A year ago Woven began hosting Conversations on Communal Grieving, understanding that “conversation”—occurring in the limited realm of words—would eventually lead to something less linguistic, more visceral, more multi-sensory. What has already emerged goes beyond our expectations and we feel humbled by the tenderness, loss, dignity, and trust that we’ve encountered. We aim to honor the humans whose lives have become integral to Woven’s conversation on communal grieving by sharing some of their gifts with you, our community.
Last December Woven was gifted a $12,000 donation from the Selesko Foundation in memory of Erika Glownia, whose life was extinguished by fentanyl in August of 2023. With a deep breath into our hearts, we pause here to honor Erika, her life, and her family’s loss.
The Selesko Foundation’s donation enabled Woven to establish two programs that offer communal grief support to people who are navigating debilitating loss. Erika’s father, Michael, was the first recipient of this funding through Woven’s new Apprenticeship with Grief program. The Apprenticeship with Grief offers a partial respite from daily expenses along with structured support for grieving in community. It also supports recipients’ engagement in their own authentic forms of multi-sensory creative expression, human connection, and community support.
Michael’s willingness to share his grieving experience has been an invaluable gift. What he found most helpful initially was connecting with others who could relate to losing a child. This was mainly through a parents’ grief group called Stronger Together that met in-person every two weeks and then became a virtual journaling group that connected once a month. Michael also found that regularly returning to ritual, both alone and in group settings, has enabled him to be present with his unfolding grief process. He expressed that invitations to embodied expression of all kinds--dancing, drumming, shaking, sobbing—helps him move the grief through his body. Michael found grief supports that were specific to his particular needs. In addition to his journaling group, he also participated in a six-month process called Sowing the Seeds of the Soul, a deep dive into Francis Weller’s work with the Five (now six) Gates of Grief. He went on to co-facilitate a deep dive into Weller's Wild Edge of Sorrow with his grief group. The rituals Woven provided to open and close the container for his Apprenticeship also helped Michael stay connected to community and feel supported by the elements of nature that are with him all the time.
The second program seeded by the Selesko Foundation’s donation is Evolving Through Grief. In September, Woven was able to give 10 people funding to help them access community support for grieving. We now carry each of these humans in our hearts and we are learning from their stories. Their willingness to access support during their time of grieving is admirable. The funding is being used for participation in grief support groups; ritual support for healing intergenerational grief; creative expressions of grief including painting, ceramics, piano, and dance; communal grief retreats; and therapeutic somatic supports.
This gift that came from the loss of Erika has been shared with others in our community who are experiencing loss. Woven is committed to continuing this seed-sowing, both to honor Erika's life and in response to the vast need we've found within our communities.
We want to acknowledge the people who nominated someone to receive this funding. Thank you for noticing a need and taking the time to nominate. And, if you are someone who nominated yourself, this is such an important part of the conversation. Identifying the grief in ourselves and asking for help is a huge act of courage. We see you.
Woven’s programs for communal grieving are ongoing. We are hosting a potent in-person offering on November 12. Ahlay Blakely is returning to Eugene following the recent release of her album WAILS: Songs for grief. We will gather in song to metabolize our grief and celebrate our aliveness. Details and registration are here.
We are currently fundraising for next year’s Evolving Through Grief scholarships. If you’d like to support this work, please donate to our Communal Grieving Fund.
For everyone who has participated in Conversations on Communal Grieving through our survey and in-person gatherings, thank you for caring enough to share your perspective. We are learning so much. We intend to host another round of in-person dialogue this winter. You can access the waitlist for those events or participate via the survey here.
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