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.
Jane Spielman
Team Elder & LGTBQ2S Community Lead
Jane worked as an educator for 50 years, but is still deeply excited by and involved in focusing on creating educational spaces where students are immersed in rich natural environments that encourage their own questions and ways of knowing to drive curriculum. 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.
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.
Tecca Thompson
BIPOC Community Lead & Facilitator
Tecca Thompson is a Grief Tender and Somatic Practitioner who offers steady, compassionate presence for those navigating grief.
She is a graduate of the 2025 Cohort of the Dark Woods Roots of Ritual Foundations of Grief Tending 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
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 helplin , 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 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
