Grief & Harm Reduction event in Amsterdam- August 6th
Hi dear ones,
This is a quick note to share an event that I am excited about…
Some context / backstory : I realise that I can’t (and no longer want to) hold 3+ grief spaces a month. I’ve been experimenting with this pace of offering and after a season of this, I realise it’s been too heavy on my body-mind. I sense once a month or so is a better rhythm for me. As a result, I’m changing strategy. I’m considering how I can support more skill in community, supporting folks to reduce the harm(s) that come from the grief & death phobic contexts that many of us currently exist within. This new experiment - grief & harm reduction - aims to start this process of emergent learning. The first place I’m trying this out in an open, public event is with the Psychedelic Salon at Ruigoord in Amsterdam on August 6th. It is aimed at folks working in the plant medicine space as well as therapists and harm reductionists. Please share with folks that you feel will be interested. Tickets & more info here.
Lately, I've been feeling into how we can ferment culture change around grief tending? On a local level, how can we begin to reduce the harms that arise from isolation in relation to grief? From the ways we seek to bypass and numb the harm (from state violence, loss & oppression) that is present in our daily lives? What would it look like to have care-full community approaches for being with and composting grief? I feel that therapists, harm reductionists and practitioners that support people with plant medicine, will have an important role in this culture change.
It's a real pleasure to have an opportunity to begin this fermentation journey as a daylong workshop with the psychedelic salon in Amsterdam. It's on Tuesday 6th August and starts at 9.30am. In the evening, there will also be a community panel (open to folks outside the workshop) about why tending grief is necessary when thinking about introducing psychedelics into the mainstream, identifying gaps in the current infrastructure and imagining what a satisfying future could actually look and feel like. Ticket info can be found via Psychedelic Salon.
During my workshop you will learn:
*How grief impacts us outside of the context of bereavement.
* Why grief is taboo in the West.
* The Dagara approach to grief, which views it as a generative force.
* Why somatics can support tending grief and how to weave this in when working with clients.
* Strategies to support people with grief in preparation, during a psychedelic experience as well as in integration.
* How grief relates to harm reduction. Some strategies to reduce the harms that arise when people aim to bypass or numb their way through grief.
* Embodied tools and rituals to locate grief in the body and metabolise it.
* How grief relates to cultural humility and some strategies to work more compassionately with people from a range of backgrounds.