NOW REGISTERING FOR December 2024!
If you’re looking for more connection, more healing exercises, and more knowledge about the long-term effects of mother loss . . .
If you’re ready to look at your loss from a new and more mature perspective to see where that can lead you. . .
If you’re feeling “stuck” and ready to work through that . . .
Rewatch our FREE INFO SESSION where we discuss the Motherless Daughters Support Circles launching in December.
Learn how these circles will operate, what’s included, and how they differ from retreats and community calls. This is a perfect opportunity to ask questions and discover how the Circles can benefit you. Hope and Zanne will be there to guide you through everything.
“The support calls were life changing. Each week, I learned more about myself and felt a little bit more comfortable sharing my experiences. Many of the other women had very similar experiences which was so validating. I felt very connected to the women in my group and I'm so grateful that we were able to be vulnerable and bond with each other.”
— Ila, New York
Starting in December!
Motherless Daughters Support Circles
Our innovative, live, 12-session virtual curriculum is based on 30 years of Hope Edelman’s work in the field of mother loss, and is designed for
women and non-binary individuals who’ve lost mothers up to age 30ish.
Hi, I’m Hope Edelman, the author of Motherless Daughters, Motherless Mothers, and The AfterGrief, and the founder and CEO here at MotherlessDaughters.com.
For the past eight years, I’ve been running programs that bring women together in person to share their stories.
In our weekly Community Calls, weekend workshops, and four-day Motherless Daughters Retreats, I’ve witnessed the magic that occurs when women come together in community to help each other heal.
Revisiting a loss at different points in adulthood is a valuable exercise.
Loads of research backs this up as a way to start feeling “unstuck”. And feeling stuck is the #1 reason why women come to our weekly calls and retreats.
The Motherless Daughters Support Circles 12 - week curriculum will help you:
Reflect on the past and revisit key moments in your story;
Ground yourself in the present with self-compassion and curiosity;
Project yourself into the future with actionable steps you can take to create a more empowering life story, while honoring what you faced in the past.
We’ve created this small-group (max. of 15 women per group) opportunity to give you more time to share and process and reflect on your story, and more time to talk about the exercises we do together.
A Motherless Daughters Support Circle is a perfect way to get started on your healing journey; to add to what you’ve already learned at a retreat; or to supplement weekly support calls.
If you’re hoping to take part in the Motherless Daughters Peer Training in the future, taking part in a Support Circle will be a prerequisite — the best way to experience the support groups you’ll be leading is by experiencing the curriculum first hand.
Most of all…
You deserve to be supported. You deserve a place where you feel you belong.
And you deserve to find freedom from outdated, internal messages of the past.
I look forward to seeing you in a Circle this fall!
I’m excited to now offer Motherless Daughters Support Circles, which are designed to meet the specific needs women face along the long arc of grief.
Developing a story that makes sense to us is an important part of traveling this arc. And allowing that story to change over time is beneficial, too.
In fact, it’s good when that happens. Especially with gentle guidance and support from a community of others who understand.
“Participating in the Circle was a magical experience for me. I loved meeting women from various backgrounds who had experienced the loss of their mothers in childhood and adolescence. The intimacy and support of these women and the three facilitators was amazing. The Circle provided an opportunity to connect with others who truly seem to understand me in a way that I haven’t experienced before.”
— Janie, St. Louis, MO
Our upcoming Support Circles begin soon!
Please see below for all details:
TUESDAY CIRCLE
For women who were between the ages of 0 - 18 when their mothers died.
Begins Tuesday, Dec 3, 2024
11am-12:30pm PT / 2-3:30pm ET 7-8:30pm UK
WEDNESDAY CIRCLE
For women who were between the ages of 19 - 30 when their mothers died.
Begins Wednesday, Dec 4, 2024
5-6:30pm PT / 8-9:30pm ET
Our Support Circles are designed
with your long-term healing and personal growth in mind.
Our top priority is to provide you with a compassionate, supportive, and trauma-informed environment.
Our weekly exercises will help you create meaningful connections between your past, present, and future.
Every exercise has been approved by a clinical consultant and tested in a small-group setting. You can rest assured that everything you encounter in a circle has been carefully selected with your best interests in mind.
Your Support Circle will include the following:
12 weeks of curriculum;
All materials;
A WhatsApp group set up and administered for your group to stay in touch and communicate between sessions;
Recorded links to re-watch your weekly Circle sessions, and catch up on ones you missed;
Access to a private web site page just for your group, where all notices and assignments will be posted;
3 months of complimentary Motherless Daughters Community Calls (either the Tuesday or the Thursday calls) following the conclusion of your Circle.
Free 13th session = a 60-minute check in group call with Hope and Zanne one month after your Circle ends.
Please Note: Hope will facilitate each of the 12 sessions on Tuesdays, and Program Director Zanne Hollingshead will facilitate each of the 12 sessions on Wednesdays. Zanne has extensive experience working with motherless daughters in our weekly community calls as well as in previous Support Circles..
“My mom died suddenly when I was 11 and my dad 3 years later. For most of my grief journey I have felt stuck in the emotions of my younger self. This support group and the rereading and thorough discussions relating to the book have given me new insights and perceptions that I can see, feel and understand as a mature adult. Additionally, hearing the tender, intimate, brave sharings of the group members, especially those of a similar age now, has been so rewarding and humbling.”
— Jenni, Liverpool NY
Tuesday Support Circle
(for daughters up to age 18 at time of loss)
facilitated by Hope Edelman
Tuesdays from Dec 3, 2024 - March 11, 2025
@
11am - 12:30 pm PT / 2 - 3:30 pm ET / 7 - 8:30pm UK
Dec 3, 10, 17 + Jan 7, 14, 21, 28 + Feb 11, 18, 25 + Mar 4, 11
Note:
This is a 15-week Circle with 3 weeks off for holidays + plus +
No Circles on Dec 24, Dec 31, Feb 4
Wednesday Support Circle
(for daughters ages 19 - 30 at time of loss)
facilitated by Zanne Hollingshead
Wednesdays from Dec 4, 2024 - Mar 12, 2025
@
5 - 6:30 pm PT / 8 - 9:30 pm ET
Dec 4, 11, 18 + Jan 8, 15, 22, 29 + Feb 12, 19, 26 + Mar 5, 12
Note:
This is a 15-week Circle with 3 weeks off for holidays + plus +
No Circles on Dec 25, Jan 1, Feb 5
How Will We Spend Our 12 Sessions Together?
Each week of a Motherless Daughters Support Circle curriculum will be loosely based on chapters from Motherless Daughters. We will discuss that week’s topic, do activities together, and share what comes up for us in the process.
Between sessions there will be brief, optional exercises to complete, including journal prompts for self-reflection and activities to prepare you for the next week’s session.
For detailed information about each week’s topic, click on the plus (+) sign next to each session title below.
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Meet your facilitators and the other women taking this journey with you, and start sharing your story with them. We’ll also cover the basics and let you know what to expect in the next 14 weeks.
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In Week Two, we’ll unpack the messages you receive(d) about grief both then and now, and explore how those messages have impacted you. We’ll help you develop a healthier and more empowering relationship with grief moving forward.
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Age at time of loss matters – a lot. In Week Three, we’ll look at the developmental tasks associated with each age group, reflect on which ones may have been skipped or scrambled after your mom became ill or died, and learn how to start filling in those gaps today.
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How a mother died is important to a daughter’s long-term adjustment. Your mother may have died suddenly, from a long-term illness, or from a combination of the two. We’ll discuss the difference between PTSD and Complex PTSD, and help you distinguish between stories of a death and stories of loss. You’ll have an opportunity to revisit and rewrite some influential moments in your past.
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The death of your mom may have been the first big loss you faced, or maybe you had prior experience with major loss. Either way, you may have noticed how a loss in the present can reactivate pieces of a loss from the past. When this happens, you may experience emotional flashbacks or regressive behavior. In Week Five, we’ll discuss how and why this happens, and practice tools for self-regulation. We’ll also examine how attachment styles can also determine how we detach when a relationship ends.
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Numerous studies show that what happens after a mother dies can have as much effect on a child as the loss itself. Support from a warm, consistent, loving adult is critical after a parent dies. We’ll look at how relationships with fathers, grandparents, siblings, and other family members changed when a mother died, what coping strategies we developed to feel safe, and how we navigate our family relationships today.
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Mother loss is a relational trauma. It can affect our adult interactions with romantic partners and friends. In Week Seven, we’ll learn more about different attachment styles, discuss separation anxiety and separation sensitivity, explore what “being alone” means to us, and discover what helps us feel emotionally safe when we’re in relationship with others.
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When a mother dies, a daughter's relationship with her becomes frozen in time. Maybe you still feel a living connection to your mom in the present, or maybe you don’t feel one at all. Either way, Week Eight offers a deep dive into the art of Re-Membering and introduces new ways to welcome your mom back into your story.
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Daughters who lose mothers frequently have heightened fears of falling ill and dying young. In this session, we help you identify your specific fears, find ways to stay grounded and manage thought spirals, and learn tips for reducing anxiety.
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Our experiences as daughters, with (and without) our mothers can shape our ideas and choices about motherhood for ourselves. We'll talk this week about choices we made -- or that were made for us -- around whether to become a mom and also about what kind of mother we aspire(d) to be. We'll also explore self-mothering as a form of self-care.
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Mother loss is painful and often tragic. Mother loss also can inspire a profound new sense of meaning and purpose. Both things can be true. In Week Eleven, we turn our gaze to the future and the stories we want to write ourselves into moving forward.
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In our final week together, we’ll reflect on what we’ve learned both individually and from each other. We’ll bear witness to each other’s intentions for whatever next steps we now hope to take.
“With the book Motherless Daughters as a framework, Hope and her team have crafted an amazing, thought provoking 12-week course– one that is full of compassionate insights and honest discussions about life growing up as a motherless daughter. I look forward to learning and exploring more.”
— Suzanne, Malibu, CA
How is a Motherless Daughters Support Circle Different
from a Retreat or the Weekly Support Calls?
The Circles are an intimate, weekly group setting with a maximum of 15 women. Everyone will have a chance to share each week, usually multiple times.
In a Circle, you’ll build even deeper, ongoing relationships with the facilitators and with other women in the group.
Weekly topics are discussed in-depth and enhanced by exercises, additional readings and reflective writing in the weeks in between.
Unique exercises are included to add to your experience.
These exercises intentionally link your past, present, and future to help you release old messages and create a new and more empowering life narrative moving forward.
You’ll receive priority consideration for the Motherless Daughter’s Peer Training Program (in development). This is a chance to become a significant part of an empowering vision for all motherless daughters in the future.
MEET YOUR CIRCLE TEAM
Hope Edelman
The bestselling author of Motherless Daughters and Motherless Mothers, Hope is widely considered one of the world's foremost
experts on early mother loss. Working with bereaved daughters is both her passion and purpose, as well as her life work for 30 years. In the 1990s Hope helped launch support groups for motherless daughters in 30 cities, and in 2016 she co-founded Motherless Daughters Retreats. Through Motherlessdaughters.com she brings psychoeducation and support to thousands of women every year, both in person and online. In her free time she loves to travel, knit hats, take yoga challenges, and cook for large numbers of people at once.
Zanne Hollingshead
Facilitator, Support Circle + Peer Training Coordinator
Fellow Motherless Daughter Zanne lost her mom to brain cancer when she was 10. As a lifelong seeker and supporter who leads with a compassionate heart, Zanne believes that deep healing and transformation is possible through courageous, intentional, exploratory inner-work coupled with therapeutic and peer support. She is a midlife wellness advocate, Martha Beck-trained life coach and group facilitator, dedicated to harnessing her experience of mother loss, sibling loss, and close friend loss to walk alongside others, helping them navigate life's great challenges. Zanne co-facilitates the Tuesday and Thursday Motherless Daughters Community Calls with Hope, and is ever-captivated by the healing power that peer support brings.
Victoria Mercado
MA, LPC-S, Clinical Advisor for MDSC
Victoria is a licensed trauma therapist in Dallas, Texas. She consults with Hope and Zanne to maintain trauma-informed programming for the Motherless Daughters Support Circles. At age 15, Victoria and her mother were involved in a car accident that left her mother a quadriplegic. Then at age 23 she lost her mother to complications due to pneumonia. Finding solace and encouragement within the Motherless Daughter community through a nearby support group inspired Victoria to pursue a career as a licensed professional counselor. Victoria also co-facilitates Motherless Daughters Retreats.
What is the Cost of a Support Circle?
Support Circle Payment Details:
$100 non-refundable registration fee (due with first installment)
4 monthly installments of $259 (first installment upon registration)
Receive 3 months of Motherless Daughters Community Calls following the end of your Circle ($179 value)
Your total investment is less than $75 per session!
If a delayed first installment payment is needed, please contact Letina at info@hopeedelman.com
Tuesday Circle monthly payments due:
1st installment is paid upon registration with $100 registration fee + Jan 1 + Feb 1 + March 1
Wednesday Circle monthly payments due:
1st installment is paid upon registration with $100 registration fee + Jan 1 + Feb 1 + March 1
Please note: Your first payment will be $359 ($259 installment plus $100 registration fee). Your subsequent three payments are then $259.
Cancellation policy:
Your commitment to the Circle is an investment in yourself. You will become part of an intimate group based on trust and safety. This sacred space starts forming as soon as participants sign up. Our time together is short but meaningful, and deep relationships form. We ask that you trust in this process and commit to following it through to completion to receive the maximum benefits.
Our Refund Policy:
Payments are fully refundable until 14 days prior to the start date, minus the $100 non-refundable deposit.
From 14 days prior to start date and up until the first weekly session, 50% of your first payment will be returned and your credit card will not be charged moving forward. The $100 deposit is non-refundable.
After the Circle begins, there will be no refunds.