Claire Perkins

Claire Perkins is a Transformational Arts Coach and award-winning author of The Deep Water Leaf Society: Harnessing the Transformative Power of Grief (Intuitive Journey Press 2008). After losing her eldest son to a drug overdose in 2004, Claire embarked on a conscious and creative journey of healing and personal growth. By using a unique combination of dream work, journaling, expressive arts and inner guidance, Claire learned that within this deep experience of grief a gift of profound spiritual transformation awaited her discovery. Claire believes that every loss you experience and every challenge you face can be used to fuel the next cycle of your own personal and spiritual evolution. She offers one-on-one coaching and workshops to help you move through grief into healing. Using gentle but powerful art and journaling techniques, she can help you to find peace with your loss and discover the gifts that may be buried beneath your grief.

Articles:

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Declaring Independence From Grief

Here in the U.S. we celebrate the Fourth of July as Independence Day. It is the day that Congress approved a Declaration of Independence from British rule. It marks the […]

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Messages of Love

Over the years since my son’s death by overdose in 2004, I have received many messages and signs from him. Some have come in dreams, some through songs on the […]

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Love Never Dies

I sat with my father for the last time on Thursday, the 18th of December, 2008. His condition was not much different from the past several days; he was sleeping […]

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The Sweater: Daughter Wishes She Could Repay Father’s Gift

It is the third of December 2008. I sit by my dad’s bedside, holding his hand and watching him breathe, holding my breath as his stops for several seconds, only […]

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Looking Through the Window: A View of ‘Home’

It is the summer of 2007. At eighty-five years old, my mother is in the hospital for the second time in as many weeks. She is weak and tired and […]

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Surviving Children, Husband Save Mother’s Day After Son Dies

Mother’s Day 2004 came six days after my oldest son Cameron died. We had not even had the funeral yet, as the circumstances of his death required an autopsy by […]

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Four Friends for the Grief Journey

During my journey through grief, here were four friends that never failed me: journaling, expressive arts, dreams and synchronicity. My book, The Deep Water Leaf Society, is full of examples […]

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Good Friday: Even in Darkest Night, Sun Waits to Rise

I’ve been thinking about the Easter story as a metaphor for my own journey through grief. I’ve been thinking about Good Friday and the days leading up to it, because […]

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Helping a Child Cope With the Death of a Grandparent

The death of a grandparent can be especially difficult for a young child. But there are ways that you can help the child cope. For example, you can ask the […]

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The Twins Born From Grief

Exactly one year to the day after losing my 26-year-old son to a drug overdose, I had this dream: May 3, 2005 – The doctor tells me I’m pregnant. Oh […]

Open to Hope is an online community offering inspirational stories of loss, hope and recovery. We believe hope is the bridge between loss and recovery.