About

This is Mortal Wonder: a corner of the Internet for anyone seeking companionship in contemplating mortality at the intersections of faith, spirituality, parenthood, mental health, grief, and liminal spaces of life. My name is Mary Chase Mize, and I’m glad you’re here.

Professionally, I’m a mental health counselor and assistant professor. As a counselor, I have a small private practice where I specialize in grief counseling, aging and supporting older adults, helping adults across the lifespan navigate major life transitions, faith deconstruction/reconstruction, exploring death anxiety, and supporting those at risk of suicide and/or grieving a suicide loss. As an assistant professor, I teach courses like crisis, trauma, and grief counseling and human lifespan development in a master’s degree program for clinical mental health counseling. I co-wrote Keep Watch: Suicide, Christ, and Community - a suicide prevention ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, and currently serve as co-author and consultant to The Keep/Watch Project. The writing here at Mortal Wonder is strictly my own and reflect only my opinions.

Personally, I am a mother to a miraculous red-headed toddler who has changed (and continually changes) my life in every way imaginable. I spend a lot of time thinking about the ways parenthood is the greatest source of my own mortality awareness. I also spend a lot of time singing Baby Beluga. I’ve spent many years examining my faith — exploring the wilderness of deconstruction, deepening my spiritual life, gazing at the reflection of God in the lives and faith of others, finding holy community, and clinging to the Gospel amidst the pain, chaos, and destruction of a culture that claims Jesus yet destroys humanity.

I love to write. I've published a lot of academic things (and I am very proud of this, don't get me wrong), but creative writing has always been my first true love. I've been writing for most of my life, keeping a blog of sorts, etc., but have recently started to write (poetry, essays, creative non-fiction) more intentionally and pursue creative outlets for publication. I'll share the fruits of that labor soon.

This is a place where I share personal reflections on my life and work. If any of this connects for you, I'd love for you to join me.