pages of my diary. When I received messages to share my story — our story — I thought it would simply be a story of survival, because at first, I wasn’t sure I would survive. Yet I had been mandated with far greater responsibility. I was to share what was at the heart of my experience: that our loved ones never truly die. Even though they leave us physically, their spirit is always with us.” Yvonne Donohoe states.
“Soul Stripped Bare” (published by Balboa Press AU) shares about the transformative power of grief to help broken hearts to heal after a profound loss. In this memoir, Donohoe shares current research such as the Continuing Bonds Theory, debunks the notion of ‘stages’ and introduces The Grief Blueprint to help explain why everyone grieves differently. Through her project, called ‘Grief Express’, she shares the stories of 15 other grieving parents to show not only the diversity of the grief response but also the power of the human spirit to overcome adversity.
“My book will not only give comfort to those who are grieving, it will also assist them on their healing journey; it will assist friends and family who feel at a loss as to how to give comfort and support; and it will provide valuable insights for professionals and students working and studying in the grief field. Although the loss of a child is traumatic, this book gives hope as it shows that the human spirit is resilient in the face of adversity,” Donohoe says.
When asked what she wants readers to take away from the book, Donohoe replies, “I humbly share my experiences in the hope that you too, will feel supported and be uplifted with the message of the continued existence of the spirit of our loved ones. I know that nothing can ever replace the warmth of their touch, a hug or a kiss, but I hope that knowing they are always with us will be a gift to you. This book is about love, loss, pain and growth – this is my story. May it bless and comfort you. May it bring you hope.”
For more details about the book, please visit www.soulstrippedbare.com.au
The urge to yell, “Stop the world I want to get off!” is stifled by an inner voice that is saying, “You have to keep going.”
Your need for self-love and compassion is overridden by the drive that led to you to become a leader.
Thoughts of “it’s okay, I’ll be right, I’ve got this,” propel you forward when all you really need is to stop and give yourself time to grieve.
How do you lead when you are feeling broken?
Yvonne knows how to support you in the early days, weeks and months because she has experienced the most profound loss – that of losing a child. Yvonne was leading a vibrant school community when her 20-year-old son, Ben, was killed by a drunk and drug affected driver. She knows how it feels to have your executive functioning go offline but she also knows the immense value in allowing yourself the gift of grief.
The problem with loss and grief is that it is foreign to us. We don’t experience deep loss often and are caught off guard but it’s profound impact. We are confused about how to navigate it. This is normal. What isn’t normal is the pressure we continue to put on ourselves to remain in control and to make important decisions when profound loss has momentarily stripped us of those skills and abilities.
GROWTH2050 has the knowledge, understanding, skills and experience to help you when you need it the most. Bruce can co-lead your team to keep your business operating successfully while Yvonne will support you through your grief journey.
Yvonne’s deep understanding of loss and grief is reflected in her book Soul Stripped Bare – growing through grief.
About the Author
Yvonne Donohoe is a wife, mother, grandmother, friend, coach and mentor. She grew up in Sydney, Australia before moving to Byron Bay on the north Coast of New South Wales in the late 1970s. She enjoyed a highly successful career in education for over three decades before retiring early after a drunk driver killed her son, Ben. During her career, recognized for her abilities and skills, she was promoted to leadership roles. As an education consultant, she worked with schools serving low socio-economic communities. She finished her long and rewarding career as a school principal, retiring from Mullumbimby Public School. Although it took her years to grieve Ben’s death, once she felt well again, she knew she ‘wasn’t finished,’ so she enrolled with The Coaching Institute in Melbourne, Australia, to become a life and business coach. She now serves clients in the areas of personal transformation, career coaching and grief support. She loves to help people live amazing lives. Her aim is to ensure that her clients do not die with their song unsung. When COVID-19 forced many parents to homeschool their children, she wrote a highly successful eBook, “Successful Home Schooling – how to have fun learning at home.” Her memoir and grief manual ‘Soul Stripped Bare – growing through grief’ was published in 2021 by Balboa Press. She has also contributed to other publications on grief, in particular, stories for children.
