Grief Song: A Community Circle

This gathering invites participants to share their stories and witness one another through music. During this afternoon gathering we will weave through community singing, reflection and meditation on the types of grief, group sharing, and the bulk of our time will be spent creating grief songs for at least 3-4 participants.

Though not each participant will walk away with an individual song, we find many common threads in the grief we all carry. Often a song created for one is perfect for others as well.

No singing experience is necessary and all voices are welcome. All belief systems are welcome. Open to adults 18+.

Suggested donation of $30-45, no one turned away for lack of funds.

Grief Background and inspiration:

We carry grief with us every day: grief over lost loved ones or pets, major life transitions, diagnosis, parts of ourselves that hold shame or guilt, world events, climate changes, and cultural loss to name a few forms. As humans, we were born to feel and process our feelings in community, with support of the village at our back for these major life sorrows, but in our modern society we may feel an expectation to do it alone or suppress it. This can lead to anxiety, depression, illness and isolation. Doing this work together allows us to connect our hearts and be witnessed in our deepest depths. It allows us to move this energy and make space for joy, playfulness, and gratitude.

This community space is inspired by the work of Frances Weller (Book the Wild Edge of Sorrow), and from the community grief rituals hosted by many in the Puget Sound Area including Sacred Groves, Laurence Cole, Mary Hart, Northwest Grief Tending (Siena Tenisci), Ahlay Blakely, Peter Jabin, and their teachers including Sobonfu and Malidoma Some.

About the Facilitators:

Kim Varner, Grief Mentor, has been a student of community grief ritual for years, tending her own extensive personal, ancestral and communal grief. She completed a grief tending mentorship program and began facilitating grief circles in the Edmonds area in 2024, focused on introducing grief work to her community and weaving in various healing modalities and rituals.

Gabrielle Gelfand is a Seattle-based clinician and facilitator who believes in the transformative and healing power of song. She is a therapist at Sound Behavioral Health, having recently completed her Master’s in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Somatic Psychology and has been leading singing circles and sound-based gatherings since 2017. She creates spaces that weave together music, embodiment, and community to foster connection, authenticity, and aliveness. You can find her music on Spotify or follow her on Instagram @sound__witch.