Grief Support Articles & Insights

AUGUST NEWSLETTER Finding Ground in the Wild Grief is often described as a wilderness—vast, unpredictable, and sometimes overwhelming to navigate. But there is also profound healing in bringing those heavy, complex experiences into the actual wilderness. We recently wrapped our Grounded Outdoor pilot retreat in the majestic North Cascades. Safely guided by our wilderness lead, Natasha Lexin, we explored what it means to hold space for loss outside the confines of our daily ro

Grief is an intensely physical experience. It settles into the nervous system, making the simplest tasks—like waking up or sitting quietly—feel overwhelming. At Grounded Grief Therapy, our team spends hours holding space for this reality in sessions and groups. But healing does not pause when you leave the therapy room. You still have to wake up, make your coffee, and navigate the quiet, unstructured hours of your day.

Dolly’s death is breaking hearts, pushing on other griefs inside of us, needing to join in. Many of us are drawn to grief’s invitation to take part in this communal loss of such a feisty, sparkly, warm-hearted being in these unwieldy times.

When you are deep in grief or navigating loss, the logistics of finding the right support should be the easiest part of the process. Instead, it often feels like climbing a mountain at night—searching for a clear signal and a safe path up. If you are wondering what kind of support you can access from your specific state, here is a breakdown of how clinical online grief therapy differs from nationwide virtual support.

Summer is one of those seasons that can add layers of disappointment and complexity to a grief process. For some, the inability to match, or even care about, the supposed levity and lightness of this season brings a nagging reminder of how different one’s reality is. With this often comes a new depth of isolation.

June usually promises the warmth and ease of early summer, but this year, it brought us a surprising return to winter, complete with unexpected snow showers and sudden shifts. It has been a stark, visceral reminder of life's unpredictable cycles: the constant burning down and building back up. Just as we watch the abrupt shifts in the weather or the baby scrub jays suddenly leaving their nest, we experience these same unpredictable cycles within our own inner landscapes.

April brings a different energy. Where March was the quiet, barren in-between, spring is now here—and it doesn’t ask permission. Living things wake up whether we’re ready or not: the trees, the flowers, and often, our grief. This month, we are exploring the intersection of Awakenings, Surrender, and finding our own way.

March brings the quiet magic of the in-between. It’s that strange, uneasy stretch where the trees are still bare, yet the balsam root sunflowers are just beginning to bud. While the landscape looks barren to the eye, it is actually a powerful container teeming with new life. This month, we're exploring the concept of liminal spaces in our grief.

February 20th came, and there was a moment...maybe even three that day...when the heaviness of my grief shifted. It seemed to fade, and I couldn't quite place it. Lately, that heaviness had been showing up right below my heart, then shifting into my stomach, rotating between those two residences. It had become a familiar character.

When I joined Grounded Grief I was excited to be part of a team looking to expand its support for youth and families in the Portland area. During a flurry of enthusiastic brainstorming, our Founder & Practice Lead, Katherine Hatch, and I landed on what seemed like a simple idea: a monthly blog dedicated to childhood bereavement.

The New Year is a time when many of us are fed that clarity is supposed to arrive, a new leaf is to be turned, and that our grief may feel different or better. Yet for most who are grieving, New Year's can feel quite the opposite. ​

There's something about walking through the woods that changes how we hold our grief. Maybe it's the rhythm of our footsteps on the trail. Maybe it's the way sunlight filters through the trees, or how the forest holds space without asking us to explain ourselves. Whatever it is, we've learned that some of our deepest healing happens when we take grief outside.

There's a question we've been hearing a lot lately from clients, from friends, from people in our community: How do I hold space for my own grief when the world is falling apart? It's a valid question. An important one. And one that deserves more than a quick answer or a platitude about self-care. So we're creating space to explore it together.

Join us at 7 PM on Monday, January 26, 2026 for the kind of happy hour you didn't know you needed: one where being sad is not only okay, it's the whole point.

The animal folk have always shown us the way. If you've ever lived with a dog during a difficult season, you know they have an uncanny ability to sense when something shifts in the household. They feel the tension, the sadness, the weight of what we're carrying—even when we think we're hiding it well.

Our PDX Office Just Got Even More Welcoming | There's something special about a handmade sign that says "you are welcome here." And thanks to the incredible craftsmanship of Livy Long and her partner Marcelo, our Portland office now has exactly that.

We're thrilled to announce the launch of Moving Grief Together—an outdoor walking support group starting January 2nd at Meadowbrook Local Park in Maryland. If grief has been sitting heavy lately—from loss, change, loneliness, or simply carrying too much—you're invited to walk with us.

The holidays are here. And for many of us, they're not exactly merry and bright. Maybe you're grieving a loss. Maybe you're navigating a breakup. Maybe you're just feeling the weight of loneliness or the general global angst that seems to be everywhere right now. Whatever it is, you're carrying something heavy into this season, and the pressure to be joyful about it all can feel suffocating. So we're doing something a little different this year.

On this day dedicated to Children's Grief Awareness, we are thrilled to announce that Lindsay Wooster-Halberg, MSW, LCSW has joined our team as Grounded Grief's first therapist dedicated to children and adolescents.

Children's Grief Awareness Day: A Reflection on Real Conversations | Today is Children's Grief Awareness Day, and in honor of that, I'm sharing a previous post about my kiddo's first fish death.