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?

You're ready to start living again, but don't know how.

It feels like grief has overtaken you and you can't escape.

People say, "I can't imagine," and you feel achingly alone.

Your heart wants to heal, but you don't know where to start.

You're not broken—and you don't have to figure this out by yourself.

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.

You are worthy of the process it takes to grow in healing ways. — MHN

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.

I'm so sorry you're here. Also, I'm so glad you are.

Learn about Grief Recovery

How I help

If you're feeling stuck in grief, please know it doesn't have to stay this way. Healing is possible, and you don't have to do it alone.

My Services

I offer one-on-one and group grief recovery support online and in person in Fremont (San Francisco Bay Area, East Bay).

Together, we'll use the proven steps of the Grief Recovery Method, a structured approach designed specifically for the unique work of grief—different from traditional talk therapy—to help you take action and find relief.

The Grief Recovery Method®

The Grief Recovery Method® is the only evidence-based recovery program in the world that educates, equips, and empowers grievers to recover from grief that comes from loss. And over time, go from heartache to happiness, grief to gratitude, feeling lost to finding yourself, sadness to serenity, pain to peace, and giving up to giving back.

In our work, many people find they can:

Express losses in a safe, non-judgmental space

Reduce the intensity of stress, anxiety, and sadness

Regain energy, focus, and capacity for daily life

Learn concrete tools to facilitate recovery and integration

My job as a Grief Recovery Method Specialist is to provide a map, guide, and tools to encourage and empower grievers to process grief in a healthy way. My role is to create the conditions where grief can be fully expressed, love is honored, and meaning can slowly emerge. I hold the trust that deep down, you are the expert of your own grief. I will walk alongside you and help guide you on this new path.

As Bell Hooks wrote, 'Rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of communion.'

Begin here.

If you need added support and encouragement, please feel free to reach out to schedule an initial call and see if this connection would be a good fit for you. I'd be honored to be on this journey with you.

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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