Embracing Grief: Queer and GSRD

~ Why Grief? ~

Grief Tending is a powerful way to work with the pain that we all carry. Our unique grief process is in response to a wide range of life experiences including bereavement. Our sadness, rage, fear, hopelessness, relief, gratitude, betrayal, shame and numbness are often hidden. Grief Tending offers a space to explore our emotions without trying to fix or change them, with the support of a group. Grief Tending often helps us to bring more connection to life. 

~ OK, so what is this offering? ~

This is an event in the ‘Embracing Grief’ series for specific groups of people, co-facilitated by Sophy Banks and Sarah Pletts. We welcome those with gender, sexuality and relationship diversity as participants for this workshop. Your identity experiences and choices are all valid and welcome.

The session is 4 hours on Zoom, and will include a variety of exercises to support our journey and a couple of short breaks. During the session we will hold a Grief Circle together. There will be the chance to express something, and to witness others.

~ Is this for me? ~

This is for you if you are working with personal changes, loss, heartache, or dealing with the impact of past events. You may be struggling with collective themes and seeking to build resilience. While the sources of grief may vary, we invite them to be witnessed in the group by those who share self-identification with queerness/GSRD/LGBTQ+ for this session. 

We invite you to work at your own pace. Some might find our grief right there on the surface, ready to be expressed, while others may take the time to connect with grief that feels stuck and difficult to access. We invite you to bring your kind, respectful awareness to give space to the feelings, which may arise in a group designed for participants to be both seen and heard. 

The workshop is probably not suitable for those with severe depression or mental health problems, or those feeling particularly fragile, alone or unsupported. We're available to discuss this with you if you are unsure whether this workshop is right for you at the moment, so please don’t hesitate to contact Sarah (welcome@loveandloss.co.uk).

Short Animations that show what happens in a Grief Tending workshop and other questions here.

 ABOUT YOUR FACILITATORS

Sarah Pletts is an artist with a deep curiosity about mortality. Inspired by the uncertainty of our times, she is drawn to ‘Apprentice to Grief’, following in the work of Francis Weller, Joanna Macy, Sophy Banks, Jeremy Thres and others. She brings creativity and her exploration of the body to the practice of grief tending. She lives in London with partners and chosen family. She loves to walk the dog, dance wildly and eat virtuous chocolate (https://www.loveandloss.co.uk).

Sophy Banks has been holding transformative space for people for over 20 years. She sees that Grief Tending in shared spaces is one of the healing processes most needed to transform the systems of harm embedded in the modern world. She learnt about the power of grief and ceremony with Sobonfu Somé, Maeve Gavin, Joanna Macy and many more. She has worked as a therapist and family constellatory, and for many years added depth to community processes for responding to climate, social justice and environmental crises. Once an engineer and IT trainer, Sophy spent 20 years in radical football teams in E London, including the first out lesbian team. She is now based in Devon, grows food for herself and the wildlife, and can still just about get up the hills on her bike.

Embracing Grief Ethics Statement: 
https://www.loveandloss.co.uk/ethics-statement/

FEEDBACK 

"It was such a heart soothing and soul-enriching experience to participate in the space you created. I felt so utterly welcomed, free to bring whatever was alive in me, and never pressured to be anywhere I wasn't. I had moments of feeling a huge resistance in myself, and was allowed to dance with that and invite what was hiding underneath. The threads that you wove to create our container felt so gently, lovingly and intentionally woven, held with both sincerity and lightness." - Anon

“Thanks so much for creating a space of support and love. I felt safe at all times and the suggestions to move off screen or turn off the camera meant that I felt I wasn’t stuck to a box on screen. All the facilitators held space for each person and guided it when needed.” - Liselott

EVENT DETAILS
 
This event requires a free zoom account which you can set up here: https://zoom.us 
Instructions on how to join will be included in your confirmation email.  

TICKET PRICES: 

£15 Low income (3 spaces available)
£40 Regular
£60 Abundant/Supporter

Once you have purchased a ticket, you will receive an advance information form which must be completed. This is so that you have a chance to prepare for the session, and also for us to get a sense of whether Grief Tending is likely to be appropriate for you at the moment. NOTE: without a completed advance information form you will not receive joining instructions for the session, including the Zoom link, and will therefore not be able to attend. All advance information form responses are deleted within 6 months.

There will be a maximum of 13 available places per session, including the facilitators. 3 of these places will be available at the Bursary rate - please email welcome@loveandloss.co.uk - for those who are either unemployed, have insufficient/unstable income or are clearly unable to afford the Regular price. The Abundance/Supporter price part-subsidises those paying the Bursary price. 

ZOOM ROOM OPENS: 10 minutes before start time.  
NO ENTRY AFTER:  15 minutes after start time.

ENQUIRIES: Sarah - welcome@loveandloss.co.uk

Attendance requires a working internet connection, and a Zoom account (you can download for free). If you have any access requirements please get in touch.  If you haven’t used Zoom before, please join 15 minutes early to download the free software and check your connection.

Please note: We require a minimum number of attendees for events to go ahead. 

REFUNDS POLICY: Please note, we do not arrange refunds or exchanges. When possible we encourage reselling on Ticketswap.

ACCESS:  We do our best to include everyone in our events, regardless of health circumstances. If you have access requirements please email the event organiser directly to discuss. Many facilitators are able to offer reduced ticket prices for those truly unable to afford the ticket price. If this applies to you, do please get in touch with the event organiser.

For PSYCHEDELIC KNOWLEDGE AND RESOURCES please check out the Psychedelic Society website. 

Our facilitators have agreed to our code of conduct. Learn about our procedure for raising concerns

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