Widening Circles: A Grief Tending Learning Journey

Friday 8th May, 6.30pm-8.30pm & Sat 9th May, 10am-5pm

Follow-up Zoom Sessions on Tues 9th June & Tues 14th July

A practical and inspirational workshop programme for anyone interested in forming a grief tending peer group, and for professionals working in any context where grief is an issue.

Imagine if every community had the support, wisdom and resources to tend grief together for personal healing, community belonging, and collective wholeness?

We are passionate about growing the Grief Tending in community movement to complement other approaches for meeting grief and loss. By working together, our vision is to create a healthier culture where more and more individuals and communities are equipped with the skills and capacity to meet grief and loss in transformative, life-giving ways.

A prerequisite for attending this programme is that you have attended a half-day (or longer) workshop with Norfolk Grief Tending or with others working in the same tradition. If you are new to Grief Tending in community, please book your place on ‘Share Your Grief’on Saturday 25th April or contact us for dates of upcoming events offered by our colleagues.

Who Is It For?

• Have you taken part in a grief tending circle, and feel inspired to find out more about this approach?
• Are you working in a professional capacity with people experiencing grief, and keen to explore how this community approach could inform your work?
• Are you looking to become more confident about approaching grief (your own and others) and feel drawn to the idea of growing a more grief-literate culture?
• Are you curious about the crossover between professional and peer-led approaches to healing, and the interplay between individual and collective wellbeing?
• Are you interested in learning how to set up your own group or in helping your community form a grief tending peer group?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, you would be welcome to join us for this learning journey to explore these and other questions.

This programme would also be a good first step if you are interested in becoming a grief tending facilitator. We recommend the Apprenticing to Grief programme offered by Grief Tending in Community for those who wish to further hone their facilitation skills in this context.

Bookings will close at 12pm on Friday 8th May.

If you can't make this date, please email us to be added to the waiting list to be notified of the next date. This is likely to be in November but if there's sufficient interest we may schedule another sooner.

What to Expect

We will look at how a self-facilitating group can create their own grief tending space, drawing on learnings from other peer-group models. We will explore the flow of the Grief Tending in community journey and you will have a chance to facilitate a grief tending process in a supported environment. We will also explore questions around ethics and group membership.

The emphasis for this programme is on designing a small group journey and holding short grief tending processes. While we may touch on the skills and competencies needed to safely facilitate more in-depth group journeys and ceremonies, you may wish to explore further training and development options to support you in this.

One of the learning outcomes from this programme is an increased ability to assess our own level of competence, to invite feedback from trusted colleagues and guides, and to identify ongoing development and support needs. The follow-up Zoom sessions are specifically designed to open this territory further, as we journey together in an ongoing inquiry around competence and qualification, safety and ethics within this unique and growing field of community grief tending.

You will receive a handbook to supplement the group learning journey, which contains background notes and a template to help you design a grief tending process, as well as resources to help you work out the nuts and bolts of setting up a group.

More About the Programme

Our broad aim is to encourage ongoing connections and community outside of workshop spaces, calling forth the facilitator in us all and helping to build regenerative culture in all its forms. We have shaped a programme around the following elements:

_ Group Formation in the Context of Grief Tending _

We'll explore how groups form (including this one) and how we can create the kind of group culture that will support this work. We'll also look at the differences and overlaps between facilitated grief tending spaces and peer-led groups, and we'll begin exploring the key elements of the Grief Tending in community approach.

_ The Flow of the Grief Tending Journey _

We'll look in more detail at each element of the approach we're working with: from welcoming and framing, to building the banks and surfacing grief, to expressing our grief, soothing and integration.

_ Playtime! _

This will be an opportunity for members of the group (those who wish to) to have a trial run of a group session using the template set out in the handbook. We'll reflect together on any learnings and questions arising, and we will also look at questions around ethics and membership of the group.

_ Follow-up Zoom Sessions on Tuesday 9th June & Tuesday 17th July _

The follow-up Zoom sessions on Tuesday 9th June & Tuesday 14th July (6.30pm-8.30pm) are offered to help you to consolidate your learning and work out the next steps for your context and setting. These sessions will be recorded and sent to all participants afterwards.

The Gifting Approach - Pay What You Can

All our events are offered on a gift basis, which means there’s no financial barrier to participation. This is a bit different to simply inviting donations. We’re asking you to feel into a contribution that feels right for you.

When you register, you'll need to pay a placeholder deposit - we suggest £25, but you can choose the amount.

We will send you guidelines to help you decide the total amount of your gift for this learning journey. As well as taking into consideration what you can afford, we will also ask you to bear in mind how much you would pay elsewhere for something similar - probably between £100 and £400. It is also fine for you to gift less or more than this.

We will ask for the balance to be paid 10 days before the event. You are also welcome to pay by monthly instalments.