Dark Woods

Grief Support Group

Live Zoom Support Group
Where Grief in All Forms is Welcome

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meet our team

Grief, honoured in community, helps us to find the beauty in our common humanity.

We see and feel in our bones that we are truly not alone.

This builds resilience and increases our capacity to be with the harder emotions.

Being witnessed in a compassionate and mutually vulnerable group increases our ability to have deep compassion for ourselves and others.

When we share and witness each other’s grief in community, we transform in a profound way that simply is not possible in isolation or in 1:1 therapy.

josea-tamira-crossley-geometric-icon-small

From Wounds to Gifts…

What if instead of carrying around the weight of grief & trauma as a burden, you could learn to transform it into the gifts you are here to give in this lifetime?

What if the pain, suffering and hardship you have experienced could be transmuted into a sacred offering for the world and the future generations?

This isn’t something we can force or rush, and we can’t approach it in a goal oriented way. The way of the soul is non-linear and a winding, spiralling path.

collective wounds

…Such as systemic racism, isolation, ancestral trauma and colonial structural trauma must be healed collectively, together, not in isolation. 

Personal grief, when witnessed & supported in community, slowly metabolizes into something that is easier to carry on our own.

This process-based group is intended as a container to touch deeply into emotions that society has rejected – emotions that are rooted in love and our sense of justice for self, community, culture and planet. 

All forms of grief are welcome – this includes personal loss and trauma, both ‘minor’ and devastating, as well more transpersonal/collective grief. All is welcome.

Why grieve in Community?

I believe firmly in the intertwined health of individual, community & ecosystem. As the world falls apart around us, we need each other now more than ever. We need to hold and be held by each other through our grief, so we can bring back resilience and vibrant health to ourselves, each other and our earth.

“This is an incredible, wonderfully safe group you'VE CREATED - I'm so GRATEFUL TO BE HERE."

—Hilarie Heinz, Counsellor

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feeling the

Feels

When we make big life changes, even if we’re excited about moving in new directions, and becoming more of who we are, we need to grieve the person, life, and experiences that we’re leaving behind.

Not to mention the grief of the world around us, seemingly not ours, yet still felt by our soul, our body, and our hearts as we are interconnected with all things.

If we are sensitive and attuned to the reality of our current life on this beautiful planet, there will be grief alongside our love and gratitude for life.

And it may seem counter-intuitive, but the more we can make space for grief, the more capacity we will also have for JOY. 

As a grief-worker and therapist, I probably laugh more than most people I know. And there’s a reason for this.

The more we allow our “e-motion” to move in a skilled way, the more capacity we build in our nervous system to experience the full range of emotions – joy, anger, gratitude, sorrow, fear, courage, hopelessness and the creative tension of pure potentiality…we gain access to a full range of feeling our experience.

With every loss, every life change and transition, every personal evolution, every deep connection, there is an emotional process that needs to unfold.

"I feel more peaceful since joining this group and doing the work. I can still wake up in the early morning hours and fall into old anxiety patterns that in the past led me to deep despair. Lately I have been more willing to seek out a resource to help me stay present with my feelings and allow it to move in its own time."

— Susan, Community Member

THIS IS FOR YOU IF YOU:

  • Have experienced a major loss or trauma recently or in the past and want more understanding around how to process it
  • Want to understand how depression, burn out, numbness, overwhelm, reactivity or unexplained waves of emotion can be connected to old unprocessed grief and trauma
  • Feel like you’re carrying the weight of the world around climate change, environmental destruction, systemic racism, genocide and other global issues
  • Want to know what it means to release old grief & fears that are preventing you from experiencing full intimacy & connection in your current relationships because of past hurt
  • Want to understand more about how old ancestral trauma and grief could be affecting your life now and how you can help both yourself as well as future generations
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"I'm learning so very much in my work with this group. This week I allowed myself to really feel and process some of the anger I've never felt comfortable with in regards to the deaths of my brother (30yrs) and mother (3years). I haven't cried so much or so often over their deaths, as I have this past month. that's a lot of years of emotional repression. i can't explain how wonderful it feels to be witnessed in this process and held in a safe container no matter what comes to the surface. Thank you for this work. It is changing my life."

~Angela, Website Designer

"I have noticed I am not afraid of my grief or other perceived “ negative “ emotions that I just seemed to have always manipulated the universe in order to avoid feeling, fear , pain sadness etc . it’s all in play now . as i develop gratitude and experience an ongoing fellowship with my grief I notice I no longer avoid circumstances that I normally would stay away from in fear of activating shame and or feelings I am afraid of . I just seem to fear forward now and I am not so concerned about how I will feel about something. my feelings don’t scare me so much anymore thus I am letting go of a lot of control."

~Stephen, Community Member

Do you love knowing the Structure & Details Up Front?

 

When you join this group, you get access to 5 Live Zoom sessions/month, as well as bonus calls which feature guest teachers and seasonal rituals. There is the option to join a live zoom support session every week!

You do not need to attend all sessions to receive great benefit! 

Most people choose to join 2 sessions per month – every second week. 
 But if you have time and it feels good, you can totally join all of them! 

Weekly Grief & Praise sessions which are primarily process-based – including writing practices, somatic/embodied practices, and group as well as partner/trio work. We also always dance to move the energy, no professional dance training required. 😉

If you miss a live session, they will be recorded so you can listen and do the practices on your own or with a friend. 

Grief & Praise sessions are facilitated by our facilitation team who have all worked deeply with their own grief and are trained & mentored by Josea. 

Josea’s long-time mentor & friend, Elizabeth Claire Burr, also offers a 90 minute Meditation for Nervous System Regulation & Emotional Healing once a month. In this session she teaches powerful skills & practices that directly support the grieving nervous system. 

You also get 24/7 access to our vibrant online community forum where you can connect, ask for support and receive compassionate witnessing as you practice the skills you’ll be learning alongside a group of other folks deeply committed to this work. Other perks within the community include musical playlists for dancing through emotion on your own, weekly gratitude practices, writing prompts and reflections, and poetry.

This is a group of people who are deeply committed to the work of transforming their pain into medicine. If you feel called, I hope you will join us! 

 

IMPORTANT:
No Way But Through: 4 Real Life Skills for Navigating Grief & Trauma is a Prerequisite to join this group. 

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Come as you are.

$125 USD/month – minimum commitment is 3 months.
After that stay as long as you like or cancel anytime. 

Partial scholarship available for BIPOC and low income folks.

NO REFUNDS – MINIMUM 3 MONTH COMMITMENT – HERE’S WHY:

The Dark Woods Grief Support group has an initial 3 month minimum commitment. After that you can cancel and opt-out anytime simply by sending us an email a minimum of 7 days before your next payment.

It’s important to us to create a safe, supportive container for this deep work. To help create that, when the core group welcomes someone new in, we want to know you are committed to at least journey a few months with us. 

We also want you to make that kind of commitment to your own healing. Be willing to give it a fair go – this kind of deep work doesn’t transform us overnight – it is a long slow process, and it should be that way. 

Sometimes when you’re in the depths of despair it can feel like you will never have a different experience. You will, but it won’t happen overnight. You need to give it time and commitment, just like anything we want in life.

Another reason we don’t offer refunds is because we offer a wonderful way for you to get a good idea of what we are all about prior to joining via a prerequisite intro session, No Way But Through. If you have not done this workshop yet, please sign up HERE: https://darkwoodsofgrief.com/nwbt/

Dates of 2026 Winter Grief & Praise Sessions: 

Monday evening sessions are 2 hours @ 5-7pm pacific time

January 5th & 26th

February 2nd & 16th

March 2nd & 16th

Wednesday morning sessions are 2 hours @ 10am-noon pacific time

January 14th & 28th

February 11th & 25th

March 11th & 25th

Dates of 2025 Autumn Meditation for Nervous System Regulation & Emotional Healing Sessions:

Monday evenings @ 5:30-7pm pacific time

January 12th

February 9th

March 9th

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One of our core values at Dark Woods of Grief is that money should not be a barrier to healing. Unfortunately, in our post-colonial society, it often is.
We aim try to also make this community accessible to all those who need it. We offer many partial scholarships at $80/month, $60/month and several at $40/month (BIPOC & very low income only) depending on need. We give out 2-3 partial scholarships per year at $20/month and very rarely offer full scholarship. Please ask for what you need and offer what you can. Giving when we can and receiving what we need makes the world a better place. 
If you need a partial scholarship in order to join our community,  you can APPLY HERE.

If you would like to support our scholarship fund you can make a donation HERE.

We all walk through the dark woods of grief & trauma - but doing it alone can be unbearable.

Most of us aren’t raised with an intimate understanding of grief.

We can go through our days barely noticing that it’s there, under the surface of things.

Other days, we find it hitting us like a tidal wave and taking us down to the ground.

Sometimes we don’t know we’re stuck in grief. We can be feeling heartbreak, anger, resentment, stuckness, depression, and even anxiety and not realize that this is simply a form of unprocessed emotion.

In our culture, this is only really discussed when someone dies. 

In this group, we aim to welcome & support ALL types of grief, including but not limited to major loss & trauma. 

"As soon as I opened the app and experienced the exchanges, videos, and prompts, I felt safe. This is a newish experience for me. It validates that I'm on my path and as lost, uncomfortable, and weary, I feel at times. I am doing, creating and becoming who and how to be in this physical body. The tears come easy for me, this has been true for most of my life. I honor them now. I'm grateful for this community."

—Kimberley, Community Member

Nor would we want to, once we understand it more.

What I’ve witnessed is the more you get connected to your soul, the more you recognize grief.

As human beings, the truth is, we are pretty much guaranteed to experience loss, disappointment, & unmet needs.
A lot, if we live a long time. As Stephen Jenkinson says, “Look into the eyes of anyone over 80, and you will see someone who knows grief…”

This work isn’t just for, “Some people.”
This is for everyone.
It’s not a matter of “if” as much as a matter of, “when…”
If you feel the resonant call, I hope you will join us.

Why grieve in Community?

When the world falls apart around us, we need each other more than ever….

One of the most beautiful things that I see happen over and over again in this group is the de-shamifying of each person’s grief experience. 

Because society teaches us to isolate and keep our difficult emotions hidden, and show up with a smile on our faces, we often think that no one else around us has the kind of feelings we do. 

We carry around not only our grief, but also a story that says, “I am alone, I am different, I am secretly broken or weird.”

Within the context of authentic sharing that happens in this group, this long carried and very heavy story dissolves, and we realize we are all in fact, at our core, exactly the same.

Human. Broken. Beautiful. Alive.

And our wounds are, in fact, deeply connected with the very unique gifts we bring to the world.

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Grieving is healing.

With every trauma held in our nervous system, there will come grief as we heal. As we heal, we grieve for the parts of ourselves that may have suffered for a very long time until now when they have an opportunity to have a different experience.

Grief is innate in the process of healing

"It has been incredibly helpful and valuable to learn new tools to experience and allow my anger and grief. These emotions have felt stuck for what feels like forever, and through the practices we've learned and done together, I can feel that energy leaving my body in healthy and appropriate ways. It's such a relief."

—chanda

Meet the Team

We are committed to helping people access the innate wisdom of their physical & emotional bodies as a doorway to deeper awakening and freedom. We believe that while 1:1 therapy can be profound and life changing, there are things that can only be healed in the presence of community/group work.

We are a diverse team of humans and are committed to honoring the full spectrum of racial, cultural & gender identity. We recognize that we are learning and will not be perfect, but that our intention is to create a safe space where all who wish to do this work are welcome!

josea tamira crossley dark woods
josea and her dog

Josea Tamira Crossley

Team Lead, Mentor & Founder of dark Woods of grief Community

For over 20 years, I’ve been working with grief & trauma. Through practices that work with the nervous system & rewiring the brain learned through my studies in Somatic Therapy, Attachment Theory, Deep Nature Connection, Craniosacral therapy, Shamanic Study, Tibetan Buddhism and Yoga, I’ve learned to support people to completely transform how they experience the world and themselves. As a survivor of severe childhood abuse, learning these skills was a matter of necessity.

In terms of walking through the dark woods and returning with gifts, I am a living, breathing example, and this work is my offering to you.

It is my mission to create spaces in this world where people can experience enough safety & belonging, and can gain enough skillfulness to be able to heal.

The body does the rest.

I am deeply and forever grateful to my mentors Elizabeth Claire Burr & Sonara Medicine Wolf, and for my teachers Francis Weller (author of the Wild Edge of Sorrow), Mariah Moser (Opening to Grace Relational Somatic Psychotherapy), Peter Levine & Diane Poole Heller, Irene Lyon, Jon Young, and for the influence of Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Martin Prechtel, Gabor Mate & Robert Moss.

I currently live, respectfully, as an uninvited guest in the seaside mountain town of qathet, BC, on the traditional territory of the Tla’amin people.

Elizabeth Claire burr headshot

Elizabeth Claire Burr

Meditation for Nervous system regulation & emotional healing Facilitator

Elizabeth has studied the Vajrayana and Nature of Mind teachings within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition with Mingyur Rinpoche since 2008 and has taken the Bodhisattva vow, grounding her work in wisdom, compassion, awareness and embodied presence. Her path expresses itself through meditation and yoga teaching, craniosacral and somatic therapy, founding and stewarding a healing arts centre, kirtan leadership, doula work, mothering, mentoring, and sacred partnership.

She is an experience-based, IFS-informed somatic and craniosacral therapist with over 25 years of direct practice, offering trauma informed, client led sessions that work at the subtle body level to address root causes. Her background includes over 30 years of advanced yoga study (Iyengar, Vijnana, Essential Somatics), 25 years of Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice, Upledger craniosacral training, Somato-Emotional Release, and more than 20 years of one-to-one mentorship with craniosacral therapist Brian Finnie.

jane spielman

Jane Spielman

Team Elder & LGTBQ2S Community Lead

Jane worked as an educator for 50 years, supporting transformative, inquiry-based literacy for children from birth through teenagers to undergraduate and graduate teacher candidates. She helped build trauma and healing informed school programs all over New York City that got to the root of what was in the way of student’s learning. When her wife of over 3 decades fell ill, she began her study of caregiving and grief. Jane believes that learning how to grieve and face trauma in safe-enough spaces is essential to physical, emotional and spiritual life; and is absolutely essential in the process of discovering the gifts we have to offer the world.

Jane has studied with Zen and Tibetan Buddhist masters, hospice providers and is a graduating student in the Dark Woods Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training. Her work is grounded in these lineages as well as Somatic tools, Internal Family Systems work & Reiki.

Jane is a Jewish anti-Zionist who believes we were born for these times, and a lifelong activist, with a focus on allyship in anti-colonist struggles. She is also a proud lesbian who has always represented and collaborated with other LGBTQ2S folx.

Jane has built her own active practice in Sow the Seeds of Healing to support individuals as well as groups in somatic grief and trauma work.

Check out Jane’s work here!

Tecca Thompson

BIPOC Community Lead & Facilitator

Tecca Thompson is a Grief Tender and Somatic Practitioner who offers steady, compassionate presence for those navigating grief. 

With particular care for Black women, she understands grief as layered—personal, ancestral, cultural, and historical—and honours the many ways it lives in the body.
Tecca creates spaces where there is no pressure to explain, fix, or move on. Rooted in ritual, nervous system awareness, and rest, her approach invites grief to be witnessed at its own pace, with tenderness, choice, and care.
 

 She is a graduate of the 2025 Cohort of the Dark Woods Roots of Ritual Foundations of Grief Tending Facilitation Training.  

Selina stanford

BIPOC Community Lead & Facilitator

 Selina is a Black woman death doula, spiritual herbalist, wife, and mother, guided into this work by ancestral knowing and the expressed needs of her community. Her calling is rooted in the belief that death and grief are a sacred passage — one that deserves presence, ritual, and deep honoring rather than fear.

She supports individuals and families through legacy planning, grief tending, and crying circles-weaving together spiritual care, earth-based wisdom, and compassionate companionship. As an herbalist, she hold a holistic understanding of the body, spirit, and nervous system, offering grounding support during times of profound change and grief.
Her work is centered on dignity, cultural care, and remembrance. She walks with families as they prepare, release, and honor life — ensuring no one has to navigate these moments alone.

She is a graduate of the 2025 Cohort of the Roots of Ritual Grief Tending Foundations Facilitation Training.

 

Madison Steadwell

Online Community Manager

Madison Steadwell is an artist, heartful creature and grief tender who lives on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe peoples of Fort William First Nation, now known as Thunder Bay. They have completed two years of study at Wisdom of the Earth Wilderness School, and are also a graduating student of both Year 1 and 2 of the Dark Woods Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training. She is currently studying Social Work at Lakehead University.

Madison is queer and autistic, and is on her journey of “breaking the masks” and becoming more of who she already is, her natural self! Being extremely sensitive, they recognize the “wound as gift” in their autism oh so very well. She is walking the path of allowing herself to exist just as she is, through embodiment and courage.

SaNaz Hosseini

SaNaz Hosseini

BIPOC Community Lead & Facilitator

Having navigated her own path through grief many times, Sanaz is passionate about helping others find their way. As an Iranian woman and an immigrant, she has faced multiple forms of loss, and what is coined as disenfranchised grief, often without access to resources or community support. This journey taught her how isolating grief can feel and the importance of processing it. Over the years, she has learned to channel her grief and recognize its transformative power. Now, she is committed to helping others navigate their own losses.

Professionally, she has a diverse background that complements her role as a grief facilitator. She is a product manager with degrees in electrical and biomedical engineering, and management. She has mentored young professionals and volunteered for a suicide helpline, both of which have strengthened her ability to support people during difficult times. Her passion for storytelling has helped her connect with people on a deeper level and understand the power of shared experiences in healing.

As a facilitator, she strives to create a compassionate and supportive space for others, grounded in empathy and enriched by professional and cultural insights.

She teaches yoga and meditation and is a graduate of the 2024 Dark Woods Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training. She also currently serves as a peer grief facilitator in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.

chanda Turner

CoMMUNITY Facilitator

Hi, I’m Chanda. I live in Inuvik, NWT in the Gwich’in and Inuvialuit Settlement Regions, and am happiest spending time out on the land. I am a lover of skyscapes, good food, candles, kitchen witching, boats, skidoos, intimate friendships, astrology, twinkle lights, and dogs. 

I am yearning to rebuild our deep connections to other beings, human and non-human, and experience the vastness of our universe. I am learning to use movement, acceptance, and compassion to heal and discover myself after years of masking and living in trauma response patterns. I have recently completed the Dark Woods Grief Tending and Ritual Facilitation Training, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to hold space and offer support to others on their own healing journeys. 

Other hats I wear include: Step-mom, Dog Mom, Marine Protected Area Senior Biologist, Witch, Consultant, Disrupter, Neurospicy Human, Partner, Daughter, Crafter, and Sister. My current day job(s) are in wildlife co-management with the Inuvialuit and Gwich’in peoples, who have signed land claims that guarantee their involvement in wildlife management. I work to move the processes of co-management closer to true, equal power-sharing and consideration of Traditional Knowledge and ways of knowing in what are still very colonial and science-based practices. This work, as well as where I live and who I love, has moved me to challenge my own biases and inherent beliefs from growing up in western settler culture and to encourage others to do the same.

adeline

Adeline LefeBvre

CoMMUNITY Facilitator

Adeline is a wild woman and lover of nature and big adventures. She came to Canada in 2018 to complete the Wisdom of the Earth Wilderness School Immersion program. Through this training she became a mentor for children in deep nature connection and discovered that grieving is necessarily a part of healing and coming into deeper connection with nature, each other and ourselves.

Upon returning to her home in France, she lost her dear mother. The depth of this grief led her return to the path of grief work and to Canada to complete the 2024 Dark Woods Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training. She has held grief circles both online and in person, and is currently home living in France.

Tisha Washington

Community Facilitator

I come to this work with an open heart, honoring the many ways people navigate grief, transition, and change. Born on the bayou, I have been shaped by listening closely–to people, to nature, and to what unfolds when words are lost. My own life has been marked by love and loss, and through those experiences I’ve discovered a deep well of inner resource—a refuge of calm and steadiness that I return to again and again.

For the past fifteen years, I have shared deep companionship with animals in my role as a professional dog walker. It was through years of walking—in every season and all kinds of weather—that this path began to form. Observing the natural shifts in nature taught me to recognize and accept the natural changes within myself—meeting them with an open heart rather than judgment. My support is grounded in practical tools that help you remain steady as things shift—both within you and around you—always guided by mindfulness and compassion.

I hold a Master of Social Work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Since graduating, my path has unfolded through a rich blend of training and lived experience. This includes case management and support group facilitation for people living with HIV/AIDS at Whitman-Walker Clinic in Northern Virginia, completing a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, and, most recently, training as a Grief Tender with Josea Tamira Crossley through the Dark Woods of Grief: Roots and Ritual program.

I believe grief wants us to listen deeply.  Alone, this can feel too heavy a burden to carry. In community, the load is shared and something begins to soften. Little by little, shifts occur and space opens for light to come in.

I am available for walking and in-person sessions in the state of Maryland. For more information, you can contact me at sweetboholife@gmail.com

KIMBER FINNEy

Community Facilitator

Kimber is a naturally intuitive healer who follows her gut in everything she does. She has been studying healing, grief & death in depth since her own initiation into grief in the summer of 2023. In December of that year, she found Dark Woods of Grief and attended a retreat with us.  She knew she had found her calling. She is a graduating student of the 2024 Dark Woods Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training and is also a Certified Death Doula through Village Deathcare.

Kimber has a huge heart and brings a depth of humor & hard-earned wisdom to everything she touches. She currently resides in Bend, Oregon on the traditional territory of the Wasqu, Wana Kana (Warm Springs), and Northern Piute peoples.

Raven Wright

Community Facilitator

Greetings, my name is Raven. I acknowledge Turtle Island & my ancestral bloodline to where the grass plains meet the foothills in a hollow clearing in the wood & marsh lands – places otherwise known in both Europe & Central Canada.

In this Autumn of my lifespan I’ve been blessed with motherhood, having born my greatest earth-side teacher ~ a rainbow indigo child. In this season of preparation I’ve become a bereaved daughter & sister, a retired social work counsellor & foster parent. My dedication & gratitude now rests in motherhood, creative & wellness practices.

As a niizh manitoag ~ two-spirit woman, I honour my inherited shamanic duality. Humbly practicing these gifts as an inspirited guide weaving the medicines in the dreamspace. Abled as an intuitive  ceremonial ritualist, I gently assist those who desire to navigate liminal thresholds for alchemical revelations & healing.

In the winter of my life I inspire to serve as a death & grief steward; as a humble outpost in both life & death’s sacred transitions. It is a precious honour to be entrusted to enhearten the rites of passage for the bereaved.

Blessings for all relations ~ yours in service  ~*RaVen*~

Susan Adamson

Community Facilitator

Susan brings a unique depth to grief work, drawing from decades as a Registered Nurse specializing in newborn intensive care and lactation, combined with advanced training in pre and perinatal somatic psychology, energy medicine, and Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy.

Her own grief journey began in 2023 with the dissolution of her 33-year marriage, followed six months later by the sudden death of her ex-husband from long-term alcohol abuse. Navigating this complex terrain of loss, Susan discovered The Dark Woods of Grief, where weekly somatic support groups offered her the tools and witnessing she desperately needed. After attending the 2025 winter Grief Retreat, she knew she wanted better tools to help others find their way through grief. She completed the Dark Woods of Grief Facilitator Training in 2025. 

Susan’s work sits at a powerful intersection: she understands that how we navigate grief is deeply rooted in our earliest experiences. For years, she has helped new mothers and babies heal from challenging births and medical interventions, using somatic tools to create safety for overwhelmed nervous systems. When babies are given space to tell their birth stories—to express frustration, rage, or sadness—they develop resilient coping mechanisms that shape how they’ll process trauma and loss throughout their lives.

This foundational understanding informs Susan’s grief facilitation work. She knows that when we experience traumatic loss later in life, those early imprinted patterns resurface. Just as newborns need safe, attuned holding to process their birth trauma, grieving adults need safety and security in their holding and witnessing. Susan creates that compassionate container where grief stories can be shared, emotions can move through the body, and the whole self can be honored through the pain of sorrow.

Susan is passionate about bringing her somatic expertise to those walking the often lonely and misunderstood path of grief, offering the same deep presence and nervous system attunement she has long provided to the newest and most vulnerable among us.

Ali Bowden

Community Facilitator

Ali lives on the traditional and unceded lands of the Quw’utsun people, in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, with deep gratitude for this place and its caretakers.

Her path has been profoundly shaped by the death of her beloved partner by suicide three years ago —an unchosen initiation into grief that transformed both her life and her work. Through her own healing journey, she came to understand that trusting in life again required deep presence, courage, and self-compassion. She is grateful to the many teachers whose work has supported her along the way, including Francis Weller, Megan Devine, Joanne Cacciatore, David Kessler, Linda Nicholls, Josea and the Dark Woods community, teachings and training.

Along the way, Ali discovered the healing power of creativity, particularly writing, which led her to create her Substack, And Then You Were Gone.

Ali now honours grief as sacred territory—one that invites spiritual opening, deepens self-compassion, and reminds us of the importance of community. She is a Registered Clinical Counsellor and a graduate of the ’25 Roots of Ritual Grief Tending Foundations Training. She also assists with grief retreats and the Come Alive program at Haven on Gabriola Island, and is passionate abut supporting health & wellbeing across the physical, emotional, and spiritual realms.

She brings warmth, grounded presence, humour, and thoughtful insight into her work, and is deeply honoured to support others as they find their own way through grief and back into life.

What will you gain?

Personal grief and healing skills

Learn how to enter and tend to grief in a deep, meaningful and transformative way, while also improving the ability to live with the emotional ups and downs of our day to day lives.

An Approach of Balance and Self-regulation

To approach grief skillfully allows us to avoid the extremes of either suppressing our grief or being consumed by it. You’ll learn to walk the middle path - to build your capacity to be present with your grief while staying tethered to the joys available in everyday life.

Layers of Holding

Learn how to hold space for the deepest depths of emotion - your own and that of others - while also experiencing the holding of community, nature and the ancestors.

Gently Building Capacity

Your capacity to hold yourself in these tender and vulnerable places will expand, so that then even when you are alone and grief arises, you will have more ability to stay with it. This will also increase your capacity for growth, greater self expression, leadership, and the holding of the grief of others.

Trust in Yourself Thought Commitment

It is not that this process will be easy, in fact it will be difficult and there may likely be setbacks along the way, and yet progress simply for the sake of progress was never the point. Commitment to meeting yourself and showing up for these parts is where the healing happens.

Real Life Skills

You will gain the skills to move in any direction with a profound sense of choice & resilience.

Reciprocity

You will learn to ask for help directly from each other, Nature and the Ancestors, and to offer thanks in return. Because we all need help along the way, and reciprocity is key.

“To speak of sorrow works upon it, moves it from its crouched place barring the way to and from the soul’s hall.”

—Denise Levertov

What will be let go of?

You may (gently) release along the way:

  • Coping mechanisms & survival strategies that are no longer serving you
  • The belief that your grief or trauma as being worse than or not as significant as anyone else’s
  • Feeling lost, or that you have no choice, or places where you identify, unnecessarily as a victim
Subscription Details

Dark Woods Grief Support Group is a one of a kind monthly subscription group. You will be walking alongside others committed to learn the skills to consciously tend to and integrate grief and trauma and to develop the capacity to honour our individual and shared pain while holding the fullness of life.

Grief tending is a long and winding road. For many, there is no start or end date and the need for community is constant. This is why I have put together an ongoing subscription program.  

What is included in your monthly Subscription:

Weekly Live Group Grief Tending (Grief & Praise) Sessions via Zoom: These sessions are primarily process-based – including writing practices, somatic/embodied practices, and group as well as partner/trio work. If you miss a live session, they will be recorded so you can listen and do the practices on your own or with a friend.

Vibrant Online Community Forum: Our online community forum is open 24/7, where you can connect, ask for support and receive compassionate witnessing as you practice the skills you’ll be learning alongside a group of other folks deeply committed to this work. Other perks include playlists for the journey, weekly gratitude practices, writing prompts and reflections, and poetry.

Monthly Live Meditation for Emotional Healing Sessions with Elizabeth via Zoom: Elizabeth is Josea’s long-time mentor & dear friend and holds a very powerful heart-centred space for transformation & awakening into our true nature which is LOVE. We are blessed to have the opportunity to sit with her in this group!

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Spring/Summer 2023 Dates:
March 6th & 20th
April 3rd & 17th
May 8th & 22nd
June 5th & 19th
July 3rd & 17th
August 14th & 28th
September 11th & 25th
October 9 & 23rd
November 6th & 20th
December 4th & 18th

Spring/Summer 2023 Dates:
March 22nd
April 5th & 19th
May 10th & 24th
June 7th & 21st
July 5th & 19th
August 16th & 30th
September 13th & 27th
October 11th & 25th
November 8th & 22nd
December 6th & 20th

"I highly recommend this group if you are crawling around the edges or smack in the middle of the grief stew! It's deepening a process that was already years long and well facilitated, Yet it all feels brand new And safe."

~jane, dark woods Grief Support group participant

"I'm learning so very much in my work with this group. This week I allowed myself to really feel and process some of the anger I've never felt comfortable with in regards to the deaths of my brother (30yrs) and mother (3years). I haven't cried so much or so often over their deaths as I have this past month. that's a lot of years of emotional repression. i can't explain how wonderful it feels to be witnessed in this process and held in a safe container no matter what comes to the surface. Thank you for this work. It is changing my life."

~ash, dark woods Grief Support group participant

IMPORTANT:
No Way But Through: 4 Real Life Skills for Navigating Grief & Trauma is a Prerequisite to join Dark Woods Grief Support Group

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You're not alone anymore.

partial scholarship spots available. priority will be given to single mamas, BIPOC, LGTBQ2S and other marginalized folks.

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FAQ:

YES!

As soon as you sign up you will receive a link to our online community forum where you will be able to dive in immediately to a supportive group setting. 

We have 5 live zoom sessions per month: 4 Grief & Praise sessions, and 1 Meditation for Nervous System Regulation & Emotional Healing session.

Grief & Praise sessions take place every week, alternating between Monday evenings and Wednesday mornings. Monday evening sessions are 2 hours @ 5-7pm pacific time & Wednesday morning sessions are 2 hours @ 10am-noon pacific time.

Meditation for Nervous System Regulation & Emotional Healing sessions take place once a month on Monday evenings @ 5:30-7pm pacific time.

Yes, each session is recorded. If you miss a session, you can go back and listen to it later and do the practices on your own or with a friend.

This is an ongoing monthly subscription group with a minimum of 3 months commitment. After 3 months you can cancel and opt-out anytime simply by sending us an email a minimum of 7 days before your next payment. It does take time to really land in the work together and start to feel the ripple effect this will have in your life. This work is not a “quick fix.” In fact this isn’t a ‘fix’ thing at all – it’s a reconditioning of our societal training to try to ‘fix’ ourselves and each other, and instead to recognize that the real healing happens when we stop trying to fix things and allow our souls to simply rest together, witnessing each other and simply being in attuned and compassionate presence together. 

If you miss a live session, they will be recorded so you can listen and do the practices on your own or with a friend if you choose too. There is no expectation that you attend all the sessions. Most people choose to come to 2-3 sessions per month.

You can attend as many sessions or as few as you want each month.

NO REFUNDS – MINIMUM 3 MONTH COMMITMENT – HERE’S WHY:

Dark Woods Grief Support Group is an ongoing membership group with an initial 3 month minimum commitment. After that you can cancel and opt-out anytime simply by sending us an email a minimum of 7 days before your next payment.

It’s important to us to create a safe, supportive container for this deep work. To help create that, when the core group welcomes someone new in, we want to know you are committed to at least journey a few months with us. We also want you to make that kind of commitment to your own healing. Be willing to give it a fair go – this kind of deep work doesn’t transform us overnight – it is a long slow process, and it should be that way. Sometimes when we’re in the depths of despair it can feel like we will never have a different experience. You will, but it won’t happen overnight. You need to give it time and commitment, just like anything we want in life.

Another reason we don’t offer refunds is because we offer a wonderful way for you to experience our Grief Support Group prior to joining via a prerequisite intro session, No Way But Through. If you have not yet attended one of these, please sign up HERE: https://wordpress-1311305-6059077.cloudwaysapps.com/nwbt

Questions? Email info @ darkwoodsofgrief.com 

The dark woods of grief can be frightening...

…to you if you haven’t had someone to lead you through and show you the lay of the land.

We can get stuck in the darkness of our grief, eyes-closed, terrified to open them because we don’t know what could be lurking in the shadows. And yet what is there doesn’t change, eyes open or closed.

But how do we gather the strength to open our eyes and face where we are? It helps enormously to know that we are not alone, and that we have some guidance from one who has traversed these woods before.

That’s what this group is offering. A hand to hold. Someone to lead you through the dark woods. A community to walk with you, so that you know you aren’t alone.

"Thanks Josea...

...for your wisdom, curiosity, care and attention during the course. It was a privilege and a gift to be in circle with everyone. I cherished the time we spent in vulnerable presence with each other. I learned much about holding the space for grief and being held by community, ancestors and the earth.”

~ Ahava Shira

"The work I did with Josea Tamira Crossley in 2015 and 2016 literally changed my life and was part of what saved my life from the brink of serious breakdown. Josea is hands down my go expert on how grief and trauma are held in the body and how as a community we can come together for deep healing. I have never met someone so committed to living the truth of what they teach. Truly trauma informed in her approach, if grief is even remotely something you're dealing with (even collective grief) working with Josea is necessary work! Big claim i know. I stand by it."

~ Emma McCann

register for pre-requisite intro course