HELP WITH MOVING FORWARD
Heal Your Broken Heart đź’”
Welcome to Help with Grief and Loss. Here you’ll find grief education, digital resources, and social work services to support you through your own grief journey — wherever you are in it.
Meet our founder, Franceen
I’m Franceen Rea, a social worker with over 32 years of experience. I hold a Master of Social Work (MSW) and a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW), and over the course of my career, I’ve worked with people at every stage of life, many of them carrying complex childhood and adult trauma. Some had hit rock bottom. Helping people move forward has been the work of my life. I have a passion for helping others and for writing. In addition, I am a certified Grief Recovery Method Specialist (GRMS).
Expert Witness Services & Consultations
For over 20 years, I’ve also worked as a county social worker in the child welfare field. I offer expert witness services and consultations in social work practice and standards of care, including Child Welfare Services (CWS), Child Protective Services (CPS), Adult Protective Services (APS), adoptions, foster care, and social work.
I’ve conducted thousands of child/adult welfare investigations, with particular expertise in child abuse and neglect, sexual abuse/trafficking/exploitation, elder and dependent adult abuse/neglect, self-neglect, financial exploitation, case management, supervised visitations, permanency planning, adoptions, guardianship, and termination of parental rights. My background spans work as an investigator, social worker, supervisor, trainer, and program director, and I’ve provided court testimony in juvenile, civil, criminal, and family law matters.
Learn more about my expert witness services at:
A Practice Rooted in Diversity and Respect
I’m proud of my heritage as an Indigenous and Mexican American woman, and that heritage shapes how I show up for people: with compassion, empathy, and respect for the fact that every grief journey — and every cultural background — is unique.
My education and decades in the field have given me a deep grounding in trauma, human development/behavior, crisis intervention, substance abuse, and mental health, including depression, anxiety, stress, PTSD, grief, loss, and dual diagnoses. I’ve led and managed two agencies, supervised and trained social workers/staff, and trained mandated reporters, foster parents, and prospective adoptive parents.
I’ve had the privilege of working with people across nearly every walk of life — from infancy through elder years, across all cultural, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds. My clients have included widows and widowers, children and families, veterans and active-duty service members, foster and adoptive families, people navigating incarceration or homelessness, hospice patients and caregivers, and neurodivergent clients, among many others.
I’ve also worked closely with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and Two-Spirit (LGBTQIA2S+) communities that have historically faced marginalization. I bring that same commitment to understanding each person’s unique background to every client relationship.
My Own Path Through Grief
My empathy and caring for others started young, but it wasn’t until I was an adult and learned about my own losses that I truly understood what grief costs a person.
My grief journey started early, with intergenerational trauma and loss I carried from childhood. It deepened into adulthood: anticipatory grief, then losing my mother to breast cancer, and simultaneously losing my significant other. Not long after, another loved one was diagnosed with late-stage colorectal cancer. In a short span of time, I grieved my mother, father, sisters, my best friend, my significant other, a favorite aunt, and a cousin. My favorite aunt and cousin were like siblings. They had lived with us when we were kids, and I had grown up with them. I have lost friends, beloved dogs/pets, along with other losses, too.
Traditional talk therapy helped, but something was still missing. Then I found the Grief Recovery Method® (GRM). I worked the program myself, more than once, at different points in my life — and found a kind of peace that had eluded me for years. In addition, I found support and education through reading books and articles and through participating in world-renowned grief expert David Kessler’s Tender Hearts grief and loss groups (grief.com).
We are all human. We all grieve. We all cope differently. Each person’s grief is unique, and nobody grieves the same. And none of us should have to do it alone. That healing is what led me to create this website, write articles, and create courses. Grief is a natural response to loss, but healing takes real support, patience, and guidance. My mission is to help you walk through your own grief, honor what you’ve lost, and find your way back — toward peace, healing, hope, and maybe even joy again.
If you or someone you know is struggling with grief and loss, please share this site, our free resources, and our digital products. Thank you for being here.
Wishing you a life with hózhó — the Navajo concept of balance, harmony, and healing.
Sending peace, harmony, healing, love, health, hugs, and abundance,
Franceen Rea, MSW, BSW, GRMS
The Apache Blessing for Healing
“May the sun bring you new energy by day, may the moon softly restore you by night. May the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being. May you walk gently through the world, and know its beauty all the days of your life.”
