Dark Woods

Grief Support Group

Join a Live Ongoing Zoom Support Group
Where Grief in All Forms is Welcome

what people are saying about THIS GROUP

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.

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

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

"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.

Come as you are.

$125 USD a 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.

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

monthly Membership

$125 usd/month

registration closes February 7th 2025

NOTE: SCHOLARSHIP INFO FOR LOW INCOME FOLKS

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, $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.

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

but what actually is

Grief?

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.

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

Yet with every loss, every life change and transition, every personal evolution, there is an emotional process that needs to unfold.

Even if we’re excited about moving in new directions, and becoming more of who we are, we need to release the energy of the person, life, and experiences that we’re leaving behind.
Not to mention, we carry in our bodies the trouble in the world around us, seemingly not ours, yet still felt by our soul, our body, and our heart as we’re interconnected with all things.
This too, we need a place to metabolize.

Through the Dark Woods Membership Group is a carefully curated container to address grief in ALL its forms. A consent-based place where emotion is welcome.

“Grief is the expression of healing in motion. As you make the seemingly bottomless descent, it helps to remember that grief is the downpour your soul has been thirsting for. Because what remains hidden for too long doesn’t change. It is calcified in place, often sealed by shame, left untouched and forgotten by time. But when it can finally come into the open to be seen, it is exposed to new conditions and it begins to move. It rises on a salty geyser of tears, sometimes sung to the surface by a terrific moan, streaming down our cheeks until it moistens the soil where we stand, preparing us for new growth.”
—Toko-pa Turner, Belonging

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

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 am a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor through ACCT Canada and can provide receipts for both 1:1 counselling and group work.

I currently live, work & play in the seaside mountain town of qathet, BC, on the traditional territory of the Tla’amin people.

Elizabeth Claire Burr

Meditation for Nervous system regulation & emotional healing Facilitator

Elizabeth has been studying the Vajrayana & Nature of Mind teachings in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition with Mingyur Rinpoche since 2008. **She has taken the Bodhisattva vow, and her deepest aspiration is to support all beings with wisdom and compassion and to practice this in the world as best she can. This has come to manifest in many forms; meditation and yoga teacher, cranial sacral and somatic therapist, founder/owner of a healing arts center, kirtan leader, doula, mothering, mentoring and sacred partnership.
She embodies compassion and joy in a way that is rare in this world, and people often say they experience Love of the Divine, self and each other in a way they haven’t before when being in her presence. She currently resides by the ocean on the traditional territory of the Ligwilda’xw people; the We Wai Kai, Wei Wai Kum and Kwiakah First Nation.

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.

Sabrina Simon

BIPOC Community Lead & Facilitator

Sabrina is a world traveler, singer, and a Creatrix and contributor towards a new embodied culture. She uses embodiment practices, ritual, song, yoga, breathwork and Thai yoga massage in a beautifully woven form of facilitating emotional release. She values the processes of emotional release through cathartic expressions along with bringing support and safety to the nervous system.

She was initiated into grief work by the loss of her son, Jude, during preterm labor in 2022. Since then, she has made her grief her ally and greatest teacher. She aims to bring the conscious tending of grief to her communities and especially to underserved populations.

Sabrina has completed 700 hours of Yoga Teacher Training through School Yoga Institute and the Paramanand Institute of Yoga Sciences and Research; she learned Thai Yoga Massage through Hadadi Thai Massage in Lisbon, Portugal; she studied sacred space holding through the Kula Collective in Guatemala; and she has learned to use her gift of song through many ceremonies over the world. She is a graduate of the 2024 Cohort of the Dark Woods Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training.

Madison Steadwell

Online Community Manager, Facilitator & Neurodivergent Community Lead

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, the land she was born on. She is currently studying Social Work at Lakehead University. She has also completed two years of study at Wisdom of the Earth Wilderness School, and reverently carries the medicine of deep nature connection and community building.

The loss of village and colonization being one of her most heartbreaking griefs, she is devoted to learning and embodying the old wisdom, stories, rituals, and traditions of her ancestors with the intention of healing. She is also a graduating student of both Year 1 and 2 of the Dark Woods Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training.

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

SaNaz Hosseini

community 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 Lefevre

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.

Sitka Moss

Community Facilitator

Sitka is one of many of us who were born into grief, and her commitment has been to transform her wounds into gifts for the world. Her capacity, expanded through her own walk with grief, shows up in her ability and willingness to hold space for all types of grief.

Rooted in deep teachings of Great Mother Earth, she guides others with an unending well of compassion. She is a practicing Witch and brings elements of Earth-based magic to everything she does. Her unique approach is rooted in ritual and woven with a diverse approach from her elders and teachers.

She has learned from and sat in ritual with Terese Charvet, Laurence Cole, Tere Carranza and Mary Hart of Sacred Groves. Through this, she has been immersed in the teachings of Malidoma and Sobonfu Some who brought traditional Dagara grief ritual to North America in the 90’s. She is also a graduate of the 2024 Dark Woods Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training.

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.

Madisen HILLIGOSS

Community Facilitator

Madisen has lived along the Columbia River, the Salish Sea, and the surrounding mountains her whole life. As a sensitive child she spent her time among the trees and making art- two things that would later help her on her journey with grief.

She was initiated into grief at the tender age of 15 when both her father and her dog died within a few months. She knows from experience that there is not enough support in the world for grievers and is passionate about extending a hand to others on this journey. She also carries gratitude for her early acquaintance with grief, as it has kept her aligned with her heart her whole adult life.

Madisen is currently living on the lands of the Coast Salish peoples near Seattle, and can be found skiing, making natural paints, hide tanning, and teaching nature connection to kids when she isn’t facilitating in our Dark Woods Grief Support Group! She is a graduating student of the 2024 Dark Woods Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training.

Kylie Judge, RTC

Community Facilitator

Kylie is passionate about living with the awareness of the inevitability of death, and she believes that when we can soften into this truth, it becomes possible to orient ourselves to living our most authentic lives. She found this embodied understanding in the experience of living with chronic illness for 25 years, and a rough initiation into grief and loss in 2016. She is passionate about creating supportive, nourishing spaces where we can come together and honour our experiences – our grief and ultimately our love. She is committed to deep listening, compassion and remembering our ancient roots together.

Kylie has a background in Education and spent the past 2.5 years working with Hospice offering grief counselling, creating programming and providing advanced care planning for clients and families. In 2023, she graduated from a three-year diploma program in Transpersonal Psychology and Counselling and is a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor with The Association of Cooperative Therapists of Canada. She is a graduate of the Dark Woods Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Program and is a Certified Bereavement Care Provider with the MISS Foundation for traumatic grief and bereavement. She is currently working in private practice, offering somatic relational support in-person and virtually, with a focus on grief and conscious breathwork.

What will you gain?

“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:

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 of $125:

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!

registration Closes February 7th 2025

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

monthly payment plan

$125 USD/month

registration open now!

quarterly payment plan

$333 USD/3 months

registration open now!

"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

You're not alone anymore.

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

FAQ:

Can I join any time?

No. We open our group quarterly for registration. Currently our doors are open but will be closing on February 7th, 2025. After then, our doors will re-open in late spring of 2025.

What happens when I join?

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.

When are the live group Zoom sessions?

Dates of 2025 Winter/Spring Grief & Praise Sessions:

Monday evening sessions are 2 hours @ 5-7pm PST

January 6th & 20th

February 3rd & 17th

March 3rd & 17th

April 7th & 21st

May 5th & 19th

Wednesday morning sessions are 2 hours @ 9-11am PST

January 15th & 29th

February 12th & 26th

March 12th & 26th

April 16th & 30th

May 14th & 28th

Dates of 2025 Winter/Spring Meditation for Nervous System Regulation & Emotional Healing Sessions:

Monday evenings @ 5:30-7pm PST

January 13th

February 10th

March 10th

April 14th

May 12th

Are sessions recorded?

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.

Can I cancel my subscription anytime?

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.

What if I can’t attend a live session?

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.

What is the time commitment?

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

Can I get a refund if I decide to cancel?

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://darkwoodsofgrief.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.

I have over 20 years of study and experience in working with trauma and grief and have been facilitating Grief Ritual and process work for the past four years. My work is grounded in training in Somatic Therapy, Attachment Theory, Healing Sexual Trauma, Deep Nature Connection, Craniosacral therapy, Somato Emotional Release, Shamanic Study, Tibetan Buddhism and Yoga.

I have trained with expert grief facilitators Francis Weller (author, Wild Edge of Sorrow) and Randy Jones (author, Medicine Without an Expiry Date), as well as key Somatic & Relational Therapy teachers Mariah Moser (Relational Somatic Psychotherapy), Peter Levine (SE), Diane Poole Heller (DARe), Irene Lyon (SmartBodySmartMind), Elizabeth Claire Burr (CST, SER & Vijnana Yoga) & 8 Shields Institute.

I am a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor through the Association of Cooperative Counselling Therapists of Canada and am generally covered by Pacific Blue Cross, Sun Life, Manulife, Claimsecure, Equitable Life of Canada, Alberta Blue Cross & Green Shield and can provide receipts for both 1:1 counselling and group work.

"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."