Hello

Thank you for being curious about me.

I am Elisabeth, or Liz as many people call me, a grief companion, mindfulness trainer, doula and coach.

My work is rooted in mindfulness and in the big transitions of life: from birth to death, from love to loss, from stillness to change.

For many years I have supported people in moments of transition, through grief and loss, preparing for birth, and navigating stress and life’s challenges. Alongside this, I have facilitated women’s and yoga retreats in Portugal with Yogaion, bringing people into stillness, connection and nature.

Now, everything comes together in my own unique retreat: Pathways  through Grief, a six-day live experience of tending to grief, love and renewal, launching in 2026.

My Full Personal Story

Mindfulness as my foundation

The practice and understanding of mindfulness entered my life in my mid-twenties and has been with me ever since. It is the root of all my work around birthing, living, breathing and grieving.

Mindfulness is not only a professional practice, it is also how I live daily life as a partner, mother, daughter, friend and human being.

Alongside my personal practice, I trained professionally and became a certified mindfulness trainer more than a decade ago. This continues to shape how I bring mindfulness into every aspect of my work and daily life

Grief as a natural teacher

Through my doula work, training and coaching, I have had the privilege of accompanying many people in times of change. I have witnessed the profound shift that happens when we realise that life is not about what happens to us, but about how we relate to it.

In those first years, as I witnessed people’s struggles, loneliness and grief when faced with loss and the changes in their lives, I felt called to deepen my understanding. This led me to train as a certified grief educator with David Kessler in the USA, equipping me with knowledge and tools to companion others with more awareness and skill.

When my father died in 2023, this path became profoundly personal, weaving together my professional training with my lived experience.

I have learned that grief is as much about love as it is about loss, and that mindfulness can hold both tenderness and pain.

Retreats – from Yogaion to Pathways into Healing

Since moving to Portugal in 2011, I have co-facilitated women’s and yoga retreats with my dear friend Shaini Verdon from Yogaion for many years. These gatherings by the sea have been a part of my working life for close to 10 years. 

Retreat work has always felt natural to me: offering people the space to pause, reconnect with themselves and draw strength from silence, movement, and community.

Now, all these years of experience flow together into my own unique offer: Pathways through Grief, a grief retreat launching in 2026. This 6 day live experience weaves together mindfulness, grief companionship, nature, silence and ritual,  a journey honouring loss, love and renewal.

A life shaped by nature

I grew up in the Dutch countryside, where I studied and lived before taking on a travelling job with KLM, Royal Dutch airlines that brought me around the world for many years. Eventually, I found my home in the South West Algarve, Portugal, where I now live a simple off-grid life with my partner, our daughter, dog, cats and chickens

From here I support people near and far, locally, online, and across borders,  including the Portuguese and international community, as well as Dutch individuals and organisations in both Portugal and the Netherlands.

Here, nature is my greatest teacher. The sun warms us, gives us light, ripens our vegetables and provides us with warm water. I love the light of Portugal, the big blue skies, the endless horizon, the rough cliffs, and the deep silence of the night sky with its Milky Way and countless stars. The ocean reminds me of the constant waves of life, the cliffs of strength and fragility, the winds of change, our winter fires of vitality, and the soil of the earth that nourishes us.

These elements don’t just shape my daily life,  they flow into my work and retreats as living metaphors for grief, birth and change.

I nourish myself by resting, dancing, playing the adufe (a traditional Portuguese drum once played by women), writing, moving and sports, walking, being with my family and spending time both in community and in solitude.

For me, nature and mindfulness are inseparable pathways into presence, resilience and healing.

Grief in organisations

Over time, my work has also grown into supporting organisations, bringing grief out of the silence of the workplace. I guide leaders, HR professionals and teams in creating a more compassionate response to grief and loss. This work grew naturally from my grief companioning, as I saw how often people struggled with returning to work after a loss.

I collaborate with organisations both in Portugal and the Netherlands, soon including Dutch communities in the Algarve in a new way as well.

Read more about my work with organisations here.

How I approach my work

My approach is rooted in authenticity, compassion and presence. I don’t work from a place of fixing or quick solutions. Instead, I hold space where we can go beyond the surface, allowing deeper transformation to unfold.

Whether in grief work, coaching, doula support or retreats, my intention is always to invite connection, with yourself, with others, and with the wider circle of life.

Does my approach speak to you?

Contact me, I’d be glad to get to know you.

Warmly Elisabeth