Welcome to Beginning Experience NZ
Supporting You Through Grief
Beginning Experience NZ is a non-profit organization focused on providing grief support after the loss of a spouse or partner.
We offer a quality, copyrighted grief resolution programme presented by trained peer facilitators who are themselves 'wounded healers' having suffered loss through death, separation or divorce.
Founded by a Catholic sister and her divorced friend, the programme serves those of all faiths - or of no faith. It offers an opportunity for turning the pain of your loss into an experience of positive growth.
We believe:
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the invitation to recover offers an opportunity to free individuals to love themselves, others and God (if faith is part of your journey) in new and deeper ways
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those working through this experience can effectively walk with others for whom the experience is new or hard
Ana Ita
I was a little anxious when I came to the weekend, but I was curious. I was allowed to be where I was at in my grief. To have a listening ear, care and concern and acceptance was huge for me.
Ann Ita
Steve
I found the Beginning Experience weekend really, really helpful in coping with and recovering from my divorce. There is time to individually reflect and then, if you wish, to reflect in a small, safe group where the people are welcoming and non-judgmental. I’m not religious, however I found the location at the friary to be soooo peaceful. I have 3 kids and work fairly long hours, so having a weekend just to stop and work on healing yourself was invaluable. I didn't leave with any ‘instant’ answers, I left with an understanding of what I was going through and the skills to heal and cope. Unexpectedly I also left feeling my life had been enriched, I’d grown emotionally and had some fun along the way!
David
I attended Beginning Experience 15 months after my wife died. Whilst I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I was hoping to learn more about how I might deal with my grief. I wasn't disappointed. The willingness of others to share their stories in such a candid way was truly humbling. It encouraged me to share mine, the results being wonderfully cathartic.
History of the Beginning Experience Programme
In 1973 Sister Josephine Stewart, a family counsellor in Texas and her divorced friend, Jo Lamia attended a marriage encounter weekend. The intention was to develop a programme for engaged couples. Over the course of the weekend Jo Lamia adapted the process to face issues and concerns in her own life that had never been addressed since her divorce many years earlier. At the close of the weekend, Sister Josephine noticed a profound positive change occur in her friend.
Following this, Jo's writings were adapted and further developed by respected professionals in grief psychology, ministry, education and organisational process. The Beginning Experience weekend was developed specifically to address the real heartache and on-going grief of the end of long term relationships. This copyrighted programme now runs in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Great Britain, Ireland, and New Zealand.
