Grieving the Holidays Without Them: A Trauma-Informed, Faith-Based Workbook for Healthy Coping After Loss

Grieving the Holidays Without Them

A Trauma-Informed, Faith-Based Grief Workbook for Surviving the Holidays After Loss

Written by Dr. Monique Thompson, DHA, LPC-S — 24 years in counseling practice

EMDR-based worksheets • Polyvagal nervous system tools • Faith-centered reflective exercises

If you're approaching the holidays with an empty chair at the table — this workbook was created for you.

Whether the loss was recent or years ago… whether it was a spouse, parent, child, friend, or someone whose absence still aches, you don’t have to journey through this season alone.

This grief workbook blends neuroscience + trauma-informed coping with faith, scripture, reflection, and gentle emotional processing to help you breathe, remember, and heal at your own pace.

This workbook helps you:

• Cope with grief when holiday memories feel heavy
• Calm anxiety using EMDR-inspired bilateral tapping & grounding pages
• Reduce stress responses with Polyvagal nervous system tools
• Sit with grief instead of fighting it or suppressing it
• Honor your loved one with rituals, memory pages, & tradition planning
• Lean into faith, prayer journaling, and scripture comfort
• Build resilience and emotional regulation day-by-day

What’s inside:

✔ Holiday trigger + coping plan worksheet

✔ EMDR-style TICES logs & bilateral stimulation prompts

✔ Polyvagal tools for body calming (breathwork, humming, orientation exercises)

✔ Memory ritual + tradition keep/change/release planning

✔ Scripture devotion + prayer reflection pages

✔ Grief check-ins + resilience tracking

✔ Journal prompts for processing love, loss & meaning

A gentle place to land when the world keeps moving forward.

For individuals, support groups, churches, counselors, widows/widowers, parents, and anyone grieving someone they will always love.

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