EMPLOYED, BUT SEETHING AND GRIEVING
A support group for aid workers who have found their “next thing” and still feel like crap
If this sounds like you, you’re not alone:
Grateful, but silently seething: You landed a job, but underneath the relief, you are a ball of rage that the life’s work you built was recklessly and callously destroyed.
Both tethered and adrift: You have found your next position but are still searching for ways to live out your values and find meaning and purpose - things you used to find through your work.
The absurdity of the shift: You used to ensure that classrooms in Mali had wifi and now you’re trying to sell software to architects. The drop in scale and meaning feels surreal.
A stranger in a strange land: You’re surrounded by new colleagues, but you feel like the kid who just moved from a foreign country who doesn't speak the language—and fear you never will.
Exhausted by the emotional weight: You are so tired of carrying the fear, anger, and grief, but you have no idea how to move past the horrors of the last year without pretending they didn't happen.
The isolation of privilege and guilt: You can’t complain to your former colleagues — or maybe even your spouse — when they’re still getting ghosted by recruiters. So you swallow your emotions, feeling guilty for even being sad or resentful in the first place.
As a humanitarian and development professional, you have had a lot to absorb over the past 18 months:
…enduring the abrupt restructurings and sudden job losses.
…figuring out what your damn “pivot” is.
…grinding through the grueling process of finding a new role.
Receiving a job offer has been treated like the holy grail — you just had to take it.
But you may be finding that the world doesn’t magically right itself when you land your next role.
The inner work just changes.
And this work is as important and necessary as supporting others who are still in the job search.
KonTerra Counseling is launching a four-session, bi-weekly online support group designed specifically for current and former aid workers.
This group is for those who have settled into a new role but are still finding things missing: meaning, purpose, community, calm, trust, safety, healing.
This group is for you if you:
Are a current or former international humanitarian or development professional whose work was disrupted by the cuts to foreign assistance
Are back in the workforce (whether in a new sector or still in aid work)
Feel a disconnect between your current job and your core values
Still experience deep anger or grief
Feel isolated from old colleagues and new peers
Can’t let down your guard because you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop
Want to be a part of an intimate cohort with others who understand your day-to-day reality
This group is not a good fit for:
Those who are in acute crisis
Active job seekers looking for career transition support
Those looking for individual therapy
This group will be a space to…
Unburden the Guilt of Survival
Shift from survivor’s guilt to recognize the seeking career stability was an act of survival, not a betrayal of your values or your former colleagues
Grieve What Was Dismantled
Give voice to the shock, outrage, and loss of mission, community, and future
Separate Your Worth from a Sector That Collapsed
Begin uncoupling who you are from where you used to work
Unpack Moral Injury
Gain a clear language for the rift between your personal values and the choices you’ve been forced to make
Break the Isolation
Step out of the lonely space and not have to censor your anger or edit your experience
Ease the Constant Alert
Work through the persistent fear that the ground could collapse under you — again — at any moment
Redefine Purpose & Identity
Rebuild a sense of meaning without pretending that what was taken from you didn’t matter
Integrate the Past
Find ways to move forward without getting trapped by what happened
Four sessions:
September 16
September 30
October 14
October 28
7:00pm — 8:15pm ET
Online
Limited group size to maintain a safe, closed space
$297 for the series
The Details
Your Facilitators
Donnica Wingett
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker
Raven Ellis
Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor
We’re Donnica and Raven. We have deep ties to the humanitarian and development fields and have had the privilege of supporting many aid workers over the last 18 months of transition.
Our goal for this group is to cultivate a safe, brave, and engaging space where you can deepen connection with yourself and others, show up with all the feelings, and carry forward your work with intention and care.
Invest in Yourself and Your Sustainability
$297 for the four-session series (discounted from $400)
We believe that access to quality support is a human right.
If you would like to join this group and have financial constraints, please contact us to discuss payment plans or other options.