Laurel O’Sullivan, J.D. Writer, speaker, and facilitator of grief, identity, and life transitions
Supporting individuals and organizations through change and the process of becoming
With more than 25 years of experience as a lawyer, consultant, transformational coach, and grief educator, I specialize in guiding individuals and organizations through life’s most difficult transitions—grief, trauma, identity shifts, and personal reinvention.
My work is centered on one enduring question: who do we become when everything we thought defined us changes?
My personal experience of profound loss, including the suicide of my 18-year-old son, Patrick, has deeply shaped my understanding of grief and transformation. I have come to see grief not as a single event, but as something cumulative—layered through loss, change, and the ongoing process of becoming someone new.
Before this loss, I had already lived through other significant endings, including the death of my former husband and my father’s death shortly before Patrick was born. Over time, these experiences revealed a pattern I now recognize in both my life and my work: identity is not fixed, but continuously reshaped through rupture, adaptation, and meaning-making.
I work with individuals and organizations navigating transition at every level—supporting them as they move through uncertainty, reorientation, and the often disorienting space between who they have been and who they are becoming.
In 2025, I relocated with my husband to Mallorca, Spain. Living between cultures has deepened my understanding of belonging, displacement, and the quiet ways identity dissolves and reforms over time.
Alongside my husband Tim, I co-host the podcast Travel in Peace, where we explore uncertainty, reinvention, grief, and what it means to grow around loss rather than be defined by it.
This work is for those navigating profound change—across loss, relationships, career, identity, and geography—who are seeking not quick answers, but a deeper way of understanding what is unfolding within them.
What I do
My work takes shape in different settings, but it is always rooted in the same inquiry: how we navigate change, identity shifts, and the process of becoming after loss and transition.
Speaking
I speak at events, conferences, and gatherings on grief, identity, and life transitions. My talks explore the often-unspoken experience of cumulative loss, the disorientation that follows major change, and how we begin to rebuild meaning and self-understanding over time.
Facilitation & Group Work
I design and facilitate workshops, group conversations, and reflective spaces for individuals and organizations navigating transition. This includes guided dialogue, experiential exercises, and structured reflection around identity, change, and reintegration after disruption.
I also serve as a panel interviewer and moderator for conversations focused on meaning-making, resilience, and transformation.
Individual Guidance
I work one-to-one with individuals navigating profound life transitions—including grief, loss, identity shifts, career change, and relocation. This work is less about fixing or “moving on,” and more about understanding what is unfolding and supporting the integration of new identity over time.