Christine Dernederlanden

This keynote equips corporate managers and leaders with the knowledge and skills to support their teams through grief and change. The program emphasizes the development and implementation of a Grief and Trauma Recovery Procedure Plan within corporate policies, ensuring a compassionate and consistent approach to supporting employees across the organization.

Program Objectives:

• Teach corporate leaders how to recognize and respond to grief in employees.
• Provide a structured approach to developing a company-wide Grief and Trauma Recovery Procedure Plan
• Equip managers with communication tools for navigating sensitive situations.
• Help leaders balance empathy with maintaining corporate productivity.
• Empower corporate leaders to create long-term resilience and stability in their teams and the broader organization.

Program Benefits:

• Improved Corporate Leadership Skills: Corporate managers gain a deeper understanding of emotional intelligence, making them more effective and compassionate leaders in a corporate setting.
• Consistent, Compassionate Corporate Support: The Grief and Trauma Recovery Procedure Plan ensures every corporate employee receives consistent, compassionate support, no matter their role or relationship with corporate leadership.
• Enhanced Corporate Team Morale: A supportive corporate leader fosters a stronger, more resilient team, leading to improved morale and loyalty within the corporation.
• Reduced Corporate Burnout and Absenteeism: Supporting employees through grief reduces the risk of burnout and extended absenteeism, keeping corporate teams more productive and engaged.
• Stronger Corporate Workplace Culture: Compassionate leadership and a formalized recovery policy strengthen corporate workplace culture, ensuring employees feel valued and supported

Grief in the workplace is at an all-time high and becoming more recognized as we endure the transformational change or restructuring of our businesses. Embracing cultural change within the area of grief and trauma are at the forefront of the minds of the people we serve and the people we work side by side with. Clients may want to share their experiences of traumatic grief with you. Would you be able or wanting to engage in this conversation? Could you handle your colleague sharing the death of their loved one with you? Grief, in all its forms, is becoming well recognized for the impact it can have on our careers and businesses. Businesses have had to adjust in so many ways, the level of frustration rising beyond normal understanding for all. Christine Dernederlanden is an award-winning entrepreneur who owns and operates two businesses, a social enterprise, along with a corporation. Christine Dernederlanden knows all too well about grief in the workplace. Grief spans beyond our healthcare system into our careers and businesses though our employees and the people we serve. Grief sees no differences, it does not care about your race, age or wealth, it is the only equalizer in life.

G.R.I.E.F. offers guidance and helps establish resiliency in employees and in the workplace. It is an initiative to bring awareness to your employee’s well-being in pressing times such as these.

Some key elements are:

• How to approach the topic of grief behaviours in the workplace, whether they are displayed from colleagues or customers.
• How to response empathetically and appropriately to the expression of emotional sorrow from others.
• How to deal with your own grief or emotional sorrow while in a workplace environment.

Follow a humanitarian’s twenty-year journey beyond 9/11. It takes courage to confront life and death and address areas of grief and sorrow in our lives. Putting that into perspective, we are experiential learners in the area of emotional sorrow, sadness, death and grief, often having to experience a sensation or event to understand how we react. Educationally, we can be told how to react sensibly to traumatic situations, but no educational institution can predict or tell you how you as an individual will act in a traumatic situation. Only your past can give you that insight. What you have learned before, through lived experiences, will filter up and will either aid or disable you through the next lived experience. Christine Dernederlanden takes you on a journey, starting at the death of her only brother Robert, who fell over the Niagara Falls Gorge, and a personal cancer scare all at the age of fourteen. Her inspiring story takes you to ground zero in New York during the aftermath of September 11 terrorist attacks. It follows her journey aiding those in need inside the grief camps she facilitated with the Friendship Ambassadors, who bring dialogue annually to the United Nations and Lions International. The rekindling of Christine’s spirit takes you on a journey through Northern communities and Indigenous reserves as Camp S.O.A.R. Sprits Our Ancestors Rekindle emerges. She trained community leaders and healers to facilitate community grief camps and to continue to hold and create space for those grieving within their communities.

• Challenge your perceptions, learning to clearly see situations, life, finances, and personal identity, both mentally and physically.
• Let go of your burdens, anxiety, and toxic people, past and present.
• Understand how and why your experiences matter.

Through camp S.O.A.R. spark to light, not only the path for oneself, but the path for community to unite in healing. Together we learn to embrace our wings and once again SOAR.

Explore the many forms of grief, as we embrace generational and ancestral grief in the hopes of healing the spirits of the next generation. Grief may lie dormant for years, then one trigger such as a song, a discovery, or a smile will rekindle your spirit to want to SOAR within itself, to find the answers to one’s sorrow within.

Book a discovery call with your team and Christine Dernederlanden to explore the grief needs of your community.

• Christine Dernederlanden works alongside your team to prepare for the event. All the material for the training is provided, such as the love stones, the pinwheels, the bereavement bands, play dough, manu-als for the training, resources and etc. Items such as markers, a few housekeeping items, you may be required to supply.
• The volunteers / facilitators will receive a training that is based on Camp S.O.A.R. A commu-nity Grief Camp Program. The training encompasses the Natural Modalities of Grief, the body, mind and spirit connection, through the teaching of trauma-based effects on all three elements. Participants will received a certificate of completion, that certifies they have successfully com-pleted the 6-hour S.O.A.R facilitator training program and have the confidence to lead and in-teract with the grieving from a perspective of honour and empathy.
• The following day the community is invited to attend a full day S.O.A.R. Grief camp facili-tated by Christine Dernederlanden and the trainees, who received their Certificates during the S.O.A.R. train-ing program.

The award winning author, Christine Dernederlanden C.T.S.S., C.T.R., IAC-MP developed and authored, H.U.G.S. Helping Understand Grief Session, a bereavement program for youth. H.U.G.S. derived from the “Where is Robert?” grief kit that aided more than 6,000 families affected by the 9/11 terrorist attacks and earned Christine Dernederlanden a certificate of appreciation from former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald. H Rumsfeld. Helping Children Understand Grief Sessions, was inspired by her work at the grief camps that she co-facilitated with the Friendship Ambassadors, a group which fosters dialogues with the United Nations and Lions International. The program is guided by the H.U.G.S. manual. There are templates for photocopying, as well as step-by-step instructions for art, craft and music expression. The sessions can run consecutively or be used as stand-alone sessions. Included are caregiver pages, journal, tips and common concerns. Christine Dernederlanden has a repertoire of clients she has trained, such as the District School Board of Niagara, the Catholic District School Board of Niagara, international schools boards, hospices and bereavement organizations. Many school boards are running H.U.G.S. programs at schools in need, as well as at hospices and funeral homes.  The H.U.G.S. training is endorsed by the Association of Trauma and Stress Specialist. Upon completion of the program participant receive a certificate of completion as a H.U.G.S. facilitator.

With over two decades spent within the corporate world, Christine Dernederlanden is all to aware of the challenges faced by women. She is the founder of her own brand Robert’s Press, Grief Uprooted, NCV Coaching Inc. along with taking over her family’s corporation within the trucking industry. She shares the fire within to succeed and co-exist in the male dominate corporate world. She takes her audience on a hilarious but breath-taking journey of starting up a small business to being on the shores overseas negotiating business. Her perspective and ability to read her colleagues helps her in creating successful relationships. You may be surprised where this perspective derives from, as Christine Dernederlanden learned very early on she had a learning disability that forced her to have to read people. From the power suit to a leather jacket, as she mounts her motorcycle, Christine Dernederlanden does not hold back, letting women know it is okay to balance your masculinity with your femininity. Christine Dernederlanden was named one of Niagara’s most successful businesswomen, as well as a 2001 finalist for Woman of The Year and Entrepreneur of The Year. In 2002, Christine Dernederlanden was awarded the Leadership and Communication Award by the Toastmasters Public Speaking Organization for her exceptional communication and professional speaking skills.

• Learn to create balance and boundaries.
• Learn to express your masculinity and femininity.
• Learn how to present yourself as a confident person.
• Learn to communicate effectively.

Christine Dernederlanden’s career has brought her to witness an enormous amount of emotional pain within others. Emotional pain such as rejection can result in great fear and an avoidance to seek realizations and changes for the better. Could your mind be in fight, flight or freeze, and how do you release it? Walk with Christine Dernederlanden as she explains the science behind your fear. Does fear have a purpose? It is truly hard to look emotional pain in the eye and ask, “why?” To some, it even might be an insult to ask the “why” questions. Our perception has been tainted so much that the lens we look through is foggy. Our shell is strong, and our masks are on! We may become numb physically. Pain is no longer an issue because we don’t feel it anymore. At times our eyes look glossy, as if we hear, but have no real comprehension of what is being said. We’re going through the motions of life but not really living it.

To find our courage again, we must be willing to feel emotionally, physically and mentally. The pain that now is resulting in fear prevents us from going for what we truly want in life. The answers lie within you. Dive deep with Christine Dernederlanden as she explores the coaching masteries as to why you fear, what you fear. This journey of self-exploration allows you to gain an understanding of how to overcome fear and take those steps towards success in all areas of one’s life.

• Learn why you fear.
• Learn how to overcome the fear.
• Is the fear real?
• Use fear to move forward.

It is not what happens to you in life, it is how you handle it that creates who you are. Too often, in the field of trauma, we feel we should be made of steel, or to never talk about the traumatic events we’ve experienced. Generations before passed down an unwritten feeling that, if you show how your career emotionally impacts you, you’re weak. Mental Health is a huge crisis for trauma workers. Too often when asked what part of your education prepared you for death or grief, glaringly the answer is none. “We never talked about it.” So many hit the “Wall” and collapse in human sorrow. Its time have the conversation, create a path for the generation after us to make it safe for them to address there P.T.S.D. and triggers.  An individual who has experienced an unexpected traumatic event, one that is out of the realm of what is considered normal, can be debilitating. Through chain analysis Christine Dernederlanden leads her audience to a revelation of how past traumatic experiences have changed their fundamental reactions and or behaviours towards their daily activities. This interactive presentation style allows for awareness, acceptance and an understanding that healing is possible. Christine Dernederlanden was a participant of Project OUTFIT a training program for clinicians treating P.T.S.D. based at the National Center for P.T.S.D.

• Learn how P.T.S.D. Impacts your mind body and spirit.
• Learn what triggers are and how to recognize them in your daily life.
• Learn coaching techniques to aid in your triggers.
• Learn how to move forward in life and or career.
• Learn to communicate effectively during conflict, traumatic or high-pressure situations.

Emotions by far are the most challenging aspect of being human. Other animals do not express the same level of reasoning or emotions that we do as human beings. That being said, humans tend to shut down their emotions when it is of value to them. We are told, perhaps by societal norms, that we are not to express anger. But when grief or trauma hits, we have no choice but to show it all. The emotions are too heavy to bottle. When we don’t express our emotions, they must go somewhere. Where do you feel they go if we don’t verbally express them or physically express them? The body carries muscle memory; would it not make sense that it carries much more than just memory of muscle movement? There are so many other factors that play into how we feel. We must understand that emotions are not predictable, not the same for everyone, can change within minutes and can be expressed in so many ways. Christine Dernederlanden has been coaching for over twenty-three years and brought it to the masses with the release of the podcast, Grief Uprooted. Grief Uprooted has been creating space for those to share their personal grief stories. The host and Grief Coach, Christine, guides her guest through the natural modalities of grief. Christine explores how to have those hard conversations with all ages to ignite the journey of healing for all.

• How to start the conversation.
• Recognize and manage your emotions.
• Hands on activities to enhance your body and mind connection.
• Communicating effectively during conflict, traumatic or high-pressure situations.

The perspective that matters is your own. People often ask Christine Dernederlanden, “How can you always be smiling and so happy considering what you do for a living?” She always replies, “I am reminded daily that I am lucky to be alive.”

It is hard to explain what I do. I can say that I am an author, Grief Coach or a humanitarian, or a professional speaker and so on. But really, what I do is this: take out five bucks and look at it. Now crumple it up, throw it on the ground and step on it. (You’d better be doing this!) Now pick up the five dollars and try to rip it apart. Now, no matter what you do to the five dollars, you can tape it back together or brush the dirt off, it is always worth five bucks. You can still buy yourself that coffee at Tim Hortons or Starbucks.

Essentially, what I do is I teach people they are as valuable as money; they don’t lose currency.  That no matter what happens in life, if a person has been stepped on, (like we did to the five dollars) or bullied, divorced, experienced the death of a loved one, (like the five dollars we ripped apart), no matter what we have experienced in life (just like the five dollars), we are as valuable as the day we were born. We, as humans, don’t lose value as we age, and just like money (the five dollars), we always have value. One thing is for sure; people change over time. Our currency increases. It is not what we experience in life, it is how we choose to handle it, that creates who we are. It takes courage to live life!

• Learn how to build resiliency.
• Learn how to evolve with change.
• Learn how your perspective can be changed by YOU!

Change is one thing that happens continuously with or without your acceptance. Life moves faster than we adjust. Transformative change can happen without your awareness, thus causing havoc in your life, workplace or home. How do we embrace change as it is not going anywhere but evolving. Transformational change is the altering of certain areas or ideals due to a change in environmental factors (such as the pandemic). Needs of the corporation or organization shift and this creates a need for change in the behaviour of the corporation’s or organization’s employees. As a collective body of an organization or corporation, employees can get lost in the transformative change that occurs as an organization or corporation grows. This same effect can happen within family, clubs, schools any collective body of individuals. Transformative change occurs slowly, without recognition of the parties involved. The slow nature of transformative change can cause a negative culture and blur the lines, with respect to the roles of each member within the collective body of corporations, organizations or clubs.

In saying all that, Christine Dernederlanden takes her audience on a journey through the masteries of coaching. She allows people to bring an awareness to why they fear change.  She explores the natural modalities of grief and trauma bringing an understanding to the natural flow of being human. But is our mind truly fearful or are our primal instincts in play?

• Learn to recognize the benefits of change.
• Understand the rumination process.
• Acceptance of change and embrace the movement.
• The purpose of change within our lives.
• Communicating effectively during conflict, traumatic or high-pressure situations.

The first step to communicating properly with another human is being able to connect with ourselves. So many times, I have seen people living in their bodies that are sealed up like bottles, as mine once was as well. We all carry burdens. Some call them ghosts in the closet, or their dirty laundry. There are numerous names for what we keep inside and don’t share with others. Some individuals don’t realize the extent of the burdens they’re carrying. We need to realize that a loss of any kind that results in human sorrow is grieved in a way similar to a death, but on a different emotional level. Burdens are things that rise up, often to bother you.

People don’t realize they can break out of the bottle or shell they have created around them. The bottle feels safe and comfortable. After awhile, they believe that what is in their bottle, the limited experiences or perceptions is all there is in life. There is so much more even beyond this world. The gift of the seeing is the ability to learn how to recognize guiding messages from beyond. In order to receive messages or guidance from beyond, our loved ones have to have a path. That path is opened by your ability to let go of all and accept the messages you are given. Christine Dernederlanden shares her amazing experiences of breaking the bottle of burdens and the new awareness that allowed her the gift of the seeing to bring messages to others. Through an inspiring and humorous way Christine Dernederlanden has received many messages of reassurance that her path is the correct one. Learn to recognize your messages, invite your loved ones to connect not only from here on earth but from beyond. Truly an amazing gift that is eye opening to the grieving.

Grief vulnerability is by far the hardest expression one will be challenged with. The Natural Modalities of grief start with integrating your grief story into your life. In this integration process, one must experience opening and accepting their sorrow. They may have been carrying their grief for many years, perhaps for many generations or lives. Normalization is the recognition of the love – grief connection. Many times, the grieving ask why, why am I grieving? The answer is one that is very simple, but the hardest to normalize in one’s life. The realization that grief in all its forms is a natural normal process of one’s life is the hardest, hardest, hardest reality for one’s spirit to accept. With acceptance, one’s spirit begins to rekindle. It is through the spirits integration and the sharing of one’s grief story that stabilization naturally occurs. Unity with other spirits soon results in the realization that the normalization of grief is a natural process. That natural process is painful alone. It is only through the collection of spirits that healing will result in rekindling one’s spirit to soar.

As a grief coach, Christine Dernederlanden has learned to accept the discomfort that accompanies one as they begin to understand their grief. She found this discomfort to be a tool that encourages me to explore and be vulnerable within the coaching perimeters. This allows her to walk intuitively beside her clients as they explore their purpose.

They explore the modalities of natural grief:

1. Integration of grief – Grief is not something we get over. Grief is something we integrate into who we are.
2. Normalization of grief – Learning that grief is integrated into one’s being; stabilizing emotional balance.
3. Self-stabilization – Exploring the perception of grief from affirmations and expansion of one’s potential.

Fundraising: Christine Dernederlanden’s passion for healing and bringing awareness to the impact grief has on society allows her to bring her knowledge to help you plan an event or fundraiser that impacts your community.

Schools: When a death occurs within a school community the impact is magnified causing a ripple effect that spans over the whole community. Christine Dernederlanden can work with your teachers, youth practitioners, counsellor or school’s aids to prepare or facilitate a crisis plan, or grief group or protocol for when grief hits.

Volunteer Appreciation: Volunteers are the core of a non-profit. Often asked by Hospice volunteers “Can I help the grieving” Christine’s reply is “Yes, you have empathy, and your presence is powerful” Let your volunteers know they matter. They make the difference in your organization. Hospices, Victim Services, Bereaved Families of Ontario, just to name a few that Christine Dernederlanden has inspired and encouraged volunteers to continue the amazing work they do!

Overcoming Challenges: Challenges are obstacles that are meant to teach us something. Christine Dernederlanden knows all too well what challenges are, in grade school she was placed in a Special Learning Disability Class. It was said she had a comprehension issue. As the years passed, it became apparent her learning style was going to be one that she creates for herself. After years of studying the effects of trauma of any kind, on the ability to comprehend, Christines realizations and finding are truly outstanding. It is not what happens to us, it is how we handle it that creates who we are.

Customized For Your Event: Whether you’re planning a corporate event, a non-profit charity, a community event or simply a get together, there is one thread that spans through them all the gift of realizing the power of unity, that inspires, heals and empowers us a s a whole to fight, believe and move together in one cause.