About | The Naked Grief

I Didn't Choose This Work.
It Chose Me.

My name is Karen Bulinski Mathison. I'm a grief coach, a certified death doula, and the founder of The Naked Grief. I hold a Master's in Mental Health & Wellness with an emphasis in Grief & Bereavement, a post-graduate coaching certificate, and more certifications than I can fit on a business card.

But none of that is why I do this.

I became a widow at 45. One day my husband was here. The next day, everything I knew was gone.

Then my father. Then my first love — gone in 2024. Friends. Pets. Pieces of myself I didn't know I could lose.

I know what it feels like when the ground disappears. And I know what it feels like when nobody takes your grief seriously — because it wasn't the "right kind" of loss.

What I Believe

All grief is valid. Death loss. Divorce. Job loss. Friendship endings. Estrangement. Identity shifts. The losses nobody talks about at the funeral.

Healing isn't linear. There's no timeline. No five stages you check off like a to-do list. Some days you're fine. Some days you're not. Both are real.

You don't need to be fixed. I'm not here to diagnose you or label you. I'm here to help you survive what happened and find your footing again.

Community matters. Grief in isolation compounds. Connection — real, honest, messy connection — is how we start to breathe again.