“Grief cracked me open.”- Cassandra’s story of loss and healing.
Cassandra Barrie’s world changed overnight in 2015. She was 30 weeks pregnant with her son, newly married, and running four businesses when her husband Glenn died suddenly in his sleep at just 26.
As she grieved the love of her life, she welcomed their baby boy and lost her uncle the very same day. The grief kept layering.
Then, in 2018, Cassandra was hit in a motorcycle accident that ended her 15-year career as a hairstylist. “That brought a whole new grief — the grief of losing who I thought I was.”
What helped her survive wasn’t avoiding grief, it was learning to be with it. Therapy, breathwork, spiritual connection, and friends who could sit in the mess with her were lifelines. “There’s no moving on. There’s only learning to live with it.”
Today, grief is no longer just pain, it’s part of her purpose. As a somatic therapist and holistic counsellor, Cassandra holds space for others navigating grief, just as she had to learn to do for herself.
“Grief cracked me open — and somehow, in all that breaking, I found a version of myself I never knew I needed.”
This story is part of our Let’s Talk About Grief campaign — a reminder that while grief doesn’t follow a timeline, neither does healing. You’re allowed to feel it all. And you are still worthy of joy.
