I met Pia when she gave a workshop in San Antonio in 1985.   Her work and witness in that workshop shifted my life in a different direction.  I still use her work with my therapy clients and it helps them recover.  I have yet to meet another practitioner that deals in this area of human and spiritual development and recovery better than Pia.   Thank you Pia.   God rest your soul.  

The last 40 years of my life have been formed by all I learned from Pia and my time at The Meadows. She gave me back a belief in myself and 40 years of being clean and sober. The world has last an angel on earth.

"I first encountered Pia's model when I was 24 years old and fresh out of graduate school for marriage and family therapy. I felt vulnerable and lost - both as a new therapist and as an adult. I had been in my own therapy for years and felt like no matter how hard I tried, something was missing. PIT helped me understand that my wounds were spiritual. I will always remember, in my first intensive workshop, realizing that maybe I wasn't a broken person. I saw the preciousness of my inner child and felt hope in a way I never had before. PIT changed my life and continues to do so, and I will always be so grateful."

Pia was an amazing clinician and mentor. Her generosity and kindness will always be remembered.  May she rest in peace.  

Giezelle Pash

Calgary, AB

Dear Pia (and your family),

I thank you for all that you have contributed to so many clinicians over the years.  What stands out for me and in my experience of you is how much you gave of your true self in the wisdom you imparted with us in your trainings of PIT.  I have held you in such warmth and high regard in my heart and mind ever since the last training I attended with you in 2010.  You were absolutely a true authentic human.  From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.  And I miss that your physical form is not on this earth any longer.  However, I can that Paramahansa Yogananda is walking with you in the astral world.  Until we meet again in that Aum vibration that you unabashly talked about in some of your lectures.  All my love, Engracia

Presentation by Maureen Canning (on the left)

First, I send my condolences to Pia’s family and to her long-time friends.

Thank you, Pia, for all you have done for me in my own healing of childhood trauma and the healing model for my clients. You created a healing community of therapists that would come to the training and help newbies with the concepts. I remember the first time I came to your training. I was sitting in the front row as we introduced ourselves. When it was my turn, I broke down in tears. I could hardly say my name. You said to me, “No worries, you are having a shame attack, and I want you to go around the circle and say, My name is Lorie, and I deserve to be here.” How did you know I felt so inadequate? It was a personal powerful example of your connecting work. I did not understand at the time what a shame bind was, but I knew something powerful was happening to me in that moment and you were there for me. You have changed my personal and professional life. I am so thankful you shared your model of healing, and I am thankful you chose Sarah Bridge to help be your side-kick trainer.

With a grateful and thankful warm heart,

Lorie Hershberger, LPC

Coldwater, MI

Beautiful down time with Pia.

Thirty nine years ago on June 11,  1986,  I entered The Meadows for alcoholism. Pia was just starting her precious child work. She worked with me, and I was so disappointed because when I left I did not find my inner child. Most people's inner child was outside the door waiting to come in. Mine was four states away in an area that I played in the backyard at four or five years old. It took me several years to find her. But the work I did at The Meadows changed my life, so much so, that I became a therapist. In all three professional trainings (90 hours/three full weeks) I did with Pia, she would always work with me directly, not another therapist.  One time she was in Dallas, she asked me to set up a reunion of her friends and have a slumber party for all of us in a hotel.  Pia never forgot my story. When a colleague and I opened one of the first recovery book store in Dallas, Pai had just come out with her Facing Codependence book, and came to our grand opening. I have thought of her so much since I got the notice of her death.  Words cannot describe my love for her and all that she did for me. She was a pioneer! Many people have copied her work, changed words and claimed it as their own.  I am so grateful that I get to pass her brillance on to my clients. They too are grateful. What a blessing she was to me and countless others. Pia  was the Original and I witnessed her own growth over the years.  Maybe we can have that slumber party in Heaven. 

Words cannot describe the great respect, love, and gratitude I hold for Pia.   I heard Pia speak in  1993 - and within a month, at 10 years sober,  I was at the Meadows to do family of origin work. The following year, I returned to do my PIT training with Pia. What an experience! She "knew" me...she "saw" me..and she "heard" me - like no other person I'd ever met.  I continued to attend many trainings with her, each time learning something new or integrating something I'd heard many times before.  She was gracious with her time and we often had a meal together where all my life issues were resolved with a loving,             "I celebrate your struggle." 🤣  She was intent on her people  having fidelity to the model, which clearly informs my work with clients and  my own spiritual development. I cherish my relationship with her, her work and all the other therapist I shared time with in trainings. Love and Light to Pia, her family, her colleagues and all who loved her. ❣️🙏

Pia's 75th

Pia's 75th — with Cynthia Schiebel

I was later to the show than many that posted. Nevertheless, the impact of Pia’s work on me both personally and professionally has been such a blessing. Her books (which I have read and re-read), and her audios (that I have listened to over and over and over) and the integration of her work into my life, my family’s life and my client’s lives, has been transformational. This model, the simplicity yet depth of her teachings, and the expressive inner child work is so transforming. When you hear truth, you know it and it just resonates.

Pia’s keen insights, vulnerability and dedication was a gift to us all. The concept of ‘carried emotions’ alone!!!!! . . . . . I was trained by others (e.g., Sarah Bridge) in PIT, but I did get to meet Pia, and when I did, I was shocked at the emotion that welled up in me. I realized what she meant when she was demonstrating physical boundaries and said ‘others come so close to me because they feel like they know me, but I don’t know them.’ I realized how true that was as I felt like I knew her. So I respected that boundary, but I was able to get a picture snapped. 

I can only imagine what she must be experiencing in this next life which she has entered with God and others. . . and one day us too!

Pia's 75th Birthday Party — with Erin Wysong-Warren

One day, the Meadows offered me a spot in a Post Induction Therapy (PIT) workshop with Pia Mellody. I immediately jumped on the opportunity and never regretted it!

It is not to say that as a clinician, I was immediately enamored of Pia as a person during the training. Funny enough, it was quite the opposite. Pia, at that time, had another clinician helping her with the training. Her friend, a fellow clinician, was originally from Greece. Her friend being European, having immigrated to the United States as I did, immediately created a safety bond for me with her. Pia, for me at that time, was quintessentially American. As I was still developing skills as a therapist at that time, certain American cultural precepts proved more challenging than others. I really appreciated my good fortune of having her fellow clinician in the training because it helped me bridge some of that cultural divide.

I loved the training! I have to admit though that I came away from that first training a little bit judgmental about Pia as a person. The Universe, however, had a sense of humor with me and held a mirror to my mind about my preconceptions. Two years after attending the workshop, I attended a wonderful conference sponsored by the Meadows. The best clinicians, well known published authors and clinicians themselves gave lectures at the conference. Among them, to name a few, were Bessel Van der Kolk, Peter Levine, John Bradshaw and of course Pia Mellody. At the end of the first day, I went to dinner with several other PIT trained therapists. As I sat next to Stephanie, the therapy friend trained with me during my training, Stephanie exclaimed:

“By the way Engracia! I did another training with Pia on the Inner Child during which she shared that she had joined the meditation path that you are on. Her fellow therapist that helped at our joint training brought her to the grounds of Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades!”

I was too stunned to say anything! I immediately reflect on the irony about this “mirror” put in front of awareness by the Universe. I barely have time to think about it when Pia enters the restaurant and joins the other staff from the Meadows at a nearby table.

“Hey Pia!” Stephanie interpells Pia. “Do you remember Engracia that was in my first PIT training with you? Remember that she has done some of the same meditation training that you are following right now?”

Pia immediately gets up and comes over to me. She sits by me. She is completely earnest. She peppers me with questions that I do my best to answer. Then completely satisfied, she leaves us to rejoin her group. I am still quite stunned. However, the realization that the Universe has an exquisite sense of humor at my expense totally dawns on me after that moment. Of course, that experience completely reset my perception and understanding of the person that Pia is. I partook of of other PIT trainings over the years and then I had a completely different experience of Pia in these trainings. Of course, I was then aware of the lesson that the Universe taught me and I am forever humbled by it.

My condolences to Pia's family.  I share in the feelings of both loss and love with my colleagues. Pia meant so much both personally and professionally.  The lives of my clients, as well as my own, are immeasurably better because of her.  Her inspired work has given much to the world.  We thank you and love you, Pia.

Honoring Pia

My condolences to Pia’s family. 

I am forever grateful for the way Pia Mellody so skillfully guided me through the complex terrain of my family of origin. It was a truly transformative experience—one that set me on a path of healing and teaching that forever changed the course of my life.

Thank you, Pia, for your brilliance, compassion, friendship, and unwavering dedication. Your legacy lives on in every life you touched. I can’t look at your beautiful face without feeling both deep joy and deep sorrow. You will be missed by the universe. ❤️

Rest in peace.

Pia, I am grateful for your love, compassion and all you taught me over the years.   Your gift continues to be given to all the patients who I am blessed to sit with.  

I met Pia in treatment at the Meadows in 1984. At that time, she was the nursing Director of Nursing with an office about the size of a broom closet! At that time, no one knew how brilliant she was and that she was about to teach countless others a new approach to treatment. She was on the cutting edge of new information and did not know it. She had never made a tape or written a book. I don't know if Pia ever truly realized what great inspiration she was and how many lives she saved.  She saved my life.  I am a therapist in the DFW area, and I realized Pia knew something (from her personal search for recovery) that no one else was addressing. I invited her to speak in Dallas and talk to a group of therapists. No one had any idea of who she was. To generate interest, I think we charged $5 to attend!!! From those few therapists, a new age dawned in DFW treatment! I will never forget what she did for me. I can't look at her beautiful face without tearing up. I loved her. Anne Worth