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  • "The Grief Wave" Newsletter – August 15, 2025 | Voices, Moves, and Movements

"The Grief Wave" Newsletter – August 15, 2025 | Voices, Moves, and Movements

From a young chess champion to women’s global resistance, from restoring lost voices to rebuilding after wildfire, these are stories of loss met with courage, creativity, and connection.

Author

Brian Stefan
August 15, 2025

🧭 TL;DR | This Week at a Glance

♟️ Bodhana Sivanandan
A young chess prodigy showing that brilliance and heart can change the game.

🌐 Tangled Net #7
How women have turned grief into global resistance.

🎭 Catharsis Theater for Loss & Grief Relief
Aug 30, Los Angeles. Our 40th gathering since 2023.

🕯 HOPE Group
Aug 30, Online. Mindfulness and suicidal struggle with Patrick Park.

🍃 Wildwomxn Retreat
Aug 23, Los Angeles. Ritual, song, and nature for grief and resilience.

🤝 Mindful Self-Compassion
Starts Sep 4. Eight-week hybrid program with Lisa Kring.

🎉 Jack Kornfield & Trudy Goodman’s 80th
Sep 27, Hybrid. A celebration of two beloved mindfulness teachers.

🗣️ Restoring Lost Voices
UCLA’s wearable AI helps those without vocal cords speak again.

⚠️ AI Boyfriends & Meta Policy
Risks for youth navigating loneliness in the AI era.

🩺 Career Pivots to Therapy
Why more people choose healing work after change and loss.

🏛️ Palisades Community Renewal Center
Free counseling and arts programs for wildfire survivors.

🌊 California Grief Center
Therapy, groups, and training for every stage of the grief journey.

💌 Dear friends of The Grief Wave,

Circular logo of the California Grief Center featuring a stylized ocean wave in shades of blue. The outer ring contains the words “California Grief Center” in bold white letters, separated by diamond-shaped dots.

Facing the hurt — together.

Grief can be found in the stillness after a wildfire, as a community rebuilds. It can be in the wonder of a voice returning. It can be in the leap from one life’s work to another or in the connection we reach for when we feel alone.

This week’s stories show how loss can become courage, creativity, and connection. They live in Bodhana’s steady moves across the chessboard, in women’s networks that turn mourning into movements, in the quiet of mindfulness, and in healing spaces that rise from tragedy. They appear in innovations that restore identity and in life changes that lead us toward the work we are meant to do.

Whether your grief is fresh or quietly carried for years, may these stories remind you that loss changes shape, and even in the midst of it, new possibilities can take root.

♟️ A Brilliant Mind Across the Chessboard: Bodhana Sivanandan

Celebrating a young prodigy whose brilliance, composure, and determination are reshaping the future of chess.

A young girl wearing a yellow shirt sits at an outdoor chess table, smiling slightly, with a chessboard set up in front of her. Other chess boards and players are visible in the background on a sunny day in a public square.

Bodhana was selected for England Women's chess team in 2024.

At only 10 years old, Bodhana Sivanandan has stepped onto the world stage in competitive chess with humility, skill, and fierce focus. Selected for England’s women’s team in 2024, she inspires young players everywhere, especially girls who now see themselves at the board.

Like grief, chess teaches us to live with both loss and possibility. Every move is shaped by what has been taken and what remains.

♟️ Thank you, Bodhana. Your light is already changing the game.

🌐 Tangled Net #7: Women’s Global Resistance and the Power of Grief

The White Scarves and Digital Hashtags & Women's Transnational Resistance Networks

A close-up of a rope net with a white seashell, a piece of green sea glass, and a small tangle of dried seaweed caught in its strands. The blurred background shows a sandy beach and ocean waves.

In every tangled net of resistance, the personal becomes political, and the local becomes global.

From the white scarves of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo to Soviet mothers clutching zinc coffins to Black women feeding freedom riders, grief has long been a source of political courage.

Across decades and continents, these women have built networks of resistance that adapt to every form of communication while holding fast to shared values. Their work shows that grief shared can cross every border.

🎭 Catharsis Theater for Loss & Grief Relief

Saturday, August 30, 2025 | Culver City, CA | 1:00–4:30 PM

For anyone carrying loss — past, present, or to come — be witnessed, find release, and feel less alone in this psychodrama-inspired space.

"Interior of a small theater space with blue and gold tasseled curtains opening to a stage area, a framed 'Sweet Pepper' play poster on the wall, pendant lights, and a patterned bench in the foreground."

The Blue Door Theater, Downtown Culver City

Our 40th gathering since 2023. A trauma-informed, psychodrama-inspired space for emotional release, truth-telling, and collective healing. No performance. No fixing. Just presence, safety, and connection.

📍 Blue Door Theater, Culver City | 📅 Saturday, August 30 | 1:00–4:30 PM

Speak if you are ready. Be quiet if you need. Just show up.

With gratitude to ArtsUp! LA for hosting.

🕯️ HOPE Group: Sitting With the Unbearable—Mindfulness & Suicidal Struggle (with Patrick Park)

Virtual (Zoom) | Saturday, August 30 | 10:00–11:30 AM PT

“Graphic with the words ‘HOPE Group: Healing Ourselves through the Present Experience’ in colorful, elegant fonts, above a green leafy branch illustration on a light background.”

HOPE for all.

Since 2020, HOPE has been a refuge from chaos, offering space for reflection and presence. This month’s theme: mindfulness, deep suffering, and sitting with suicide, with guest Patrick Park, a senior Zen teacher.

Donation-based and open to all.

💛 Donation-based & open to all

🍃 Wildwomxn: Honoring Grief, Awakening Gratitude

Retreat Day | Saturday, August 23 | 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Benedict Canyon, LA

Person with long, straight brown hair and a calm expression, wearing a white shirt and standing outdoors with a soft-focus natural background.

Alexis Slutzky has over a decade of experience gently guiding individuals and communities through grief and change with empathy, humor, and deep insight.

Led by Alexis Slutzky, this day of ritual, journaling, nature, and song explores how grief deepens our hearts. For female-identified and non-binary individuals.

Suggested donation: $75–$150.

🗓 Saturday, August 23 | 10 AM–5 PM | Benedict Canyon

🤝 Mindful Self-Compassion 8-week Program (Hybrid: In-person & Virtual)

Starting Thursday, September 4 | 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM PT | Benedict Canyon, LA & Virtual

A woman with long dark hair, wearing a sleeveless white top and a silver necklace, smiles warmly while standing in front of a light-colored brick wall.

Lisa Kring, LCSW, is a senior InsightLA teacher for over 15 years, leading classes such as MBSR, Mindful Self- Compassion, Awakening Joy, and Basics of Mindfulness.

Taught by Lisa Kring, this evidence-based course blends Buddhist wisdom and clinical research to help you meet suffering with kindness. Includes guided meditations, discussions, and practical tools for emotional resilience. CE credits available.

Fee: $600 | With CEs: $685.

🎉 A Joyful Celebration: Honoring the 80th Birthdays of Jack Kornfield & Trudy Goodman

Saturday, September 27, 2025 | 2:00–5:00 PM PT

Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman smiling closely together on a sunny day, with Trudy wearing a large blue sunhat and Jack in a light purple shirt.

Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman—beloved teachers, partners, and pioneers in mindfulness—sharing a joyful moment ahead of their 80th birthday celebration.

Guided presence, shared stories, and gratitude for two beloved mindfulness teachers. Proceeds support InsightLA’s mission of access, equity, and care.

📅 Saturday, September 27 | 2:00–5:00 PM PT | Santa Monica + Live Online

🗣️ Restoring Lost Voices

UCLA’s wearable AI tech helps those without vocal cords speak again.

Close-up of a person’s neck wearing a small black square patch on the throat, likely a medical or technological device. The person is dressed in a white lab coat over a blue shirt.

Measuring just over 1 square inch, the device could help those with dysfunctional vocal cords regain their voice function. (Jun Chen Lab/UCLA)

UCLA bioengineers have developed a small, flexible neck patch that translates muscle movements into speech. For those with dysfunctional vocal cords, this could restore not only voices but also relationships, work, and daily connection.

⚠️ AI Boyfriends & Meta Policy Controversy

Risks for youth navigating loneliness in the AI era.

A collage of illustrated male characters in various poses and styles, arranged on a purple background decorated with pink heart and line doodles. The images are taped and adorned with paper hearts, giving the appearance of a scrapbook or mood board.

The most popular Character.AI boyfriends have surprising traits. Credit: Zain bin Awais/Mashable composite; CharacterAI; MirageC/CostaRossi/ via Getty Images

A white rectangular sign with rounded edges hangs from a black metal truss, displaying the blue infinity-shaped Meta logo next to the word "Meta" in black text.

Meta is defending its AI policies Friday after an explosive report revealed chatbots engaged in romantic or sensual conversations with children. Chesnot/Getty Images

Reports show that some AI chatbots engage in inappropriate or abusive conversations with minors. Experts warn these patterns could shape expectations for future relationships, highlighting the need for safe, healthy alternatives.

🩺 Career Pivots to Therapy

Employment of mental-health clinicians is projected to grow by 18% by 2033

A nighttime view of a building facade showing a grid of lit office windows. Most rooms contain empty office chairs and desks, while a few have unusual items, including a brown tufted couch, a black chaise lounge, and a person seated in front of a therapy couch.

Victoria Rosselli/WSJ; Alamy, Getty Images

As industries change, many artists, writers, and performers are becoming therapists, often after personal loss or a search for meaning. The work transforms lived experience into healing for others.

🏛️ Palisades Community Renewal Center

Free counseling and arts programs for wildfire survivors.

Entrance of the Palisades Community Renewal Center, featuring a lime green exterior wall with a teal overhang displaying the name "Palisades Community Renewal Center" and the acronym "PCRC" in white letters. The logo is also on the glass double doors, with ornamental grass in the foreground.

Palisades Community Renewal Center in Santa Monica, CA.

For those affected by the January 2025 wildfires, the PCRC offers free trauma-informed counseling, arts programming, and wellness events in partnership with Maple Counseling Center and P.S. ARTS.

🌊 Get Help from the California Grief Center

“Smiling bald man, Brian Stefan, with a beard wearing a suit jacket and open-collar shirt, pictured against a light blue background.”

Brian Stefan, LCSW
Founder & Clinical Director
California Grief Center

You do not have to grieve alone. Whether you have lost someone, lost your way, or carry unspoken sorrow, there is a place for you here.

What We Offer:

  • Grief Therapy (in-person and virtual)

  • Catharsis Theater (monthly gatherings)

  • Virtual Support Groups (confidential and facilitated)

  • Grief Counselor Training (Fall 2025)

Our Philosophy: We do not treat grief as a problem. We treat it as a passage.
Consultations are always free.

💛 With care,
Brian Stefan, LCSW
Founder & Clinical Director
California Grief Center

✅ P.S. Know someone quietly grieving?
👉 Forward this letter. You never know who needs it.
💌 To get these in your inbox, sign up for The Grief Wave Newsletter.

“Logo of the California Grief Center featuring a stylized ocean wave in light and dark blue, encircled by a blue ring with the words ‘California Grief Center’ in white capital letters.”

Facing the hurt — together.