About Hilary Scott

Hi, I’m Hilary,

I have lived with lifelong layers of grief, loss, and trauma. The deaths of my parents, my sister, and the sudden, devastating loss of my 18-year-old son, Tyler, in 2013 are part of my story. Interwoven with those huge losses has been the experience of carrying grief and trauma that was not always understood, and the daily practice of finding ways to keep moving forward.

These experiences are at the heart of why I do this work and why I believe no one should have to face loss alone.

I know what it feels like to be completely shattered, to question how you will bear the weight of the loss, to not be able to access hope and light, and to wonder what your future could possibly look like with these enormous wounds. I know the resilience and strength it takes to keep standing. To put one foot in front of the other.

Over time, I have learned that grief is not something to fix or get over. It becomes part of us. We learn to carry it, to make room for it, and to integrate it into our lives.

My work in grief and loss support is grounded in the principles of peer support. There are no experts in grief. Every story matters, every person grieves in their own way, and no one should be judged or rushed through the process. My role is not to provide answers or quick fixes, but to walk alongside, to listen, and to create a space where your experience is honoured with dignity and compassion.

Alongside my lived understanding, I am an Advanced Certified Grief Recovery Specialist (CGRS®) and a Certified Peer Support Specialist Canada. These professional designations, combined with my lived experience and more than a decade of supporting grieving individuals, shape both my private grief support practice and my work as a grief educator.

Through Healing the Loss, I provide compassionate grief support for individuals while also developing and delivering grief education for organizations, workplaces, health-care providers, educators, caregivers, and community groups. Over the years, I have supported people not only in Nova Scotia but across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and beyond.

Whether someone comes from down the road or from across the ocean, or whether I am speaking to a room of professionals, the heart of my work remains the same: presence, compassion, and real language for the hardest parts of being human.

Healing the Loss is built on three foundations: Support, Navigation, and Education. Here you will find compassionate grief support, practical tools for navigating loss, and education that helps people understand grief more clearly.

This is a place for the full weight of your story. Death, trauma, fractured relationships, illness, identity, change, and the quieter, unspoken losses that so often go unnoticed all belong here. There is no pressure to rush and no demand to fix. Instead, there is room to breathe, to be seen, and to find words for what once felt unspeakable.

What I offer is not answers and not platitudes. It is presence, real language, and companionship for the hardest parts of being human.