Friends of California Grief Center,

Katharine Dexter McCormick wasn’t a scientist in the lab, but without her, there would be no birth control pill. Born into privilege, she used her wealth not to preserve status, but to fight for women’s autonomy—smuggling contraceptives into the country when they were illegal and later bankrolling nearly every dollar of research behind the first oral contraceptive.

While history often credits male scientists, it was McCormick who quietly made the revolution possible. She didn’t just support research—she moved to Massachusetts to monitor it. She wasn’t a benefactor from afar; she was a strategist, a biologist, and a visionary who turned personal grief into public power.

And yet, her name remains a historical afterthought.

May her work remind us that the path to healing is shaped by those who challenge silence, fund the impossible, and never wait for permission to make change.

A Nation in Mourning: Let Grief Be Your North Star (Virtual)

Some mornings, it’s the headlines. Other days, it’s the silence. We are living through a time when the world seems to be breaking in a dozen directions at once—fires and floods, wars and whispers of them, institutions cracking, certainties vanishing. In the face of it all, it can be hard to know what to feel, let alone where to go with those feelings.

This is a place to begin.

Join grief therapist Brian Stefan, LCSW, for “A Nation in Mourning: Let Grief Be Your North Star,” a virtual refuge in a crumbling season. Part of the Mindful Grief Series, this gathering is crafted especially for federal and public service workers, caregivers, helpers, healers, activists—for anyone shouldering invisible weight and trying, still, to care.

This is not a workshop about death alone. It’s about the slow-motion heartbreak of watching the world tilt. It's about losses that don’t make the obituary pages: the loss of trust, of safety, of normal. It’s about change that came too fast, and healing that hasn’t come fast enough.

But most of all, it’s about making space—for breath, for sorrow, for each other.

Come as you are. There will be room for your honesty and your ache. There will be room for your hope, too.

Because grief, when tended to, doesn’t leave us lost—it can point us toward what matters most.

🖥️ Event Details

📅 Date: Saturday, April 12, 2025
🕒 Time:
– 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM PT
– 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM MT
– 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM CT
– 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM ET
📍 Location: Zoom (link provided after registration)
🎙️ Facilitator: Brian Stefan, LCSW (CEO & Founder, California Grief Center)
💵 Cost: Sliding Scale using Alexis J. Cunningfolk’s Green Bottle Model (Pay what you can with integrity)

👉 Register Here

💡 What to Expect

🧭 Grief as Compass
Discover how honoring our grief can guide us through burnout, apathy, and exhaustion.

📉 Naming Invisible Loss
Explore the grief tied to political regression, climate fear, and the unraveling of social safety nets.

🌀 Grounding Practices for Chaos
Learn trauma-informed tools from grief theory, mindfulness, and community care to help anchor and support you.

🤝 A Space for Truth, Not Perfection
No need to have answers, fix anything, or say the right thing. Just come as you are—tender, tired, angry, or numb.

🌱 You Belong, Just As You Are
Whether you speak or stay quiet, turn your camera on or off—your presence is powerful.

👉 Register Here

You’ll receive a confirmation email with Zoom details and simple guidelines to prepare.

Upcoming Trudy Goodman and Jack Kornfield Events

In a World on Fire, Two Beacons of Stillness
Dharma Talks with Trudy Goodman and Jack Kornfield

There’s no gentle way to say it: the world is breaking in places we didn’t know could break. And yet—here we are. Breathing. Searching. Trying to find our way back to what’s real, and what’s kind.

In the midst of all this, you are warmly invited to pause and come home to yourself.

On April 20, join two of the most beloved voices in Western mindfulness, Trudy Goodman and Jack Kornfield, as they come together for a rare and tender Dharma talk. With decades of teaching between them, and a love that has weathered time, they will offer stories, silence, and the kind of wisdom that feels like a hand on your back.

Then on May 11, Trudy returns for a more intimate session—a heartfelt gathering on how to live, really live, with presence, compassion, and steady attention to the beauty that still exists, even now.

This isn’t just about meditation. It’s about medicine for the soul.

Come as you are—overwhelmed, heartbroken, hopeful, or all three at once. There’s never been a better time to remember what holds.

📅 Register below to join these offerings with Trudy Goodman and Jack Kornfield—two great lanterns on this path:

👉 April 20 with Trudy & Jack: Register Here

👉 May 11 with Trudy: Register Here

Come as you are. Come especially if you are tired, afraid, or cracked open. These gatherings are not about fixing anything, but about remembering that we were never broken to begin with.

Upcoming Opportunities for Connection

💛 Healing Ourselves through the Present Moment (HOPE)

📅 Next Virtual Session: Saturday, April 26 | 10:00 AM (PT) | 1.5 hours (Zoom)

👉 Register Here

At the California Grief Center, we offer grief therapy and group experiences designed to support you through loss. Visit www.caligrief.com to learn more about our services and upcoming events.

With care and compassion,

Brian Stefan, LCSW

Founder, California Grief Center