Finding forgiveness is tough. Samantha Smith struggled for years before she was able to let go of her anger and resentment. Once she did, she decided to use her skills to help others.

It’s how the Journey to Forgiveness Incubator came about.

Ms Smith, an author, coach and healer, is inviting women to join her for the six-week course, which starts Tuesday, April 2 at the Women’s Resource Centre.

“My specific target audience is women of faith who have endured deeply distressing experiences,” she said.

“But the incubator is designed for women who are stuck, women who had traumatic experiences who are maybe ready to forgive but not sure how to, or maybe who realise that they need to forgive and don't know where to begin.”

The irony is that when people don’t forgive they most hurt themselves, Ms Smith added.

“There are plenty of quotes that talk about unforgiveness being like drinking a poison and expecting the other person to perish.

“So it's really understanding that forgiveness is for us first. It’s not for anyone else; we are worthy of forgiveness despite the experiences that we've been through.”

She should know what she’s talking about. Ms Smith is a certified life coach and for the past 18 years has worked at Shift, a non-profit organisation that empowers “youth and adults to make healthy lifestyle choices”.

Her duties there revolve around helping improve social-emotional learning.

“It's about having social awareness – being aware of who's around them, how people are feeling, what they're feeling, or even just being aware of the fact that you can support others or how you can contribute positively to your social setting.”

Healthy relationship skills and responsible decision making are part and parcel of it all, she added.

A desire to help others “unlock [their] potential” led her to put her life coach skills to work for her own company, Journey to Me.

Ms Smith worked with Nikki Fagan, a brand strategist, to pull it all together.

“The three pillars of Journey to Me are coaching, performing arts – because I also sing and act – as well as other communication vehicles or events.”

It’s with the latter in mind that she decided to write a book. Journey to Forgiveness is available on Amazon and at Brown and Co.

“Anybody can benefit from the book. If they're feeling stuck around the area of forgiveness, if they're trying to get over that hump, if they feel like they’re ready to move forward but not sure how to – the book will support anybody in that space.”

Ms Smith will lay it all out for the women who attend her incubator series, using the book as a guide.

“In the book we outline what is forgiveness, what isn't forgiveness. What are the benefits if we forgive as well as if we don’t forgive?

“And then it looks at a very practical nine-step process to forgiveness and freedom and a full abundant life as a result of forgiveness and how to maintain that afterwards.

“The book also includes research around forgiveness as well as other little anecdotes to help people see it from another perspective, and reflection questions to help them question where they might be.”

Ms Smith was reluctant to share what inspired her search for forgiveness as she wants people to buy the book and read about it themselves.

“I couldn't hold my offender in that space of unforgiveness. Somehow, even as a teenager, I just knew that if I didn't figure out how to forgive this person [I would suffer] because I wouldn't be able to freely move forward with life, because I would have been trapped in the trauma somehow.

“The book was born out of my healing and my own personal growth journey, which included going to counselling, which included learning to be a coach and being coached and all the professional experience I have as a trainer and facilitator.”

Ms Smith started writing the book in 2020 with the help of Letitia Washington of WordWorld Publishing.

“[She helped] me with designing the layout of the book and she was very supportive of the process, giving me advice on how it should be and how to bring my ideas onto paper.”

She launched Journey to Forgiveness and its companion journal in 2023.

For anyone who is unsure, Ms Smith promises that Journey to Forgiveness can provide the tools to help people.

“When somebody brings offence we feel like we have the right to hold this grudge. And rightfully so because it's an offence against our body, it's an offence against our mind, our work, our emotions.

“We feel like we have the right to hold onto this and, technically, maybe we do because it was painful, it hurt our feelings.

“It damaged us, it could have destroyed our lives. It changed the trajectory of our lives all together. But the thing is, does it serve us when we hold on to it?

“And that's where we begin to explore in the book and in the incubator.”

Women who attend will likely gain comfort knowing everyone in the room is supportive and dealing with similar issues and hoping to move forward, she added.

“I've seen it work for me, I've seen it work for people in my life. It is documented that when you let go of those strongly charged emotions that hold you in bitterness it has a negative impact on your health, it has a negative impact on your ability to perform and show up as your best self.

“But when you are able to forgive, there's freedom in that no matter what the situation is.”

• Journey to Forgiveness will run April 2 to May 7 from 5.30pm until 8pm. Tickets, $60, are available from Samantha Smith and the Women’s Resource Centre, which has “graciously agreed to sponsor a few participants”. Follow iamsamanthasmith on Instagram and officialsamanthasmith on Facebook. For more information: info@journey2me