15 Sep ‘Tending Grief’
Camille Sapara Barton’s ‘Tending Grief’ presents a passionate argument for why Grief Tending spaces are needed in these changing times. It includes a section of embodied exercises to tend grief.
Camille Sapara Barton began to identify the need for tending grief as a young activist and in social justice movements.
“Tending grief can support flexible thinking, conflict resolution, trust building and somatic transformation within groups…”
Camille Sapara Barton describes the route from the collective wounds of colonisation and its legacies to the complexities of systemic trauma that are playing out in global issues today. In order to move from a culture of consumption and exploitation to a culture of care, we need to find our way back.
Tending our grief can help us to make that journey. The route from disconnection with nature, splits between mind and body, action and emotion begin here.
“We need to feel. To slow down and sense what is happening. To grieve and understand what has been lost so that we can begin to assess how to move in a different direction, not simply repeat the behaviors that have led us to this place.”
Building on the approach of the Dagara people – through Sobonfu and Malidoma Somé – who “see regular grief tending as necessary for the health of the community,” Camille Sapara Barton makes the link between untended personal grief, and how that can ripple out to impact our communities.
This book is emotionally intelligent and presents a clear map forward. Camille Sapara Barton weaves their own story and understanding with insights gathered from other writers and teachers. The second half of the book offers a series of practical exercises to explore at home or with a peer group.
I’m really grateful for this book, which is already finding its way to diverse communities of young people facing uncertainty and anxiety in the face of a changing climate, war, systems of harm, and so many other challenges. ‘Tending Grief’ offers both the framework of why we need it, and practical exercises to begin the work of Grief Tending.
If you are ready to tend your grief in a group, you can find more information and events both online and in London here. We also offer Queer Grief Tending at Queer Circle.
The textile in the photograph is an Aboriginal design from Better World Arts.
Sarah Pletts is a Grief Tender and Artist who offers workshops in London and online, sharing rituals where grief on all themes is welcome. For more information about Grief Tending events see here.
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