Are You Stuck in Grief? The Grief Intensive is a powerful, transformative experience designed to guide you through the complexity of grief.

You'll explore The Five SELFs-Self-Care, Self-Regulation, Spiritual Self, Self-Improvement, and Self-Movement — tools that will help you process and manage intense emotions, find your truth, and turn pain into purpose. Learn More Grief Intensive Feel to Heal
A person embracing a new beginning and finding new meaning and purpose after the loss of a husband, symbolizing hope and renewal.
Psychotherapy session, woman talking to his psychologist at Mentally STRONG

The Grief Intensive

Led by Dr. Cristi Bundukamara, a psychiatric nurse practitioner who has lived through the unimaginable pain of losing three children, this program offers a structured, compassionate approach to healing.

It's not about quick fixes, but about giving yourself space to grieve while still finding ways to thrive.

Preparing for the Grief Intensive

Your healing journey will begin immediately, as soon as you join the Grief Intensive, you are automatically enrolled into the Mentally STRONG Method online course and the group coaching will provide you with valuable tools and insights that can enhance your experience throughout the grief intensive.

A mini-intensive, held one week before the main event, will focus on an 8-hour review of the Mentally STRONG Method. This allows you to deepen your understanding and prepare for the work ahead. Additionally, you will have a history appointment prior to the intensive, where we’ll review your personal journey and complete notes on your progress.

This preparation ensures you’re fully supported and ready to make the most of your time with us.

What to Expect

A Journey of Healing and Growth

This week is about you—your healing, your growth, and your journey forward. The Mentally STRONG Intensive is designed to offer you a space where you can pause, reflect, and begin to process the emotions that may feel overwhelming. Through gentle guidance, personal assessments, and supportive group sessions, you’ll explore what it means to grieve with purpose and care for your mental and physical well-being. Each part of this week is tailored to help you find clarity, reconnect with yourself, and embrace the changes that lead to healing. You are not alone in this process, and we’re here to walk beside you.

Day 1
Morning
  • Full psychiatric assessments and medication recommendations. (8 appointments, 30 minutes each).
  • Lunch Break: On your own.

Afternoon
  • Intensive Agenda and MSM Review: Correlates the intensive structure to the MSM.
  • Grief Presentation: Impact of grief on the body, ceremonies, cultures, and attachment theories.

Core Concepts:
  • Controlled Grief
  • Mental Health Personal Vision
  • Grief with Purpose Personal Vision
  • Feel to Heal
  • Grief is Pain: Love or Fear
  • Know, Like, Love Yourself
  • Embrace Change
  • Self Care
  • Self Regulation
  • Soul Connection (Spiritual Self)
  • Self Improvement
  • Self Movement
  • Kaizen Method
Day 2 - 4
MSM Group Therapy
  • Core Concepts:
    • Daily Start Note: Think, organize, choose your mood and intent for the day.
    • Personal Vision for Spiritual Relationship: Crafting a vision for inner peace and connection.

Energy Work
  • Breathwork Techniques: Learn practical breathing techniques to manage energy.
  • Pain as Energy: Explore energy modalities, scientific or spiritual approaches.
  • Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT): Teach EFT based on resources like EFT International. Free workbook download for personal use.
  • Reiki Demonstration: A brief group demonstration (instead of a full 4-hour session by Ryan).

Spiritual Self
  • Meditation: Guided meditation focusing on spiritual self-connection.

Psychedelics
  • Mechanism of Action: Understanding the energetic, cultural, and spiritual aspects of psychedelics.
  • Ketamine Experience: Optional ketamine session to explore deeper healing.

Physical Health

  • Physical Health Personal Vision: Creating a personalized vision for improving physical health.

  • Die of a Broken Heart: Understanding the emotional-physical health connection.

  • Functional Medicine and Mental Health: Topics include diet, exercise, hormones, gut health, neuroinflammation, and genetics.

Key Discussions:
  • Lifestyle and Neuroinflammation: The role of diet, exercise, and stress management.
  • Gut Health: Importance of gut-brain connection.
  • Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)
  • Kaizen Mindset: Continuous self-improvement.
  • Supplements: NAC, Silexan, SAMe, St. John’s Wort, and others (Ashwagandha, Lion’s Mane, etc.).

  • Eastern Medicine: Acupuncture, Ayurveda, and the spiritual connection. Focus on how emotions are stored in the body (e.g., right/left, masculine/feminine balance, including spine health).

  • Group Acupuncture Session: Led by Kyndl from community acupuncture.

  • Optional: Chiropractor session for physical health support.

Therapeutic Modalities
  • Neuromodulation Therapies: Cover neurofeedback, EMDR, brainspotting, and medications.
  • Group Presentation and Demonstration: Brainspotting and neurofeedback exposure.

Negative Self-Talk
  • 60/40 Rule: Managing self-talk and maintaining a healthy mental balance.

Trauma
  • Trauma and Health: The physical and mental impacts of trauma and available treatment options.

Injustice
  • Bipolarity of Injustice: Exploring the emotional duality—rage and hate towards the perpetrator vs. compassion and heroism for the victim, including self-compassion.
Day 5
  • Review Personal Visions: Participants finalize their action plans for mental and physical well-being.
  • Grieve with Purpose: Use the book as a continuing guide for personal growth.
  • Activity: Writing letters to oneself, sharing, and reflecting.
Optional Activities
  • Grief documentary screening.
  • Optional ketamine treatment.
  • Additional activities: Yoga, Sunwater Spa, sound ceremony, medium group session.

Join the Journey and Learn to Heal

Begin Your Healing Journey

Resilience Built by the Mentally STRONG Way

FAQ

Questions and Answers

Who is the Grief Intensive for?

This Grief Intensive is for anyone who has experienced intense grief that is impacting their life. Perhaps it’s the loss of a spouse, a child, a twin, or the aftermath of a traumatic experience. Grief can come from many places: a sudden tragedy, a natural disaster, or a deeply personal loss that reshapes your world. This intensive offers a compassionate space for anyone who feels the weight of such grief, helping you find meaning and gentle ways forward through the pain.

Do I need to complete the Mentally STRONG Method course before attending?

No, you don’t need to complete the Mentally STRONG Method course before attending. You’re welcome to begin the Grief Intensive right away. The online course will be available to you throughout, and while completing it isn’t necessary, having some familiarity with the method can help you get even more out of your one-on-one time during the intensive. This journey is designed to meet you exactly where you are, offering insights and guidance as you need them.

What can I expect during the intensive?

During the intensive, you’ll experience a therapeutic, supportive environment designed to help you navigate grief and trauma. Mornings are focused on group therapy, where you’ll engage in small, intimate groups to explore personal healing work. Afternoons shift to a more educational setting, introducing techniques and insights that support processing grief, such as therapeutic practices, energy work, or acupuncture. This blend of group connection and individual reflection provides a gentle, holistic approach to healing.

What should I bring to the Grief Intensive?

The most important thing to bring to the Grief Intensive is simply your readiness—the openness to look at what grief has meant for you and how it has shaped your journey. Everything else will be provided. We’ll have all the books, resources, and materials you’ll need throughout the intensive, and you’ll even take home some of these tools to support your path forward. So, perhaps leave a little extra room in your bag for these gifts, but mostly, just bring yourself and a gentle willingness to begin.