By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Through her own experience with loss, healing and starting over, Taylor Bohn is turning heartbreak into a mission: helping others find connection, rediscover themselves and learn to move forward through grief.
Bohn knows firsthand that grief can change nearly everything about a person’s life. It can reshape relationships, challenge long-held beliefs and leave someone wondering who they are and where they go from here.
After experiencing the loss of her father, navigating a difficult career transition and facing the emotional toll of trying to rebuild her life, Bohn found herself asking a question she had rarely given herself permission to consider: “What do I really want?”
The answer ultimately led her somewhere she hadn’t anticipated — building a business centered on helping others navigate grief, loss and life’s difficult transitions.
Her journey led her to start Kindred Company, a holistic wellness practice offering grief education, peer support and coaching designed to help people find their footing after life doesn’t turn out the way they expected.
And while the loss of her father was a defining part of her journey, Bohn emphasizes that grief isn’t limited to the death of a loved one.
“People hear the word grief, and they automatically go to death of a person or a pet, but there are so many different types of grief,” she said.
For Bohn, grief included the loss of her father, but also the loss of a career she had worked hard to build, the expectations she had for her future and the identity she had developed over the years.
At the time, she was working in the corporate world, striving for advancement and doing what she believed she was supposed to do. But despite her efforts, she increasingly felt like just another number in a system that didn’t reflect her values or value her.
The questions about what she wanted from life had already begun before her father died. Then, in January 2025, his death brought those questions into sharper focus.
Her father had battled cancer for several years. He was just 55 when he died, leaving Bohn to navigate a loss she had never truly imagined would happen.
The experience was compounded by the loss of her job and the realization that the career path she had worked toward no longer felt right.
“I don’t even know who I am anymore or what I want,” she recalled thinking.
She also found herself feeling isolated. While attending her children’s school events or navigating everyday conversations, she struggled with the disconnect between the normal routines of life and the overwhelming sadness she was carrying.
It was through her own healing journey, therapy and further education that Bohn began to understand grief in a different way.
She pursued grief education through programs associated with grief expert David Kessler and later completed coach training through master life coach Nancy Levin.
What began as an effort to better understand her own experience evolved into a desire to help others.
“I want to help people. I want to tell my story because I have heard so many other stories that are very, very similar,” she said.
A different kind of support
Kindred Company is built around the understanding that grief is personal and that people need different kinds of support at different points in their journeys.
Bohn offers peer-to-peer support and integration for people in the early stages of grief, when life can feel completely turned upside down and even returning to everyday routines can be overwhelming.
She also provides individual grief coaching for those who have moved beyond the initial shock but find themselves facing the difficult question of, “Now what?”
Rather than telling people how to grieve or prescribing a particular path forward, Bohn works with clients to help them recognize patterns, understand their needs and determine what they want their lives to look like moving forward.
“The heart and the soul of the work that I want to do is self-oriented, going back to who you are, who you want to be and building a life on your own terms,” she said.
Her work is not intended to replace therapy or mental health treatment. Bohn is not a licensed therapist; she views coaching and grief education as additional support that can work alongside those services.
She is also Reiki certified and incorporates holistic approaches into her practice when clients are interested.
Much of her work is conducted virtually, allowing her to connect with people beyond her immediate community.
Bringing grief support into the holiday season
In addition to individual coaching, Bohn is expanding her outreach through workshops and community gatherings.
One upcoming offering, “Grief Relief” Navigating the Holidays,” is a virtual, paid workshop scheduled from 1-4 p.m. (EST) on Dec. 6. The workshop is developed in partnership with Nichole Olsen, another wellness practitioner who introduced Bohn to Reiki and energy work.
The $75 workshop takes a guided approach to grief involving body (discover what you need), mind (care for your grieving body) and spirit (receive healing through Reiki).
Bohn leads the educational and coaching portion, helping participants examine the stories they tell themselves about their loss and distinguish between what is true and what may be adding to their suffering.
Olsen leads movement exercises connected to the physical experience of grief, followed by guided meditation and Reiki.
The goal isn’t to resolve grief in a couple of hours. Instead, participants will gain a better understanding of what they are experiencing and leave with practical tools they can begin using in everyday life.
Even a little relief, Bohn said, can make a meaningful difference when grief feels all-consuming.
She is also planning a free community gathering outside the Wood County Public Library on Dec. 5. “We’ll gather at 5:30 p.m. on the lawn of the Wood County District Public Library in Bowling Green, in front of the Christmas tree,” she announced.
“Together in Grief,” an informal holiday remembrance gathering, is intended to give people experiencing grief a place to come together, share memories and feel seen during a season that can be especially difficult.
For many people, the holidays bring reminders of traditions that have changed, loved ones who are missing and family moments that will never look quite the same, Bohn said.
Bohn hopes to create space for people to talk about the person they are missing, including the things that person loved about the holidays.
“Your grief is demanding to be witnessed,” she said.
She sees connection and community as particularly important during the early stages of grief, when people may feel that others have moved on while they are still trying to make sense of their loss.
The gathering is also a way for Bohn to give back to a community she says supported her during her own difficult time.
Choosing life on your own terms
Looking ahead, Bohn hopes to expand Kindred’s reach through speaking engagements, educational opportunities and partnerships with schools and businesses.
She is particularly interested in helping educators and others who work with children better understand how young people experience grief, noting that children are often overlooked in conversations about loss.
Ultimately, she wants to reach more people with the lessons and tools that helped her rebuild her own life.
Her father’s death also changed how she thinks about time and the importance of pursuing what matters.
She remembers watching her father work jobs that didn’t necessarily bring him happiness before he eventually pursued his passion for running his own food truck, Disco Dogs. Even while battling cancer, he found joy in creative projects, rebuilding a car and spending time doing things he loved.
His experience left a lasting impression.
“I’m not going to wait until retirement to choose what I want,” Bohn said. “I want to do it now.”
That philosophy is woven into the work she does through Kindred. While grief cannot always be avoided, Bohn believes people can learn to recognize what is no longer serving them, make different choices and begin building a life that feels authentic and meaningful.
Her journey hasn’t been about finding a way around loss. It has been about learning how to live with it while still making room for possibility.
