In Person Grief Workshops
Embracing Grief
Community Journeys
Grief Workshops That Embrace Grief and Welcome Life in London
Co-facilitated by Sarah Pletts, Tony Pletts, Bilal Nasim, Aama Sade and Others
Who is a Grief Workshop For?
A Grief workshop is both for those who want to develop tools for resilience, and for those who are interested in exploring their inner landscape through the practice of Grief Tending. We provide a space for those who also feel able to be with and witness other. For some people grief may be easy to access; while others may feel disconnected from feelings. Whether you are recovering from change, loss or separation, trying to process past experiences, or feel numb, you are welcome. People may bring challenging themes and strong expressions of emotion.
This Grief Workshop may not be suitable for those experiencing a severe mental health crisis, or those feeling particularly unsupported. We’re available to discuss this with you if you are unsure whether this event is right for you at the moment, so please don’t hesitate to contact us here.
Our London E5 venue has awkward steps and stairs – please accept our apologies if this is inaccessible for you. It is also a colourful community/home, which allows us to use the space flexibly, and offer the work at a more accessible price.
Why Grief?
We are primed to love. So as a consequence we have many different reasons to feel loss when we don’t feel held and cared for. We may suffer because of: relationship breakdown, loneliness, involuntary childlessness, bereavement, loss of health, redundancy, death of a pet, someone taking their own life, and childhood trauma to name a few. Collective trauma may also bring us to this work. These may include social injustice, cultural oppression or exclusion and fear about the future.
Grief is a Spectrum of Feelings
There are many sources of grief, there are also different ways to respond. This is because our grief may include a spectrum of feelings. These may include despair, anger, fear, numbness, overwhelm, shame, guilt, confusion, relief and gratitude. Although our Grief Workshop includes practices that welcomes these complex emotions, most importantly we first work towards feeling enough support so that we may feel safe enough. This work also invites us to recognise that we are part of the circle of life.
What To Expect
We will share experiential exercises to encourage us to connect with:
our bodies – others – support – our feelings. Everything we offer is optional.
We will gradually build trust so that we are able to share a group grief ritual. So we aim to provide a shame-free space that enables you to be yourself with whatever is present for you.
In order to create a ritual space we may use one or more shrines. In addition we may use objects or images to support us, and look for ways to connect to our grief. We may also work with the element of water. The day may include song, movement and celebration. It may also include clothed consensual touch, (although everything is optional).
We draw on exercises from Francis Weller, Joanna Macy, Maeve Gavin and others, and are inspired by the writing of Sobonfu E Somé and Malidoma Patrice Somé.
GSRD Friendly – we welcome gender, sex and relationship diversity at our events.
Why Grief Tending?
Some cultures have developed practical ways to process emotions. In the city, because we are often disconnected from nature, we have lost many of our old ways. So this grief workshop invites us to bring our urban digital selves back into connection with our bodies, our feelings and each other.
“Because we are wired to hold each other; we need to be held in life by warm hearts and loving arms.”
Sophy Banks
So we invite you to bring your human heart, your vulnerability and your willingness to be curious.
“Water resets a system gone dry. In this western culture the most crucial task requiring the reconciling energy of water may be the confrontation of overwhelming contradictory emotions carried by people.”
Malidoma Patrice Somé
Next Embracing Grief Workshops in London:
Embracing Grief – One Day Community Journey
Saturday 28th February 2026 10am-6pm in London E5.
With Sarah, Tony & Aama Sade. More information and book here.
Embracing Grief – One Day Community Journey
Saturday 21st March 2026 10am-6pm in London E5.
With Sarah, Tony & Aama Sade. More information and book here.
Tending the Heart – A Communal Grief Ritual
With Sophy Banks, Sarah & Tony Pletts, Bilal Nasim, Aama Sade
Saturday 11th April 2026 3-7pm in London E5
More information and book here.
Next Embracing Grief Wild Event in Devon Summer 2026 tbc
Participant Testimonials:
“It was such a heart soothing and soul enriching experience to participate in the grief-tending space you created. I felt so utterly welcomed, free to bring whatever was alive in me, and never pressured to be anywhere I wasn’t. I had moments of feeling a huge resilience in myself, and was allowed to dance with that, and invite what was hiding underneath. The space that you created felt so balanced between giving room for individual experience and grounding it in the safety of our communal experience.”
“It was such a gift to be in a space which was so beautifully prepared with so much attention to detail and so lovingly held. It was a heart opening experience to let grief collectively move through us as a group and feel the connection, and for me a deeply soothing experience.”
