✨ Less Talk, More Healing: Facing Grief & Loss Together This July

💌 Dear friends of the California Grief Center,

In a world that feels heavier by the day —
where disability rights still need defending,
where cuts to USAID and harsh domestic policies promise suffering not seen outside of war —

we gather anyway.

We gather to grieve what’s lost,
to hold what aches,
and to honor the artists, witnesses, and quiet helpers who keep lighting lanterns when the night grows long.

This July, during Disability Awareness Month, we’re reminded how systems fail — and how community so often rises to meet the gaps.

So we open our doors again:
✨ to Catharsis Theater for grief in all its forms,
🎭 to ACT gatherings that honor actors in Los Angeles — our cultural first responders,
🕯️ to gentle HOPE circles online.

Come stand with us.
Integrity still matters here.
So does care.
So does beauty — even now.

🔦 In This Issue

✨ Echoes & Endings: Remembering Tammy Faw Faw
♿ Disability Pride Month & Spotlight on ArtsUP! LA
🎭 Catharsis Theater & ACT
🌱 Rooted Together: Free Support for Communities in Crisis
🕯️ HOPE Group (Virtual)
💙 The Age of Grief: USAID, politics & compassion
💔 Grief 101: The Dual Process Model
🌊 How CGC helps & heals

🌿 Echoes & Endings

Honoring Tammy Faw Faw (Otoe-Missouria)

Tammy Faw Faw, whom we recently lost, was an Otoe-Missouria and Ioway beadwork artist, storyteller, and keeper of traditions.

She carried forward a world colonization tried to silence — one stitch, one story at a time. Her hands were fluent in memory, piecing together antique maps, Woodland floral designs, and family patterns nearly lost to time.

Tammy didn’t create for decoration.
She created to reclaim, to resist erasure, to teach young people who they are and where they come from.

So she made sure they wouldn’t. Tammy’s beadwork was living medicine — reminding us that culture breathes, memory has a pulse, and grief and joy can dwell side by side.

May we honor her by listening more deeply, learning more carefully, protecting what our ancestors left behind — and letting her memory continue as both blessing and call to action.

♿ Disability Pride Month & July 26

July is Disability Pride Month, with July 26 marking the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Disability is not rare; it runs through every family and every community. It shapes how we love, how we grieve, how we build resilience.

This month (and every month), may we stand alongside our disabled kin. A just world is one where every body and mind can exist without fear.

✨ Spotlight on ArtsUP! LA

ArtsUP! LA is one of LA’s most vital organizations at the intersection of theater, disability, and community. They transform lives through the performing arts — reaching people with disabilities, veterans, and local youth.

🎭 Theatre by the Blind

Their flagship program, Theatre by the Blind, is the only all-blind theater troupe of its kind. Visually impaired actors write, rehearse, and perform original works using:

• tactile stage mapping (learning sets by touch)

• accessible scripts in Braille or audio

Each production unfolds over six months, ending with powerful performances at The Blue Door Theatre in Culver City. Their “Butterfly Effect” school assemblies spark empathy, break stereotypes, and open hearts.

👉 Learn more & watch

🎭 Upcoming Gatherings for Support & Healing

🌌 Catharsis Theater (Los Angeles) — Our signature space for healing through grief & connection

The Constellations of Grief & Loss
🗓️ Sun, July 6 | 1–4:30 PM
📍 Blue Door Theater, Culver City | 🎟️ ~40 spots | Sliding scale

This is not therapy.
Not performance.
It’s something far older.

A brave space to explore heartbreak and change, witness each other’s stories, and remember we’re not alone.

✅ Trauma-informed
✅ Voluntary sharing only
✅ Real care & catharsis

🎭 Actors Catharsis Theater (ACT)

Supporting LA Artists through Paid Emotional Labor

🗓️ Sun, July 6 | 6–9:30 PM
📍 Blue Door Theater, Culver City | 🎟️ ~40 spots | Sliding scale

Actors often carry the emotional load of society — giving shape to our grief, hope, and humanity. ACT gatherings create space for artists to reconnect with their craft and hearts.

Bring a 2–3 min scene that matters to you. Together, we’ll select two to explore on stage — not as therapy, but as living, breathing art. A portion of donations goes directly to the lead actors (“protagonists”) who courageously step forward.

✅ Consent & safety first
✅ Trauma-informed therapeutic theater activities
✅ Pay what you can

🌱 Rooted Together: Free Support for Communities in Crisis

🗓️ Every Thursday in July
Next session: Thu, July 3 | 12–1 PM PT

Hosted by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) CA Chapter.

For ~125 years, social workers in the U.S. have served as “society’s conscience,” supporting everyone — especially those unable to support themselves at times.

🕯️ HOPE Group: Mindfulness for Deep Suffering (Virtual)

Mindfulness, deep sorrow, and shining a gentle light on this month’s topic: disability and change. With special guest speakers from ArtsUP! LA.

🗓️ Sat, July 26 | 10–11:30 AM PT
Donation-based and includes meditation, a short teaching, open sharing, and a grounding ritual.

💙 The Age of Grief

USAID is gone.
Decades of global health & hunger relief erased.
14 million lives could be at risk by 2030.

We live in a time when mercy is measured by profit.
May this grief make us brave.
Love does not need a federal line item.

👉 Read more

💔 Grief 101: The Dual Process Model

Grief isn’t linear — it’s tidal.
We move between confronting the pain (crying, remembering) and restoring life (working, laughing, finding meaning).

This is true whether your grief is past, present, or anticipated. It offers a map for navigating today’s age of collective loss.

👉 Original research | 👉 Professor Robert Neimeyer, PhD on DPM

🌊 How We Help at the California Grief Center

Grief isn’t a problem to fix.
It’s a truth to honor.

💬 Individual therapy (nationwide, virtual)
👥 Grief groups (online & in-person)
🎭 Catharsis Theater (body & story-based healing)

✨ Always free consultations.

👉 Explore more at caligrief.com

💛 With heart,
Brian Stefan, LCSW
Founder, California Grief Center
🕊️ Facing the hurt — together.

✅ P.S.
Know someone quietly grieving?
👉 Forward this letter. Everyone belongs.

👉 Sign up here to get these letters