When Death Enters a Life, It Enters the Workplace
An employee’s mother dies.
A partner dies suddenly.
A child dies.
A colleague dies.
They return to work carrying shock, exhaustion and grief.
Most leaders are expected to respond well.
Very few have been trained to.
The Risk of Getting It Wrong
When death impacts your people:
• Managers avoid conversations
• Teams don’t know what to say
• Communication becomes awkward or silent
• Grief is misread as underperformance
• HR carries emotional and reputational risk
Silence can isolate.
Overexposure can overwhelm.
Missteps can damage trust for months.
You cannot prevent death.
You can prevent avoidable harm.
Why Grief-Informed Leadership Matters
Grief affects cognition, regulation and capacity.
In the first three months after a death, employees may:
• Struggle with focus
• Fluctuate in productivity
• Withdraw socially
• Experience heightened emotional responses
• Push themselves too hard
This is not weakness.
It is a human nervous system responding to loss.
Leadership sets the tone.
Grief-informed leadership creates clarity in uncertainty, steadiness in communication, and structure in the first 90 days.
How I Support Organisations
Organisations need different levels of support depending on timing and circumstance.
I offer three structured options.
1. Leadership Workshop
90-minute live session
A practical, interactive workshop for leadership and HR teams.
You will gain:
• Clear understanding of what grief does to the brain and body
• Suicide-specific considerations and communication guidance
• Confidence in what to say, and what not to say
• Practical return-to-work planning strategies
• A structured framework for the first 90 days
Each session is tailored to your organisation’s context and recent circumstances.
Delivered live via Zoom or Teams across NZ, AUS and internationally.
In-person sessions available by arrangement.
2. The First 90 Days After a Death
A Practical Leadership Guide
The first response shapes everything.
This structured guide supports leaders with:
• Immediate communication guidance
• Suicide considerations
• Return-to-work planning
• Ongoing check-ins
• Team stabilisation
• When to escalate to clinical support
Clear. Implementable. Grounded.
3. Book-Based Leadership Learning
Structured Team Support
For organisations seeking deeper learning beyond a single session.
The Year After Kahlia offers leaders a rare, unfiltered insight into suicide bereavement and the lived reality of grief across the first year.
Used within organisations, it can:
• Deepen empathy and practical understanding
• Reduce stigma around suicide and grief
• Strengthen leadership conversations
• Support policy and response review
• Provide structured reflection for teams
Available as:
• Facilitated leadership discussions
• Team learning sessions
• Integrated workshop packages
• Post-critical incident response support
Designed to move beyond awareness and build capability.
Before It Happens
Most organisations only seek support after a death.
The strongest prepare before crisis.
Grief-informed leadership strengthens:
• Psychological safety
• Cultural stability
• Staff trust
• Leadership confidence
Death will impact your organisation at some point.
Preparation determines how.
About This Work
This work began after the death of my daughter, Kahlia.
It now extends into educating leaders and organisations to respond to death with clarity, steadiness and practical structure.
I bring lived experience, systems thinking and evidence-informed grief education into rooms navigating their hardest days.
Let’s Talk
If death has recently impacted your organisation, or you want your leaders prepared before it does - I welcome a conversation.
