Susan Reynolds

Susan W. Reynolds developed her innovative system by combining interior redesign principles with grief recovery methods. Susan is a member of the Association of Design Education and a Certified Physical Therapist. Her training in wellness and ergonomics has given her sensitive insights into the needs of people in grief. She is a consultant to hospices on how interior design can help clients feel comfortable and safe. She speaks at bereavement groups to teach her methods to people who have suffered loss. She helps those in grief visualize how small changes in their surroundings can result in big changes in attitude. After her husband died of cancer after a difficult two-year battle, Susan participated in traditional grief groups. She found that a practical approach worked best for her. She uses her blog, "Room for Change", to present her ideas about the role of ergonomics in grief recovery. The book version of her system reflects input from bereavement coordinators and other specialists in the field of death and dying. Her company, Revival Redesign helps people refresh and enliven their personal space using items they already own and love.

Articles:

Open to  hope

Socializing Again After the Loss of a Spouse

Within a few months of my husband’s death, I was sitting in counseling, reviewing my life, rethinking my future, and rebelling about the future prospects. My counselor suggested that my social circle would no longer be “corporate” entertaining nor logistics with teenage daughters and their networking.  What then?   She commented that my circle would be women.   I cried, I cursed, I cringed.   Hadn’t the rug already been pulled out from under me and now another one shoved underneath without the welcome mat? I was willing to try. A friend  of mine was turning 50 years old.  She, […]

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Open to  hope

Holidays a Time for Relinquishment and Renewal

As a widow, I continually try to be positive in the changes and growth that have emerged in my widowhood.   Attending bereavement sessions around the holidays, I hear and see the word, “surviving”. Surviving to me connotes a time of languish, a sacrifice and an insurmountable obstacle.  Most of us experiencing loss have felt fleeting moments of such, but then again we may find a single bright moment that leads the way to hope and renewal and even revival on this grief journey. Holidays not only suggest shopping as with birthdays, Hanukkah and Christmas, but also include decorating, baking […]

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Open to  hope

Creating a Fresh Palette in Your Home for 2011

The new year dawns.  Fresh starts.  Newly formed commitments.  Anticipation and hope of greater, grander or simply a gentler existence. In and through grief, the past wafts by us unexpectedly with its pleasures and its challenges.  The new year brings for us a time to reassess which things to carry along with us , which outlooks in our mind and which outlooks in our surroundings. Working with therapists and life coaches, the emphasis lies in changing the inside thoughts to bring changes to the outer side of life.  I have also found that sometimes the reverse can spur me onward, […]

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