A Ground for Grief: small sorrows
Art therapy, ritual & community
to tend to the losses we carry.
4 weeks beginning Thursday, September 8
$220 - payment plans available for no extra cost.
Limited places available.
First things first.
Here’s all the important info, and if you’re someone who likes more detail and more of the story, read on!
What & where?
Four x 90 minute interactive workshops on Zoom.
We will be tending to our grief and however we might be feeling about the world and our lives right now.
During the workshop series we’ll be exploring art therapy, somatic practices, ritual, writing, storytelling and connecting with each other in community.
You don’t need to have experience with any of these to be very welcome.
When?
Thursday September 8, 15, 22 & 29 from 5:30 - 7PM AEST
Calls will be recorded for you if you aren’t able to make some of them live.
Why?
How much?
Short answer: because for a lot of us the world feels overwhelming right now, and we’re tired, and craving some solid ground in all the uncertainty and change.
For the long answer, scroll down for more words about grief work, why this, why now, and what to expect.
$220AUD, or 2 fortnightly payments of $110.
There’s no extra charge for a payment plan.
If that’s out of reach for you and you want to join us, please send me an email and perhaps there can be an option that feels good for both of us.
A word on small sorrows…
What’s a small sorrow and why are we giving time to them?
Often grief feels big, particularly if we don’t have a regular practice of tending to it. We might know we need to feel these things but the ‘too muchness’ of them leaves us continually putting them off for when we have more time, or when we feel ready, or whatever other (valid) reason we have for sweeping them under our emotional rug.
And so in this four week series, we’ll be focussing on small sorrows, learning how to be with and tend to grief that hopefully feels a bit more manageable.
Bite size grief.
Because we don’t have to feel everything all at once - we are allowed to move slowly and gently at a pace that works for us.
By spending time with small sorrows, perhaps with time, we’ll begin to feel more at ease with our grief, so when bigger grief visits, we’ll have more ability to care for it instead of feeling lost in it.
Big grief (and all other feelings) are still very welcome if they make an appearance, but we will be focussing on small sorrows as a starting point each week, and tending to them in some way - through writing, art therapy, somatic practices, ritual and more.
Got everything you need
and want to sign up?
Need more info? Scroll down to keep reading.
Why grief work, and why now?
Because so many of us are feeling out of sorts after years of Covid pandemic, climate disaster and war on top of the regular stresses of life, and we don’t know what normal is any more.
We’re tired and our nervous systems are tired and we’re probably kind of over everything and we’re not feeling like ourselves and it’s hard to pinpoint why because on one hand everthing’s fine and on the other hand we’re stressed and anxious and low-key afraid and things kind of suck and it’s a lot to keep holding while we do our best to keep going.
We don’t have a space to put this all down for a time, take a breath, and acknowledge that we’re sad, and we’re angry, we’re frustrated, we’re confused, we’re scared, we’re tired, we’re over it.
We don’t have space to say this isn’t fair. I didn’t sign up for this. I wasn’t expecting my path to go in this direction.
This workshop series is that space.
A space to feel what we’re feeling, and to feel it together. It’s such a relief to be able to look around and know we’re not alone. It’s a relief to pause and see that how we are feeling makes so much sense in the context of our world right now.
And it’s a relief to come together somewhere where who we are and how we are is welcome. Somewhere where we’re not trying to fix anything or change anything, somewhere where we’re not trying to force ourselves to have a different experience of life.
We’re gathering together to be how we are, and to play with alchemising some of how we’re feeling through art therapy, through story, through ritual and through connecting with each other.
It might seem counter-intuitive, focussing on grief when things already feel kind of heavy, but I’ve found it to be life giving. It’s raw and it’s REAL, sharing this time and space with others, and when we can create some solid ground underneath that bottomless feeling of grief we’re afraid to feel in case we never stop, it’s curious what starts to happen.
There’s tenderness. There’s humanness. There’s permission to be as we are. There’s often laughter and silliness. There’s warmth. There’s hope.
Grief doesn’t go away, but our relationship with it organically starts to shift.
That’s my hope for this series - for us to create a solid ground, and for that ground to become a foundation that we can rely on as we continue to find our way towards our new normal. And for us to do this together, because grief isn’t meant to be felt alone. It’s too big for us to carry on our own, but together - together we can hold it.
A Ground for Grief: small sorrows
Art therapy, ritual & community
to tend to the losses we carry.
September 8, 15, 22 & 29 from 5:30 - 7PM AEST
$220AUD | Payment plans available
Limited places available.
A few more words on grief
Often we think of grief as something that comes when we lose someone. This is one way we can experience grief - and there are many others that we don’t often think to acknowledge as grief. Along with the grief of loss, we’ll be exploring some of these other kinds of grief during our time together.
The grief that comes from unmet expectations. The grief we feel for what’s happening to our planet, and the loss of connection to nature. The grief for the parts of ourselves that have gone unseen and unloved. Ancestral grief that we carry from those who came before us.
There are many more, and all of them are welcome.
What is grief work and what will we be doing?
First maybe I’ll say a bit about what grief work isn’t and what we won’t be doing - grief work doesn’t mean wallowing in it. It’s not a pity party and it’s not all of us getting together and complaining for 90 minutes.
It’s something more alive than that.
In our busy everyday lives, we don’t often have or make time to just be with what we’re feeling. So in this context, grief work is how we’ll be making time and tending to our grieving in many different ways, with gentleness and care. We’ll be turning towards it, inviting it to have a seat at our table, and listening to our sadness for what it has to share.
This is an interactive workshop series, so you’ll get to play with a lot of ways to work alchemical magic with grief and other emotions (grief is often made up of more than just sadness). Each week we’ll be exploring a different way to tend to our grief - art therapy, embodiment practice, ritual, storytelling and writing.
Please know that you don’t have to have any experience with any of these things - I’ll guide you each step of the way. You don’t need to be a writer or see yourself as creative or know how to draw. You also don’t need anything special in order to participate - whatever you have at home is perfect. I’ve had people come to past Zoom workshops with post-it notes and a black biro because that’s what they had and it was great.
There will also be time for sharing stories and having your voice heard.
And it’s important to know that all of this is invitational and optional - you know your body and mind best, so I encourage you to trust your own inner knowing and do what feels right for you in each moment.
A Ground for Grief: small sorrows
Art therapy, ritual & community
to tend to the losses we carry.
September 8, 15, 22 & 29 from 5:30 - 7PM AEST
$220AUD | Payment plans available
Limited places available.
Who am I?
I’m Ellen, and my pronouns are she/ her. My approach is curious, creative, gentle and kind, and I bring this philosophy to all of the work I do. I love this kind of deep, raw, tender and very human work, and it’s always an honour to be with other humans who are curious to explore it.
My background is as an art therapist, a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (if you’re not familiar, Somatic Experiencing is a gentle way of working with the nervous system to support trauma healing), and I have a coaching certification where I majored in Life Transitions with a focus on grief and the cycles of life and death. I’ve also done a short training in End of Life Doula work, looking at the ways we support (or don’t support) our journey towards the end of life.
Some of this workshop series is based on the work of Francis Weller, who has been working with grief for many decades. My thanks and gratitude to him for the work he does. If you’re curious to read more, I highly recommend his great book “The Wild Edge of Sorrow”.
Extra support
This is tender work. If you’re finding you’d like some extra 1:1 support during our time together, I’m offering a special price on 1:1 sessions with me. You’ll receive a link to book those if and when you’d like to once you sign up.
Questions?
Something I’ve missed here that you’d like to know?
If you have questions, please get in touch and I’ll find you some answers. Click here to send me a message.
A Ground for Grief: small sorrows
Art therapy, ritual & community
to tend to the losses we carry.
September 8, 15, 22 & 29 from 5:30 - 7PM AEST
$220AUD | Payment plans available
Limited places available.
FAQ
Who is this not for?
If you’ve had a recent loss and are still in the depths of very intense grief, this might not be right for you.
Please get in touch if you’re not sure :)
Do I need to know how to draw, or see myself as creative?
Nope! Not at all. I’ll guide you each step of the way. The creative processes we’ll be exploring are about engaging in the process itself, not about how it looks at the end. There’s also no pressure to share anything you’ve created if you don’t want to.
Will I need to buy anything special to participate?
No - whatever you have on hand at home is perfect (though if you feel like you want to, go for it!). When you sign up I’ll email you a list of items that you might like to think about having with you - that said, I’ve had people come to past art therapy workshops with post it notes and a biro and it’s been great.
Is there a payment plan?
Yes - absolutely. You can choose to pay up front, or split it into regular payments for no extra cost.
I can’t make all the calls - will there be recordings?
Yes - if someone can’t make it, I’ll record the call for them. The recording will be available for 7 days after our call. Some of our time together may be in small groups in Zoom breakout rooms, and these will not be recorded, so you will need to be there live to experience those. Please do your best to be there live, part of what we’re doing is rewriting the story that grief is something to be hidden away and managed alone.
I’m sitting on the fence - I’m curious and I’m not sure.
Welcome! If you’d like to chat to me about any questions you have and figure out together if this might be good for you right now, please send me an email - you can do that here :)
Feel like joining us?
What’s it like to work with me?
If you’re new to working with me, welcome! Perhaps you’d like to hear from some others about what it might feel like to be part of this experience. Here’s what some others have had to say:
Working with Ellen feels like a softening of tension held in my shoulders and chest that I didn't even realise was there. She has been so genuinely okay and accepting of everything I've brought to her, including the parts of myself that even I don't really like. It's truly a sigh of relief to be met in this way.
She somehow alchemically makes the healing path easeful, deep, and wondrous. And with her own creative bones and eccentricities, helps you to find delight and access different layers of being in the world along the way.
- Carol
I really enjoyed this workshop, especially the way it combines various elements together. This is the first time I used art to assist in self discovery in this way and I found it to be rather helpful in gaining further insight into shadow self.
Ellen is a great facilitator, I felt that I was in great hands, guided by her knowledge, experience and skills. She easily created a space in which I felt completely safe and comfortable, allowing myself to journey within.
I have and do highly recommend this workshop if you are interested in going deeper and getting to know yourself better.
- Betty