TRANSFORMING TRAGEDY INTO TRIUMPH: HOW EMPOWER CHANGE INSPIRES FAMILIES TO NAVIGATE GRIEF

Hope is at its loudest, bravest when despair beckons It’s been a pleasure working with a hopeful tech-enabled non-profit, Empower Change, which finds poignancy in the founder’s tragic loss to inspire grieving families. The brainchild of Roderick Alemania – who lost his only brother to suicide – Empower Change challenges the way we address and support families hit by grief and loss. This initiative is a call to innovation, empathy and a fresh perspective to heal those grappling with the weight of grief and help them thrive.

THE HEART OF EMPOWER CHANGE: A PERSONAL JOURNEY TO INSPIRE

In the life of Roderick Alemania, who lost his parents as young teenagers, the Silicon Valley approach to grief has found new expression. Alemania has worked in the valley for more than 30 years. He brings a Silicon Valley ethos to the founding of Empower Change: ‘I’m an innovator and entrepreneur. We are here to inspire your family in becoming innovators. We are here to help you turn your grief into growth and fulfilment.’ But this is not only about turning grief into growth, it’s about growing beyond grief.

UNITING TECHNOLOGY AND COMPASSION TO INSPIRE CHANGE

Empower Change uses technology and tools from the tech startup world – product-market fit, customer acquisition, and revenue models – to build and sustain a compassion-focused ecosystem driven by heartfelt and empowered individuals. Its tools and programs are developed and tested, including new offerings of life-building content as well as critical and inspirational life skills through peer-to-peer conversations and global connectivity.

INSPIRE AND CONNECT: BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF SUPPORT

What truly makes Empower Change magic is its community approach: understanding that those who have felt grief can be best helped by those who have gone through their grief for longer, and are further along the path to recovery. Empower Change facilitates connections, in person and online, via retreats, seminars and interactive platforms, where sharing, learning and inspiring can take place.

EMPOWERING GRIEF NAVIGATION: A STARTUP APPROACH TO INSPIRE HEALING

This sort of startup tempo helps Empower Change to scale up quickly to meet the enormous, varied needs of the families they serve. By putting innovation on a pedestal, Alemania’s team is taking a lead in reframing what it could mean for a nonprofit to function effectively and to support its beneficiaries. The organisation’s innovative model prioritises the creation of content and services that are geared towards dealing not only with the immediate effects of grief and phases of the bereavement process, but also towards helping people rebuild their remains with hope – something that does not always come easily in the wake of a devastating loss.

INSPIRE POSITIVE CHANGE THROUGH HOLISTIC SUPPORT

Most importantly, however, Empower Change sees healing as more comprehensive than any one therapeutic approach alone; as natural as breathing; and, most importantly, accessible to all, no matter where they are on their pathway to recovery. ‘The truth is,’ she says, ‘what you think grief is – where it starts and stops, how it resolves – that’s all wrong. Grief is layered and needs a holistic approach, which is why at Empower Change we provide a whole-person ministry, not just counselling. By addressing the “shrapnel of unresolved grief” – often addiction, but also relational conflict, or jobs, or divorce, or anything else caused by grief – and by looking beyond adjusting to loss to defining a life with it, Empower Change is creating a recipe for recovery that leads to transformation.’

JOIN THE MOVEMENT TO INSPIRE RESILIENCE AND EMPOWER CHANGE

But Empower Change also became a call to action. ‘This is not just my side hustle, my pet project,’ Alemania told me. He took a pause and then said: ‘My parents gave so much to me. All I want is to give back. Like my daddy always said: “Just do something, Roderick.”’ Alemania is now raising funds for a $1 million seed round to grow Empower Change. ‘And we are calling on every single person who has ever lost somebody. Let’s do it together. Let’s get out of the darkness – let’s get into the sun.’

ABOUT INSPIRE

At its essence, Empower Change is a story of hope. For every seminar held, article sent to print or story told, the nonprofit looks to inspire those burdened with grief by encouraging a different vision: a life not defined by loss, but one whose foundation of love and memory is a sharp and poignant reminder of the one who is no longer with us. Empower Change exists because we may never be able to cure the pain of loss, but we can inspire each other to forge lives that are resilient, purposeful and filled with joy. We can do so because we have the community to do it with, the innovation to help us reach even farther and, of course, the support to make it all possible. Empower Change empowers those who are in our care while advocating for those who eventually will be.