Feeling overwhelmed? Free Catharsis Theater for Anxiety and Stress this Sunday + HOPE Group on Saturday

💌 Dear Friends of the California Grief Center,

In a world that tells us to numb, hide, or power through—we choose another way.
We gather to feel.
To name what hurts.
To remember we are not alone.

This week, we honor truth-tellers and caretakers. We grieve what’s shifting in the world—and offer spaces to steady ourselves in the storm.

🔦 IN THIS ISSUE

🕊️ Honoring Toni Morrison: Surviving Whole in a Wounded World
⚙️ How AI Threatens Women’s Work—And What We Can Do
💔 Upcoming Healing Events (Live & Virtual)
💨 Sunday: FREE Catharsis Theater for Anxiety, Stress & Panic
🕯️ Saturday: HOPE Group — Mindfulness, Suicide & Silent Pain
🌊 What We Offer at the California Grief Center

🕊️ Toni Morrison: A Voice That Carried Us Home

This week at the California Grief Center, we honor the towering legacy of Toni Morrison—novelist, editor, truth-teller, and the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her stories didn’t just speak about Black life—they spoke from it, with lyricism, fire, and soul.

She saw language as our birthright.
As she once said, “We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.”

With Beloved, she gave voice to the unspeakable. With The Bluest Eye, she held up a mirror to a child’s sorrow—and made a nation look. With every book, she carved out space for dignity, imagination, and survival.

Toni Morrison didn’t write for the white gaze. She wrote for us—for the silenced, the searching, the defiant. She reminded us that survival isn’t passive. It’s creative. It’s sacred. And it’s ours.

“You have to do something interesting that you respect in between,” she said of life’s span between birth and death.

To Toni—and to all who create beauty from pain, meaning from loss, and truth from silence—we say:
We remember. We are grateful. We continue the work. 🔥📚

Rest in power.

📺 Watch the video: Toni Morrison on trauma, survival, and meaning

We share this as a reminder: even when everything hurts, you still get to choose what you create with your life.

💔 A Call to Awareness: AI & the Future of Women’s Work

A new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO) reveals that jobs held by women are three times more vulnerable to AI-driven transformation or replacement than those held by men.

Clerical, caregiving, and administrative roles—jobs disproportionately filled by women—are most at risk. In high-income countries, nearly 1 in 10 women work in jobs exposed to AI. For men, it’s just 3.5%.

This is not science fiction. It’s right now.
And it affects mothers, grandmothers, and daughters whose labor already goes unseen.

Let’s not wait until the damage is irreversible.

📖 Full Report →
💡 ILO Working Paper 140 – May 2025
We need policy, awareness, and community care—now.

These findings call for action—not just from policymakers, but from all of us. Awareness matters. So does solidarity.

💨 Sunday, June 1 — FREE Workshop

🌬️ The Only Way Out: Releasing Anxiety with Catharsis Theater
A once-a-month healing session for stress, panic & inner chaos

🗓 Sunday, June 1
🕐 1:30–4:00 PM PT
📍 Blue Door Theater (Downtown Culver City)
💵 FREE | For adults (ages 18+) | Light refreshments provided

✨ Facilitated by Brian Stefan, LCSW

“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” — Søren Kierkegaard

This is not a lecture. Not a performance. Not therapy.
It’s a trauma-informed, psychodrama-based experience.
One of the most powerful, evidence-backed tools for healing emotional stuckness.

No acting. No need to speak.
Just come as you are—with your stillness, your story, your breath.

👉 Register Here – You Belong Here

In this space:
💠 Anxiety melts
💠 Stories move
💠 Bodies remember how to breathe

🕯️ Saturday, May 31 — HOPE Group

Healing Ourselves Through the Present Experience (HOPE)
🕯️Spotlight on Suicide: A Gathering for Silent Pain

HOPE Group is a gentle, guided space to sit with grief, isolation, and the thoughts we often keep hidden. Whether you’re feeling despair, numbness, or longing—this is a harbor for your heart.

🕐 10:00–11:30 AM PT | 1:00–2:30 PM ET
💻 Zoom | Donation-Based | Open to All
✨ Facilitated by Dr. Jamie Gamboa & Brian Stefan, LCSW
👉 Register Here

🌊 What We Do at the California Grief Center

Have you lost someone—or some part of yourself?
Do you feel untethered? Quietly drifting? Alone in your grief?

Grief is not a problem to fix.
It’s a presence to honor.

We walk with it—like a wave.
Not to resist it, but to ride it—together.

We offer:
💬 Individual Support
👥 Group Healing
🎭 Catharsis Theater—our signature experiential journey for grief, trauma & emotional release

🌀 Learn more at www.caligrief.com
📞 Schedule a free consultation or refer someone you love today

With heart,
Brian Stefan, LCSW
Founder, California Grief Center

🕊️ “Facing the hurt—together.”

P.S. Know someone who could use a little relief, beauty, or truth? Forward this along—they’re not alone either.