After losing her 12-year-old daughter, father and ex-husband, and suffering a broken engagement, Faye Smith felt she had reached breaking point.

Here, she bravely speaks to KentOnline about how she overcame her many heartaches, and shares what she has learnt to help others who are also going through grief and loss...

Faye Smith, 56, has compared her life to a "one-woman soap opera".

Within the space of a decade, she lost three of the people she was closest to in life, and by 2019 said she felt like she 'couldn't take any more'.

"There's only so much pain one person can take", the mum and businesswoman said.

Her first heartbreak was in 2011, when her ex-husband sadly took his own life.

Ms Smith explains: "I got married in my early 20s to a wonderful man who I later found out was alcohol dependent.

"I watched with growing horror as that started to consume his and then our lives.

"When my children were two and six, I asked him to get professional help and instead he walked away and that was hugely painful for me, my children, and I am sure for him."

She continued to parent separately with her husband for the next seven years, but he died when he was 48-years-old.

A year later, her daughter, Gabi, developed non-epileptic attack disorder, where the body mimics epilepsy after experiencing trauma.

Devastatingly, two years to the day following her ex-husband's death, 12-year-old Gabi died.

"Very sadly and tragically, one Saturday morning she drowned in the bath through a suspected trauma related seizure after experiencing the trauma of her father's death," Ms Smith said.

"I tried to resuscitate her but didn't manage to do so and she was pronounced dead at Sheffield Children's Hospital.

"My son, Zach was 16 and about to take his GCSEs so my own pain had to be suppressed again so I could be there for him."

Ms Smith suffered further pain when her engagement to a new partner ended unexpectedly after two-and-a-half years together.

A little while later, her father, Gordon Ramsay, suffered a stroke and sadly died.

"That was a moment in 2019 when I just couldn't take any more," Ms Smith said.

During all this heartache, Ms Smith started walking.

She begun by walking 30 minutes a day when her former spouse died and says it started to maker her feel calmer.

She said: "There's nothing negative and everything positive.

"Any walking is better than no walking.

"When my daughter died I continued walking.

"Mentally, I became more creative and I could actually think of solutions for my problems."

In 2020, she moved to Deal to join a bereavement recovery community, which she credits with "quite possibly saving my life".

She added: "Life has been a series of challenges and sometimes I feel like a one-woman soap opera."

Ms Smith now wants to use what she has learnt through her recovery to help others who are on a similar journey.

She said: "Lets get back to what we're designed to do, we're designed to move. If we do that, we're healthier and happier.

"The more we can get out into the nature, the better we will be mentally, spiritually, and physically stronger."

After discovering the beauty of walking, she decided to close her 15-year-old marketing and PR consultancy business and invest her time in helping others recover from loss and grief.

She started a women's walking group named the '4Ws: Wonderful Women Walking at Weekends'.

"Some of the women who have been on my walks have described it as a life-line," she said.

"We all need someone to listen to us."

Ms has also launched Hope Walking - modern-day pilgrimages to help others through loss and transition.

She still walks everyday and says she almost always beats her 10,000 steps goal.

"There's no day that I don't want to walk. I feel so much better afterwards

"My longest ever one-day walk is 24 miles. Me and my son have walked 80 miles over four days.

"I walked everywhere I could when I moved to Deal, any time of day or night.

"Timeball Tower to the community garden and back is a delight - there's sunshine, moonlight, flowers, bird calls, and waves lapping.

"The walk I did most often was along the White Cliffs to St Margaret’s Bay and back. I walked from Deal to Sandwich and as far as Ramsgate a few times and once 16 miles to Richborough Roman Fort and back.

"I've walked almost the whole of the Kent Coast."

Ms Smith will be hosting two walks during the Kent Pilgrims' Festival and running a workshop where she will give a talk outlining ways people can get through grief and loss.

The event runs from September 21 to 25 and she will be giving her talk on Saturday 24.

She is hosting the first ever six mile women's only walk on September 22.