Terri Chaplin of Riverview on Life, Lessons & Legacy

Terri Chaplin shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Terri, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
For a long time, I thought I was wandering. But grief has taught me that even wandering has wisdom. Now, I feel I am walking a path of remembrance, healing, and guiding others to honor their own journeys. Losing my son and navigating my own grief didn’t feel like a clear direction at first, but it became the heart of the work I now do.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Terri Chaplin, and I am the founder of Living in Gratitude with TLC, a heart centered practice dedicated to honoring grief as sacred. My path into this work began with my own profound loss; the passing of my first husband Troy, and my son Tyler. Walking through that grief changed me forever, and it revealed both the depth of love and the silence our culture often places around sorrow.

I became a certified grief companion and later created the Healing Hearts Master Grief Coach Certification Program to train others who feel called to walk alongside those in grief. What makes my work unique is that I blend professional training with lived experience, and I emphasize creating safe spaces where others can be witnessed without judgment, without being rushed, and without anyone trying to “fix” them.

I also integrate practices from my training as a HeartMath Certified Mentor, teaching heart focused breathing and other techniques that help calm the nervous system and build resilience. Alongside my certification program, I lead grief retreats for women; sacred gatherings where grief is held as an initiation into deeper compassion, renewal, and connection.

At its heart, my work is about helping people and practitioners alike discover that grief is not the end of the story, it is a passage into a new way of living and loving.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
As a child, I believed that being quiet and ‘good’ was the best way to be loved. I thought love and safety came from keeping my voice small and my feelings contained.

Now, I know that my truth, my voice, and even my grief deserve to be seen and heard. And I’ve learned that real connection comes not from hiding, but from allowing ourselves to be witnessed exactly as we are.

That’s why I’ve dedicated my work to helping others feel safe expressing theirs, whether through my grief companioning, my certification program, or the sacred retreats I lead. Because everyone deserves a space where their pain, their love, and their story can be honored without judgment or fixing.

When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
For a long time, I hid my pain because I thought it made me weak. After my son Tyler died, I tried to keep it tucked away, to be strong for everyone else. But grief has a way of breaking you open, and in that breaking, I realized I had a choice: keep hiding, or let it transform me.

I stopped hiding my pain when I understood that grief is not just sorrow, it’s love, it’s truth, it’s the evidence of how deeply we’ve lived and loved. That shift turned my pain into power. It became the foundation for my healing and the heart of my work today: creating safe spaces where others can be witnessed in their grief, and learn that their pain can hold meaning too.

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
I’m committed to the belief that grief is not a problem to solve, but a sacred passage that deserves to be honored. No matter how long it takes, I’ll keep creating spaces, through my companioning, certification program, and retreats, where people can be witnessed in their truth and discover that even in grief, there is love, resilience, and renewal. This isn’t just a project for me; it’s my life’s calling.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
For much of my life, I tried to do what I thought I was supposed to: to be ‘good,’ to be strong, to do what others expected of me. But grief stripped all of that away. Losing my son showed me that life is too precious to live by someone else’s script. Today, I am doing what I was born to do: creating safe, sacred spaces where grief is honored as a passage, not a problem. This isn’t what I was told to do. This is what my soul came here for.

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