Mentally STRONG unveils scheduled grief practice

Mentally STRONG founder Dr. Cristi Bundukamara has introduced Controlled Grief, a structured practice built into her method and designed to help people sit with loss on purpose instead of waiting for time to heal it. The Colorado Springs practice says the approach has reached more than 7,000 clients and is now being taught in live and online programs.

Why it matters: - Controlled Grief reframes grief as a skill that can be practiced on purpose, not a condition people must simply outwait. - The approach aims to reduce avoidance, self-blame and confusion between grief, trauma, anxiety and negative thinking. - Mentally STRONG has already taught the broader method to more than 7,000 clients, so the practice is being rolled out to a sizable audience.

What happened: - Mentally STRONG, the Colorado Springs practice founded by Dr. Cristi Bundukamara, unveiled Controlled Grief, the scheduled grief practice inside the Mentally STRONG Method. - Bundukamara described the practice during a recent appearance on The Wholeness Network podcast with host Mechelle Wingle. - The practice asks a person to choose a window of time, sit with the pain of a loss on purpose, then return to the day after the session ends. - Mentally STRONG says Bundukamara has taught the method to more than 7,000 clients in the seven years since the practice opened.

The details: - Bundukamara, a grief expert with more than 20 years of clinical practice, argues that waiting is not a plan and can leave people carrying loss for years. - Inside the Mentally STRONG Method, avoiding pain is treated as the problem, not grief itself. - Bundukamara said on the podcast: "Take actual time to sit in that pain and you feel it and it's uncomfortable. But you feel the pain of the grief, not the trauma." - Bundukamara said re-feeling trauma can create more negative neural pathways and strengthen trauma in the body. - The practice is designed to keep self-blame out of grief time, since many people use that time to replay what they should have done differently. - Controlled Grief sits within a larger system built around three steps: Think, Organize and Choose. - Think slows a thought down long enough to see it. - Organize separates grief from trauma, anxiety, triggers and negative thinking. - Choose is the step where a person decides to take the time rather than wait for pain to pass. - Bundukamara developed the framework while navigating the 10-year illness of her son Reggie. - Her personal losses include son Johnny, who died in a 2005 drowning accident, son Reggie, who died in 2016 from a rare neurodegenerative condition, and daughter Miah, who died unexpectedly in 2021. - Bundukamara enlisted in the Army at 17, later served in the Navy Reserve and retired. - She also holds a doctorate and a psychiatric nurse practitioner license. - Her book "Pain & Purpose: My Journey to Mental Strength" and the documentary "Strength in Vulnerability" cover her experience. - Mentally STRONG opened in 2019 and now teaches the method largely to elite performers. - The practice says those clients are often high-functioning but still unable to change the patterns they can describe. - Mentally STRONG has passed $15 million in revenue over seven years selling a system rather than one more insight. - Controlled Grief and the wider framework are taught live at Mentally STRONG Reset Live and in the 90-Day Mentally STRONG Mindset program. - More information is available at Mentally STRONG.

Between the lines: - The launch reflects a broader shift away from passive grief advice toward structured, scheduled emotional work. - The method appears aimed at people who are competent and self-aware but still stuck, which suggests a market for practical tools over therapy language alone. - Bundukamara’s personal losses give the framework a highly personal origin story, which may increase its appeal to grief-stricken clients seeking lived experience.

What's next: - Mentally STRONG is offering Controlled Grief through in-person and program-based training. - The company is pointing people to its website for access to the practice and the broader Mentally STRONG Method. - The rollout may broaden as more clients encounter the framework through Reset Live, the 90-Day program and related offerings.