Somer Mercado
Certified Grief Recovery Method Specialist
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
somermercado.grm@gmail.com
There is a way forward.
Together.
Gentle, compassionate grief support
You don't have to walk this path alone. If you've found your way here, you already know the weight of grief—how some losses alter everything so completely it feels impossible that the world can just keep going. This is a place where your sorrow is welcome. A place to set down the mask of being "okay." Here, grief isn't rushed or fixed—it's companioned and gently explored.
Because it is by turning toward grief and integrating it into our lives that we can go on to live meaningfully and love deeply again. It is by grieving well that we open ourselves again to love and to life.
What you'll find here
Companioning, not correcting
I walk with you as you find your way—at your pace, in your words.
A safe space to tell the truth
We make room for your love, your pain, your memories, and your becoming.
Practical tools for a tender season
Together we'll explore the many shapes grief takes and learn skills to carry it with care.
Over time, glimmers of meaning can return, and life—though forever changed—can still hold depth, connection, and beauty.
Is this you?
What I believe
Healing doesn't erase pain. It helps you carry it with compassion and clarity.
Grief can't be "fixed." But the pain can be healed when the grief is spoken, shared, witnessed, carried, and integrated.
Telling the truth—first to ourselves, then with a "safe other"—creates room for hope, joy, and meaning.
A bit of my story
I'm Somer Mercado—certified Grief Recovery Specialist, public school teacher, wife, mom, widow, and fellow griever. In 2018 my husband, Ryuta, died suddenly. I became a young widow in my 30s raising two little boys on my own. Overnight I had to learn who I was without my person, and how to lead our little family forward. My world completely changed.
I scheduled an appointment with a therapist and cried my eyes out. The therapist was kind and supportive, and I felt safe sharing my pain. But when I left that appointment, I felt emptier rather than feeling helped. I realized I was talking in circles, pouring out my heart, but I wasn't moving forward. I knew I needed something different.
What I was feeling wasn't a mental health illness—it was grief. And I didn't know how to navigate it.
Discovering the Grief Recovery Method®
When I found the Grief Recovery Method, it gave my grief a direction to move. For the first time, I had tools and steps that truly helped me process my pain and begin healing.
With few resources for someone like me, I threw myself into learning about grief—books, articles, conversations, and ultimately, the Grief Recovery Method. Step by step, I learned to hold space for my emotions and memories, to honor my love, and to make peace with the pain. I know intimately how life-changing a loss can be. How it can alter identity, reshape belonging, and ask for a different kind of tending and support. This personal knowing, combined with years of personal grief work, teaching emotional literacy, speaking about grief and healing, and training in the Grief Recovery Method, grounds the depth and integrity of my work today.
READY TO BEGIN YOUR RECOVERY?
Schedule a free consultation to learn how the Grief Recovery Method can help you move beyond loss.
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