Hello! Welcome to my website! I’m Mary Christopherson, bereaved spouse, mid-life orphan, life coach, grief-group facilitator, spiritual care minister, and founder of Hope After Loss.

While visiting Alaska in 2004, I was struck by power of fireweed boldly reclaiming life on the floor of the forest recently ravaged by fire. Those lifeless trees mirrored my view of life at the time. My beloved spouse had died; I was taking what was to have been our dream vacation, but instead, I was now traveling with a group of widows.

Those seemingly fragile blossoms inspired me to shift my focus from what I had lost to what could be possible. They gave me hope.

The question is not “When.” We are alive; we will experience loss.

• We lose our jobs.
• Our marriages fail.
• We lose our health.
• We lose someone we cherish in death.
• We also lose our purpose.
• We lose our joy.
• We lose our dreams.
• We lose our hope.

We can allow our losses to rob us of a bright future or . . . we can rediscover HOPE.

Hope After Loss celebrates the bold proclamation of fireweed.

No matter what our losses have been, no matter how deeply we have been hurt:

• We can change our focus and find hope.
• We can heal.
• We can rise above the pain.
• We can find new dreams.
• We can blossom amid the most devastating destruction.