You're not
grieving wrong.
Grief isn't a problem to fix. It's something you carry. Our programs give communities the tools to walk alongside loss, together, for as long as it takes.
The Problem
The five stages were never meant to be a roadmap.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross wrote those stages for people facing their owndeath, not for the people left behind. Decades later, we're still handing grieving people a checklist and wondering why they feel stuck.
There's no timeline.
No finish line, no expiration date. You don't outgrow love, and you don't outgrow the missing.
Silence makes it worse.
When communities don't have language for grief, people carry it alone. That isolation compounds everything.
One size fits nobody.
Kids grieve differently than adults. Culture matters. Support that ignores the person isn't really support.
What We Do
Grief support built for real life.
Live and Grieve™ brings structured, research-backed grief support into the places people already trust: schools, churches, hospitals, workplaces, community centers.
We train local facilitators to lead the program. They bring the presence. We provide the structure. What comes out of that feels human, because it is.
Read about our approach →“Your presence is the medicine. The curriculum is the structure. Together, that's where transformation happens.
What Sets Us Apart
Different by design.
Rooted in Research
Three peer-reviewed frameworks guide everything we do: the Dual Process Model, Worden's Tasks of Mourning, and Continuing Bonds theory. Not the five stages.
Community First
We partner with organizations people already trust. Grief support shows up where people already feel safe, not in an unfamiliar office across town.
Facilitator-Led
Trained facilitators bring structure and presence. No clinical license required. Just people who care and know how to hold space.
The Programs
For every stage of life.
Live and Grieve™
Adult Program
A year-long, four-book program for adults walking through loss. Weekly small groups, trained facilitators, and a pace that respects where you actually are.
Learn more →Live and Grieve Youth™
Youth Program
13 sessions for children and teens, offered through schools and youth organizations. Two age tracks, designed for how young people actually process grief.
Learn more →Who We Partner With
Grief belongs in community.
We bring Live and Grieve™ to the organizations where people already feel safe.
Our Story
Born from loss. Built for community.
Wayne and Jamie Simms didn't plan to build a grief program. They were just trying to survive their own. They lost their son Jacoby and their nephew Ian.
What they found wasn't enough. The resources felt clinical. The timelines were unrealistic. The language was cold. They wanted something warmer, something that told the truth: grief and life happen at the same time, not one after the other.
Live and Grieve™ is what they built. Not to replace professional care, but to create the kind of steady, community-rooted support that makes healing possible in the spaces between.
Learn about our framework →Free Resource
What Grief Research Actually Says
And why it changes everything. A free guide from the founders of Live and Grieve™ on the science behind a better way to support people through loss.
Get the Free Guide