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Community Grieving for Greater Connection
August 5 @ 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM CDT
Community Grieving for Greater Connection A Panel Discussion
Tuesday August 5, 2025
- Pacific time: 10am-12pm
- Mountain time: 11am-1pm
- Central time: 12pm-2pm
- Eastern time: 1pm-3pm
View your local time here.
This event is a part of the Liberation Learning Series which runs bi-weekly on Tuesdays from June 10 to September 30, 2025.
Join us to untangle the painful yet powerful work of processing grief within community in this panel discussion with LaURa Schmidt, Jessica Serrante, and Bernadette Pleasant, facilitated by FIC’s Programs Director and community grief-tender, Sabrina Simon.
About the event
Most of us are grieving the collapse of systems we once believed would benefit us. Political wars, genocide, greed, financial insecurity, social injustice, and the declining health of our planet are becoming the norm.
Intentional communities provide a necessary alternative for a more cooperative and hopeful future, yet they are not immune to the impacts of global crises. During this “Great Turning” (a term coined by Joanna Macy), there is collective strength and deeper connection to be made from processing our grief in community.
The late activist, Joanna Macy, puts it beautifully:
“Don’t apologize for the sorrow, grief, and rage you feel. It is a measure of your humanity and your maturity. It is a measure of your open heart, and as your heart breaks open there will be room for the world to heal. The wave of the future is on the local level. Don’t waste your heart and mind trying to pull down what is already destroying itself. But come into where you’re almost below the radar and reorganize life. We want communities where we live and work and fight for the future.”
In this panel-led discussion, we’ll hear from community leaders who center grief work and understand the power it holds when practiced together. You’ll be invited to explore your own grief and leave with tools and resources for deepening this work within yourself and your community.
In this session, you’ll learn about:
- Learn how to access personal and collective grief while taking care of your nervous system and respecting your capacity
- Learn how community leaders are working with grief within their communities
- Discover ways of introducing grief work to your community through ritual and ceremony, writing, gathering, singing, and movement
- Discover how working with grief in community will build stronger connections and greater compassion
About the Panelists
Bernadette Pleasant
Bernadette is a passionate entrepreneur, somatic healer, Certified Grief Educator, End of Life Doula, and visionary thought leader committed to guiding others toward emotional freedom and embodied healing. With vibrant energy, fierce love, and deep compassion, she creates spaces where people—especially Black and Brown communities—can explore the full spectrum of their emotions, from joy to grief and everything in between.
As the Founder of The Emotional Institute, Bernadette has created a collection of transformative programs that blend ritual, movement, and soulful guidance to support emotional liberation and healing. Her signature offerings include:
● The Emotional Tour – A somatic healing experience combining African drumming and dance to release stuck emotions and connect with the soul.
● Sacred Silence – A journey into restful rituals through guided, silent, and moving meditation.
● Rest As Ritual – A sanctuary that honors rest as a sacred and revolutionary act.
● Sacred Rose Ceremony – An intimate ritual for receiving, witnessing, and celebrating your essence.
● Grief Rituals – Deeply rooted ceremonial spaces that honor collective and individual grief, ancestral lineage, and emotional release. This includes What Wasn’t Said, a powerful grief ritual designed to help participants access and express the often unspoken layers of pain and loss.
Jessica Serrante
Jess is a coach, trainer, facilitator, podcaster and organizer— all with one common purpose: to empower the brave, brilliant, and visionary people who are leading the way in creating a more just and life sustaining world.
In 2014, Jess met Joanna Macy, who became a friend, mentor and thought partner. Joanna shared her life’s work, The Work That Reconnects, with Jess and supported her to integrate Joanna’s teachings into her life and work. Together, Jess and Joanna host the podcast, We Are The Great Turning.
Jess co-founded and led the Radical Support Collective from 2016 to 2023, coaching and leading programs for climate and social justice leaders.
From 2019 to 2022, she volunteered with Extinction Rebellion and Sunrise Movement, participating in actions, leading non-violent direct action trainings, and coaching organizational leaders.
Laura Schmidt
LaUra (she/her) is the founder of the Good Grief Network and the brain behind the “10-Steps to Resilience & Empowerment in a Chaotic Climate” program and the FLOW Facilitation Training. She is a truth seeker, community builder, cultural critic, trainer, program designer, and facilitator. As the granddaughter and grandniece of holocaust survivors, LaUra has long been captivated by the human condition. She is a lifelong student, curator, and practitioner of personal and collective resilience strategies. Inspiration finds her in natural landscapes and honest, open-hearted dialogue.
While a bit of a nomad, she hails from Michigan, and graduated with a BS in Environmental Studies, Biology, and Religious Studies. Her MS is in Environmental Humanities.
LaUra is a Climate Reality Leadership Corps member & mentor. She has earned certificates in “Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy” and “Climate Psychology.”
LaUra & Aimee’s book on Good Grief Network’s unique 10-Step program is called How to Live in a Chaotic Climate: 10 Steps to Reconnect with Ourselves, Our Communities, and Our Planet.
Sabrina Simon
Sabrina is a grief-tender using embodiment practices, ritual, song, yoga, breathwork and Thai yoga massage in a woven form of facilitating emotional release. She practices emotional release in community settings and one-on-one, through cathartic expressions and through slowly supporting safety within the nervous system. Currently, she facilitates “Grief and Praise” virtual support groups.
She was initiated into grief work by the loss of her son, Jude in 2022. Since then, she has made her grief her ally and greatest teacher. She aims to bring the conscious tending of grief to her communities and especially to underserved populations.
Sabrina has completed 700 hours of Yoga Teacher Training through School Yoga Institute and the Paramanand Institute of Yoga Sciences and Research; she learned Thai Yoga Massage through Hadadi Thai Massage in Lisbon, Portugal; she studied sacred space holding through the Kula Collective in Guatemala; and she has learned to use her gift of song through many ceremonies over the world. She is a graduate of the 2024 Cohort of the Dark Woods Grief Tending & Ritual Facilitation Training.
Location
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The Online Event Experience
Live Zoom Sessions
Nothing pre-recorded here! When you sign-up for an event with FIC, you’ll have the opportunity to join a live session on Zoom with the event presenter/facilitator and other participants.
Affordable and Accessible
All our events are run on a sliding scale basis. Generous donations cover the costs for low-income attendees. FIC is committed to making our programs accessible to people of all walks of life.
Watch the Recording
You’ll receive the recording of your event to view for 60 days. So don’t worry if you can’t attend a live session. Watch or listen whenever it is convenient for you. Transcripts available upon request.
Registration
