Linde Carter's Insights: Understanding Grief in Hospice and Finding Healing

Apr 22, 2023

Linde Carter's Insights: Understanding Grief in Hospice and Finding Healing

Linde Carter MA, RN, NC-BC, CEOLD, CGD

Death is an inevitable part of life, and with it comes grief, a natural response and part of life. However, we often view grief as an enemy, pressuring us to overcome it swiftly. Yet, the truth is that the grieving process is vital for our well-being. It serves as a mechanism to help us heal and safeguard our emotional and mental health. When ignored or suppressed, it does not go away. Rather, it manifests in other areas of our lives, affecting our relationships, personal growth, and parenting abilities. Grief can also not be rushed or pushed aside. You must allow it to unfold naturally and permit yourself to fully experience the emotions and thoughts that arise to process it and embark on a healing journey. In this episode, Linde Carter delves into the intricacies of grief, exploring its diverse manifestations and providing valuable tools to help you find healing and renewal amidst grief.

Linde Carter is a death doula and grief coach. Linde has been a registered nurse for almost 25 years and has spent more than half of that time as a hospice nurse and palliative care nurse at the bedside in patients’ homes and long-term care facilities, in quality management and nursing management. She is also a board-certified nurse coach specializing in loss, grief, transition, and end-of-life coaching. As a certified end-of-life and grief doula, Linde has her own private coaching and doula practice, Simplicity Transition. Like so many others, Linde has encountered and struggled with loss in her life from early on, and she learned that grief is not just about loss through death; it’s simply about loss of any kind.

Linde is passionate about supporting anyone experiencing any kind of loss or grief, anyone facing chronic, life-threatening illness and end of life, and anyone who may feel ready to move forward and carry their grief in a new way that is comfortable and healthy for them. Through grief and end-of-life coaching, Linde creates a space for others to know it’s okay to be vulnerable, scared, and even hopeless and to not always have the extra strength to keep moving forward and to hold that space for openness, honesty, support, and hope. She also currently has an active Facebook Group, Growing Through Grief, and is happy to allow anyone to join.

Tune in!

Key Highlights from the Episode;

[00:30] Episode intro and a quick bio of the guest; Linde Carter

[03:41] Linde's backstory and what she does in the grief space

[10:23] Why Linde changed her coaching business name to Simplicity Transition

[11:23] How Linde coaches people through different transitions in life

[14:14] The death-positive talk and how Linde does it

[15:38] How Linde is helping individuals and groups with grief and the things she focuses on

[24:26] How to know when you need help with your grief and signs to look out for

[27:36] Anticipatory grief in hospice and other different types of grief

[40:41] Some of the tools that you can use to start processing your grief

[46:16] The difference between a grief coach and a counselor

[49:11] How to reach out to Linde and get grief help and support

[52:18] A signal that shows that you need help to process grief

[55:03] Wrap-up and end of the show

Notable Quotes

● Death is natural, and grief is natural; people often look at grief as an enemy, but the grief process is what helps and protects you. [04:52]

● You can’t ignore grief; grief is not something you get through or push yourself through and move on to the next thing; let it unfold and let yourself experience it because if you don’t, it will come back. It will show up in other parts of your life, hold you back, and cause issues in relationships and parenting. [21:22]

● You can have different types of grief all happening at the same time, and if they are not recognized and resolved, that is when you get into complicated or complex unresolved grief, which can hang around for a long time. [37:52]

● There are different manifestations of grief; it can manifest in your life in different ways, including cognitive or physical, where you forget things, become emotional, have physical pain, lack focus, or have insomnia. [52:18]