Our mission and values

Exploring grief in the natural world helps people heal.

We believe that

  • It’s important to acknowledge death and engage with loss.

  • Nature heals.

  • Community connections are powerful.

  • Grief support should be available to everyone.

  • Healing is possible.


Wild Grief’s Mission

We facilitate peer groups for children and adults who are grieving a death by creating the space for sharing, connection, and healing in nature.

Wild Grief's Vision

A vital, resilient, and connected community with a healthy response to death.

Wild Grief’s Values

Our central core values are about what we do as an organization and are how we design all of our programs.

  • Nature

  • Connection

  • Exploration

These next values hold the container and are the lens we look through to guide our decision making about how we deliver our programs.

  • Equity

  • Integrity

  • Compassion

Keep reading for a deep dive into what these values mean to us and some reflections on how we keep them alive in our work.

NATURE

We value nature and feel the ways it holds and heals us. We feel how nature guides, inspires and supports us. Nature can hold us while we grieve, makes no judgments and is big enough for all of our grief. Nature is beautiful, terrible, true, and vast. Nature challenges us and has wisdom if we can listen and observe. Nature is diverse and beautiful. We are a part of nature, and nature is a part of us and we belong together.  

Because Wild Grief values nature: 

  • We create and run programs that reflect what we have found being in nature. We come to all our senses when we notice the world around us and all we do supports participants to do so as well.

  • We encourage people to go outside and do exercises and activities that focus and reflect on nature.

  • We look to nature for inspiration and insight. We ask ourselves “does a given path get us closer to nature or further away?”

  • We know being in wild spaces is a different experience for everyone, so we always are seeking ways to overcome barriers for all participants. 

  • We care for wild places and learn to be better stewards. 

CONNECTION/COMMUNITY

We value connection, with ourselves, with other people, as well as with the land, plants, and animals. Connection can happen through sharing our stories and it can also happen through just being with each other with no words, and being present with your and other people’s grief. We believe we can go through anything as long as we don’t have to do it alone. Every person is different and has had different experiences connecting to others within their community. 

Deep, thoughtful connection is the heart of finding community and understanding our place, not only in nature but in our grief as well. In our Wild Grief community we connect with nature and others who have also experienced loss. Community is where Wild Grief works, and we hold that a strong and connected community can support a resilient response to grief.

Because Wild Grief values connection:

  • We make space in our gatherings for connecting with each other and building relationships and community. 

  • We strive to make our programs allow for a courageous space for people to connect with one another. 

  • We encourage connection in our programs by building peer support where participants have the opportunity to connect with others who have something in common- experiencing the death of someone important to them.

  • Board, guides, and staff nourish their connections with the land we are on and the history of that land.

  • We welcome all people to our programs and events and help people know they are not alone.

  • We make sure that as grief facilitators we are seeing the whole person rather than just someone experiencing grief.

  • We do our best to remain kind and genuine with each other to allow connections to grow.

EXPLORATION

We value exploration. We all learn through exploration and discovery and grief is something we also must learn. We embrace the unexpected and make space for the unknown. We are willing to try new things and make mistakes. Our grief journeys have no neat resolution, we respect that there is ambiguity in where we will land along the way. We embrace what emerges naturally, to follow the natural evolution of our community and how we can grow to best create companionship for grief journeys.

Because Wild Grief values exploration: 

  • We are open and always growing and learning, but at a natural, unhurried pace. 

  • Through connection, we allow new things to be discovered and uncovered. We allow things to emerge.

  • We offer grace to ourselves and others as we walk new pathways together. We know In the process of exploration, there will be wrong turns and stumbling. We return to an attitude of curiosity and wonder.

  • Through our programs, participants explore. We provide a place and a group to explore our emotional terrain, our grief landscape, as well as the natural landscape around us.

These next values each interact with our core values

EQUITY 

Equity and Nature: We believe that everyone needs safe access to nature. This access to nature is not historically or currently equitable and can be blocked or discouraged in many ways. Many people don't feel safe accessing nature due to their identity, resources, or abilities. We work to make sure all participants feel supported and welcome. We examine what groups of people are not joining us and seek help in encouraging and helping their participation. We understand that encouraging diversity will strengthen our communities. In nature, we see that all parts of the ecosystem are integral to its health.

Equity and Connection/Community: Community includes everyone - Wild Grief works to be anti-racist, all-inclusive and to create spaces for all grieving people to connect. We share universal experiences of loss, our feelings, and our humanity, and we know it is also important to be aware of how power and privilege can affect our assumptions and connections. Grief can take different forms or follow different traditions in different cultures.

Equity and Exploration: We bring together original voices and learn from each other new ways to see and hold grief. We are not the experts, and we stay open to learning and to sharing leadership roles. We know that we learn from what we don't know and don't experience, and that the more we are open to exploring the different voices and experiences we have at the table, the more whole and strong our work will be.

INTEGRITY

Integrity and Nature: We consider the effect of what we do on nature. We do our best to remain consistent in our actions to preserve and protect wild spaces for others and for future generations. We make choices that are better for the earth and natural environment around us. We are in solidarity and show our support for Indigenous-led movements to protect the earth.

Integrity and Connection/Community: We are responsible to our community and our connections with each other. We create systems, safeguards, and customs to create programs to protect and care for participants. We are accountable to each other and the people we serve. If we get something wrong we acknowledge and apologize, do our best to repair any damage, and learn from our mistakes to do better. We are honest and transparent about where we have room to grow, and we work to continue evolving so we can better support our community. 

Integrity and Exploration: We do not grow for growth's sake, and we stay true to our vision, mission and values. We move at the speed of trust, and believe that good work will emerge. We don't rush or force things, but instead take an exploratory approach, allowing things to be discovered along the way. We are open to new ideas and remain open to responses to these new ideas.

COMPAsSION

Compassion and Nature: Nature is big enough to hold our grief, our stories, our exhaustion. We depend on nature for our grief journeys as we connect with each other and our personal stories on the trail. When we are connected with nature, we have more capacity for compassion. We know that being outdoors can bring out our true compassionate nature.

Compassion and Connection/Community: Connection leads to compassion! We are more compassionate when we feel connected to something or someone. We see and feel the grief in our communities. We want to help our community see grief as a part of life, and work to build community connection and ways to witness and support grieving people. 

Compassion and Exploration: We acknowledge and recognize grief and grief impacts, and create a place for exploration of wherever that may lead people - with no expectations of a timeline or participants being "healed" when they are done with a WG program. We are compassionate with each other, as we know each of us are on our own journeys of exploration, discovery and healing.

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