07/24/2025
Why did our CEO start LOUD (Loss Of U Dying)? Who is she?
Amanda Comage-Trower is a multi-certified Therapeutic Grief Play Practitioner and educator with over 35 years of experience supporting families through healing, grief, and life transitions. A devoted mother of six, grandmother of nine, and loving wife, Amanda’s professional expertise is deeply rooted in personal experience.
As a young teen mother, Amanda gave birth in a hospital that offered her zero support—placing her in a room with a grieving mother who had just lost her baby. Left to celebrate her new life while the mother beside her wept in silence, Amanda witnessed firsthand how unseen grief and isolation can exist side by side, even in the most tender and life-altering moments.
Years later, Amanda became a survivor of near-death childbirth due to hospital neglect, spending months in the ICU. She later faced the mental devastation of a miscarriage. These experiences shaped her mission to help others process trauma and grief, and to amplify the voices of mothers—especially Black mothers—regarding their bodies, their births, and the critical importance of ICU bonding and postpartum emotional care.
Amanda’s passion for grief support extends beyond mothers. Through her work as a Funeral Buddy, Amanda provides compassionate support to children who are often unintentionally overlooked during times of loss. She has witnessed too many young people sit quietly during funeral planning and services, with no space or tools to process what’s happening. Often, their grief isn’t recognized until weeks later, when emotional or behavioral struggles emerge—signs that they have been bottling their pain in silence. Amanda steps in to support children through their grief as it happens, helping them feel seen, heard, and emotionally safe.
Professionally, Amanda has worked throughout Arizona in a wide variety of supportive roles. Her experience includes shelter management at the Child Crisis Center, Child Management Coordinator, Department of Child Safety aide, Afterschool Program Manager for school districts, and Marketing Manager for one of Arizona’s top early childhood programs. She has also served as a case aide and shelter operator, supporting families in crisis and advocating for real, human-centered help.
Most recently, the tragic loss of a beloved client in her community reaffirmed Amanda’s commitment to creating culturally responsive, safe spaces where grief can be expressed and healed, not hidden.
Amanda’s life work is built on compassion, lived experience, and the deep belief that healing doesn’t happen through systems alone—it happens through presence, connection, play, and truth-telling.
www.mentalheart.org Call ask about our Grief Retreats, LOUD grieving mom support or Funeral Buddy for your child.
If you are a Funeral home looking for our support or want to add a family grieving room please email acomagetrower@mentalheart.org
