Friends of the California Grief Center,

In the mid-1900s, a woman named Gwendolen Howard left behind the concert halls of London for a small cottage near the woods. She didn’t go to escape life. She went to meet it more fully. She opened her doors to birds—not to study or possess them, but to be in relationship with them.

She named them. She listened to them. She recognized, long before science caught up, that a bird is not a symbol or an instinct—but a someone. A blue tit who grieves. A blackbird who chooses oak leaves as ritual. A great tit who counts and co-parents and mourns.

This Sunday, as we sit at brunch or walk among blooms, may we remember the woman who reminded us: individuality is not a human trait, and love is not bound by species. She didn’t ask birds to perform. She simply let them be, and in doing so, taught us how to see again.

Let us honor those who do the unseen labor of witnessing. Those who tend without taming. Those who remind us that freedom and care can co-exist—and that the cages between us can be gently opened, one choice at a time.

🌹 Catharsis Theater: Final Grief Gathering of May

📅 Sunday, May 11 | ⏰ 1–4:30 PM | 📍 Blue Door Theater, Culver City
🎟️ Sliding Scale (Green Bottle Model) | 🌱 Adults 21+

This is our final in-person, grief-centered gathering this month for our signature Catharsis Theater event—created for those grieving someone or something that mattered. We’ll return Sunday, June 1, but first, we come together to honor what’s been lost.

If you’ve lost a parent, a child, a spouse/partner, a friend...
If you’re grieving a job, a homeland, a dream, or a future that slipped away—this is for you.

Catharsis Theater is not a show. It’s a space to be real.
With guided storytelling, simple ritual, and psychodrama techniques, we come together to witness grief and let it breathe.

You’ll never be asked to speak unless you choose to.
You don’t have to be okay. You just have to come as you are.

Held in honor of all mothers—known and unknown—and the original spirit of Mother's Day:
Not celebration, but care. Not commerce, but community.

💐 Join us to feel, to remember, to lay something down.
👉 Register Here

Proud Partnership: ArtsUP! LA’s Theatre by the Blind and the California Grief Center’s Catharsis Theater

The California Grief Center’s Catharsis Theater is proud to partner with ArtsUP! LA’s Theatre by the Blind, a trailblazing ensemble that continues to break barriers and elevate underrepresented voices through the power of live performance.

Both of our missions are rooted in community healing, radical inclusion, and the transformative magic of storytelling. In this historic collaboration, our shared stages become places of restoration, where grief is held, truth is spoken, and visibility is reclaimed—not just for those in mourning, but for those whose creativity has long gone unseen.

In a time when the political winds have shifted and community-based arts organizations like ArtsUP! LA are being targeted and underfunded, we’re making a clear choice: to stand with them. That’s why a portion of the proceeds from every Catharsis Theater show goes directly to supporting their powerful work. We are especially excited to spotlight their newest production, The Enemy of Oz, directed by Greg Shane and written by Christopher Ureña—a bold reimagining of the Emerald City where political ambition, identity, and justice collide. It’s not just a show. It’s a revolution wrapped in a ruby slipper.

Only two shows remain of The Enemy of Oz, a bold reimagining of the beloved tale where politics, power, and legacy collide on the yellow brick road.

Don’t miss your chance to experience this groundbreaking production on Friday, May 9 or Friday, May 16 at 8:00 PM.

👉 Buy Tickets Here

🧭 Circle These Dates—They’re Worth the Show-Up

💫 A Dharma Talk for the Weather of the Soul (Trudy Goodman)

Sunday | May 11, 2025 | 10:00–11:30 AM PT
Zoom | Donation-Based | Open to All

Grief keeps no calendar. Some seasons linger. Some comfort comes like rain to drought. On May 11, Trudy Goodman—InsightLA’s founder—offers space to arrive, where sorrow is honored and presence is shared.

This is not a lecture. It’s shared stillness. A guided return. A reminder that in tender times, community can hold us and help us carry the weight.

🕯️ Come as you are. We’ll be here—ready to receive.
👉 Register Here

💸 Facing Financial Fear
A Catharsis Theater Journey Through Work, Worth & Wreckage

📅 Sunday, May 18 | ⏰ 1–4:30 PM | 📍 Blue Door Theater, Culver City
🎟️ Sliding Scale (Green Bottle Model) | 🌱 Adults 21+

As the world reels from instability and economic pressure deepens, countless people bear the weight of financial grief—silent, but profoundly real.

It shows up in debt. In silence. In lost careers, stalled plans, and the quiet dread that grows with each rising cost.

Financial grief is silent, dense, and everywhere.

Using psychodrama, shared story, and group process, we’ll give language to pain and reclaim our breath, voice, and agency. No forced cheer. No need to impress. Just a place to feel—and consider the next true step in our money lives.

✨ Featuring:
– Nikki Lewis (Sage Haven Therapy)
– Brian Stefan, LCSW (California Grief Center)
– Suzy Taylor, trauma-informed financial planner offering tools, insight & post-event support

🙋 No previous experience needed. Just come as you are.
🔗 Register Here

Let’s gather not just to survive—but to grieve, breathe, and begin again. Together.

🌿 HOPE Group: Healing Ourselves through the Present Experience
with Dr. Jamie Gamboa

Saturday | May 31, 2025 | 10:00–11:30 AM PT
Zoom | Donation-Based | Open to All

Since 2020, HOPE Group has been a steady refuge for those in deep suffering—a space where nothing must be solved, only welcomed. Together, we practice being with what’s here, trusting that healing arises not from the past or future, but in this very moment.

This month’s gathering, Spotlight on Suicide (SOS), invites us to face sorrow with honesty. No need to escape it. No need to polish it. Just draw near and breathe.

Dr. Jamie Gamboa will lead us in the quiet healing of presence—the kind that doesn’t reject pain, but holds it until it begins to soften.

🕯️ Come as you are. No story too heavy, no silence too deep.
👉 Register Here

🌊 More About California Grief Center

A Refuge for the Grieving, a Light for the Adrift

Grief isn’t a problem to solve—it’s a weight to hold. Like waves, it rolls in sudden, full of echoes, thick with ache. At the California Grief Center, we don’t rush the storm. We keep the fire burning.

From one-on-one support to Catharsis Theater’s deep-sea dives, we help people find their footing in the swell. We travel with students, parents, and whole communities—and now extend virtual care, wherever you roam.

🌀 Connect with us at www.caligrief.com

—Brian Stefan, LCSW
California Grief Center Founder