Witnessing Grief: Inviting Trauma and Loss to Our Coaching Conversations, An Enneagram Perspective

Witnessing Grief by Holly Margl is a timely and vital book for coaches and other helping professionals who face conversations with their clients daily that veer into grief, loss, and trauma, particularly now in this pandemic era.

Sadly, coaches, counselors, and therapists sometimes say unhelpful or harmful things to clients experiencing and suffering from grief. Undoubtedly, most coaches don't choose their field anticipating such weighty topics. Still, here we are in this pandemic era, with anxiety, depression, grief, and trauma being customary topics of coaching conversations.

Witnessing Grief is organized into three parts:

Part I: Meeting Grief defines and examines grief, how we navigate its path in our lives, and how we may begin to understand how to navigate that path with our clients. 

Part II: Using the Enneagram gives a broad overview of the Enneagram and its nine dominant biases. Additionally, these chapters look at how we can use the wisdom of the Enneagram to look at ourselves and the lens through which we view the world. This introspection will allow us to serve our clients more deeply and create a safe space as they navigate the complex waters of loss, trauma, and grief. 

Part III: Putting It in Action chapters are application-oriented. They take everything we've learned in Parts I and II and allow the reader to use that information to understand better how to navigate real-life scenarios and coaching situations involving grief, trauma, and loss.

Application Oriented 

Witnessing Grief contains specific elements to further the reader's experience and understanding of the concepts presented. These elements provide a background for the reader rather than simply "telling" the reader, "this is what you should do in this situation." Everything comes back to conscious presence in the coaching conversation, and everything about this book supports self-exploration and presence for the reader.

These elements include: 

● Inspirational quotes to further support and enhance the content in each chapter and as an expanded understanding of grief's impact on our lives.

● "Consider This" and "Pause and Reflect" passages within the chapter narratives that require inquiry, active reflection, or contemplation with great intention. ● Closing Inquiries at the end of each chapter. These questions are intended to help you think outside the box you've built around yourself. They are to challenge your status quo and expand your awareness of the chapter's topic.

● The Epilogue: You Can Do More Than Imagine addresses common fears and pitfalls all of us fall into at one time or another as we navigate complex and distressing conversations of trauma, loss, and grief.

Genuine Stories and Narratives 

The raw and heart-wrenching stories of trauma and loss woven into this book are real accounts; however, for anonymity and confidentiality, modifications may exist.

Additionally, several coach/client scenarios to help further the reader's understanding and application of the concepts presented in Parts I and II.