A soft place to land for grieving hearts
Amy Hyun Swart
Grief & Trauma Therapist, Group Facilitator
Grief as medicine for these times...
We are living in challenging times. There is so much destruction and unraveling of systems around us, news alerts of the latest violence and collapse occurring, and at the same time, there have never been so many opportunities to numb out and distract. Grieving is a necessary skill to be resilient to the heartache of the world, but for many of us, we have seemed to have lost our capacity to mourn over loss in our death-denying, grief-phobic culture. When a heartbreaking loss knocks us down to the ground, or a trauma from the past gets activated from a recent event, it can feel unbearable to cope, along with all that is already happening in the world. Together, we can re-remember our inherent capacity to grieve, and open our hearts to the love and beauty that is all around us, even in the midst of so much despair.
Hi, I’m Amy.
Thank you for being here. Grief can feel so isolating in our culture of "getting over it” and "moving on.” I know this from my own life experience, which is what brought me to the work I do today. As a grief and trauma therapist and group facilitator, I center my work around supporting those in the throes of grief, trauma, and loss.
Working Together.
I offer semi-annual grief groups and courses along with personalized grief support offerings. See below for details about Grief Rituals, Personalized Rituals, Crisis Response, Consultations, Grief Medicine Untrainings, and the upcoming 8-week Grief Medicine Course, with one course a year offered specifically for Black, Indigenous People and People of Color, including Multiracial Folk.
“Amy is a gifted and committed grief worker who has devoted herself to cultivating the skills necessary to provide sanctuary to those willing to tend their accumulated sorrows. Her compassion, sincerity, and warmth help to coax our hidden losses into the open where they can be tended by others. She carries a much-needed medicine for these times.”
— Francis Weller, Author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow
Upcoming Grief Medicine Events
There are lots of ways to connect in communities big and small while experiencing grief.
Explore upcoming events to find an offering that could be supportive for your process.
Grief Medicine Course
for Black, Indigenous People and People of Color
Oct 18 -
Dec 6, 2024
You are invited to an 8-week course
to accompany you on your
journey through grief.
In a culture so focused on achievement, progress, efficiency, youthfulness, and success, it’s hard to know how to be with grief — an emotion that completely disrupts our societal and emotional underpinnings. This course is here to accompany you through these rough and choppy waters by providing you with tools, education, and most importantly, connection and validation, to help you harvest the medicine grief has to offer. This medicine is well-articulated by the Mayan Shaman, Martín Prechtel, when he says, “Grief is the way love honors what it misses.” Come join us as we make meaning of our grief and honor our losses fully in the support of a safe and non-judgmental community.
Personalized Grief Support Offerings
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Personalized Rituals
Offering culturally sensitive, non-denominational grief rituals for families and communities to process grief together and feel supported after experiencing a loss. Create something personal or join us for semi-regular, in-person Grief Gatherings by the Sea in Albany, CA.
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Crisis Response
Offering culturally sensitive traumatic loss processing for communities when a loss has just happened. I have helped families, friends and communities, businesses and organizations, non-profit healthcare workers and residential treatment programs come together around the profound loss that has just happened and find a way to honor the life of the person with reverence, love, and connection with one another.
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Consultations
Offering individual consultation for those whose vocation includes holding space for grief via rituals, groups, individual therapy, or as a community leader. In our time together we can focus on whatever you need support around, whether it’s a specific case you are working on, crafting a ritual, or helping you learn to trust in your skills as facilitator.
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Grief Medicine UnTrainings
As therapists, we are seldom taught how to be with grief in our graduate programs yet loss is everywhere and every client who walks into your office is in one way or another, impacted by loss. To be well-versed in the world of grief therapy, we often have to re-examine what we learned in our programs and see what really helps our clients when they are in the throes of grief.
