Hi, I’m Nicole Dugan.

I’m a therapist, grief coach, and a facilitator who believes that some experiences are not meant to be fixed—they are meant to be witnessed.

For years, my work as a therapist has centered around grief, trauma, and the experiences that change the way we understand ourselves and our lives. Again and again, I have watched people encounter one of the hardest parts of grief: the world eventually begins moving again, long before they feel ready to move with it.

The calls become less frequent. People stop asking. Life begins expecting things of you again.

And yet, you are still carrying something enormous.

For All We Hold grew from a desire to create more room for that part.

My approach to grief is rooted in the belief that healing does not require leaving someone behind. I am less interested in helping people “move on” than I am in creating space to explore what it means to carry love, loss, memory, identity, and a continuing life all at once.

My work weaves together conversation and community with somatic practices, expressive arts, music, movement, reflection, and ritual. I believe grief lives in more than our thoughts, and sometimes words alone simply aren’t enough for what we are carrying.

Above all, I believe in the power of being witnessed. Not analyzed. Not hurried. Not asked to find the silver lining. Seen. Heard. Held.

That is the kind of space I hope to create here.

A little more about me

Outside of this work, I’m a mother, wife, artist at heart, yoga teacher, lover of music and movement, and someone who feels most at home when I’m creating, outside in nature, or gathered around a table with people I love.

I bring those parts of myself into this work, too—not because grief needs to be made beautiful, but because I believe creativity, embodiment, connection, and moments of aliveness can exist alongside profound loss.

There is room for all of it here.

For all we hold, there is room.

Professional Background

LCSW (LC23315) • Grief & Trauma Specialist • EMDR-Trained Clinician • Grief Coach • Yoga & Somatic Practitioner