certified grief life coaches

As Founder & President, Sonja personally invites everyone to Mourning Joy as you journey with grief and its pain.  Grief first challenged her at age seven due to the sudden loss of her mother, and then many years later with both the birth and loss of her dear son with disabilities, Matthew.  Sonja is prepared to walk with anyone regardless of how unique their needs might be with grief and profound loss. However, she specializes in family related death, loss of health, and at birth or acquired disabilities. Sonja developed the Mourning Joy "GRIEF TO MOURNING COACH MODEL" which advances one forward from the inward pain of grief to outward active mourning which ultimately leads one down a path to healing and restored hope, a Biblically based path for which Sonja is dedicated. 

Sonja's professional career began as a case manager with United Cerebral Palsy of Dallas, with her most fulfilling position in competitive employment being with the Texas Department of Assistive & Rehabilitative Services (DARS). There she was a Vocational Rehabilitation Teacher and completed six (6) months of intensive training to serve those with at birth or acquired vision loss and blindness. Extensive training included coaching/teaching specific instruction, Braille, and a 30-day, 40 hour per week required Immersion Training program under blindfold where she learned alternative strategies and techniques that would provide the skill set necessary to coach a person with blindness or low vision. All goals were client geared to re-enter the workforce within a competitive employment position that accommodated an individual's visual disability.  Coach-to-client instruction included: (a) emotional adjustment to blindness; (b) alternative techniques; (c) Braille instruction; (d) daily living skills; and (e) support system development. Sonja provided one-on-one and group dynamic coaching for individuals with primary and secondary disabilities.

As an entrepreneur, Sonja is Founder & Business Consultant for Camden, Camden & Associates in Dallas, Texas, and COO for LifeStream WI; both corporations serve those with mild-to-moderate disabilities and their efforts to enter the workforce.  Sonja is an honors graduate and an alumnus from the University of Texas at Arlington with a Master of Science in Social Work. Post-secondary education includes doctoral studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, and completion with the Institute of Professional Grief Coaching as a Certified Grief Life Coach. 

Sonja realizes that grief invades many areas of life in addition to death, such as acquired disabilities, aging, career loss, health, divorce, and family relationships and separation. To navigate grief regardless of where you might encounter its challenges, Sonja believes that her Christian/Catholic faith has been the buttress for which has not only sustained her but brought her through with hope and the ability to help others along their unique journeys. Many of her clients both while working at the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services and as a business owner desired the freedom to express their Christian faith with someone who could relate and affirm them, and that was Sonja. Thus, as President of Mourning Joy and a Certified Grief Life Coach she is devoted to including sacred scripture, faith, prayer, and group dynamic fellowship as an integral part of both her coach-client relationships and the overall mission of Mourning Joy.  

Sonja invites you to schedule an appointment with a Mourning Joy Grief Certified Life Coach, with the confident assurance that as a client you will move forward with support, knowledge, and a companion coach. Active mourning will secure restored hope and provide the movement necessary to enjoy a renewed emotional landscape where a person can live out a fulfilled & abundant life once again. 

To schedule an appointment contact Mourning Joy at 1-800-260-5404 Ext 2, or scamden@mourningjoy.net.  

Diane earned her Masters in Educational Leadership from Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, WI in 2000. As a licensed educator and high school teacher she taught 17 years in the inner city of Milwaukee. She acquired vast knowledge of skills and empathy for the students with disabilities who were fully integrated into her classes. She also has extensive experience as a trained mediator, having served as a volunteer for the Milwaukee Victim Offender Reconciliation Program from 1986-1991. As a volunteer she facilitated meetings for perpetrators of crimes who were on parole to mediate with their victims to achieve a restitution that ended their parole. Diane also facilitated the structure and education needed to establish student-to-student (peer) mediation programs in twenty-five schools in the Milwaukee area. 

Diane completed her certification as a 'Grief Life Coach' this year with the Institute of Professional Grief Coaching (IOPGC) in Washington D.C. Several reasons inspired Diane to pursue this certification, to include the early death of her mother, and the caregiving of a life-long Franciscan Sister for whom she served with the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother in Oshkosh, WI. She understands anticipatory and death-related grief in terms of terminal illness, and other areas of grief to include life circumstances such as acquired disabilities to include physical and mental health, loss of career(s), loss of relationships, and family challenges. 

On the business side, Diane did communications training and conflict resolution for a large health care system in the Milwaukee area for 5 years. With this strong background in communications, mediation, and education, Diane understands the importance of and has the skills to build a positive rapport with the consumer and to also build a relationship of honesty and trust with both consumer and employer. Diane has been President & Founder of Camden & Wegner, Inc. (dba: Lifestream) for the past six years. A business which holds a state contract with the Wisconsin Dept. of Workforce Development. She continues to provide supported employment, job coaching, and job placement for state referred clients that need reasonable accommodations within the workplace. Diane's understanding of this field is enhanced by the fact that she has had a life-long visual disability. Diane relaxes by bicycling, traveling, reading, and playing golf.

Gil holds both a bachelor's degree and is certified as a Grief Life Coach. His passion for helping others along their path of pain and loss to a restored place of hope is exceptional. Gil is bilingual and understands cultural diversity and the need for sensitivity and compassion. His rich background with human relations and serving those with disabilities have carved out an excellent skill set that will serve someone challenged with grief very well. Contact Mourning Joy to schedule an appointment with Gil at 1-800-260-5404 Ext. 2.