Grief Ritual Training for the Climate Aware

The Centre for Climate Psychology will be offering a 3-month Grief Ritual Training for the Climate Aware, beginning on March 22, 2025, and concluding in May 24 2025.

This new, adapted training is inspired by Francis Weller’s body of work and builds upon his previous “Entering the Healing Ground: Grief Ritual Leadership Training.”

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The Long Dark — A Prolonged Season of Challenge and Renewal

From all observable indicators, the season ahead will be challenging. We have entered what could be called The Long Dark—a time of endings, decay, and dissolution. This prolonged season, spanning a generation or two, will bring tremendous challenges for the earth community. The cumulative losses will touch everything and everyone, and grief will be the keynote for the foreseeable future.

After many years of offering grief rituals, it has become clear that there is an urgent need to share this work with others. The requests are too many, and the need too pressing. It is essential that we generate a robust community of skilled grief tenders. We invite you to come learn with us.

About the Training

This training emerges from over twenty-five years of experimentation in the territory of ritual process. It is an immersive experience focused on the direct application of ritual to the various conditions our communities face due to climate change and the polycrisis. While our focus is on grief rituals, the core elements of this training extend to a wide range of circumstances.

In a time of cultural and environmental trauma, we must revision practices of communal recalibration. Rituals have long served as the means by which villages re-regulate themselves following traumatic encounters. Recalling the unforgotten wisdom that resides at the core of our psychic lives is essential to navigating the turbulent waters of these times.

What You Will Learn

This grief ritual training is based on the body of work developed by Francis Weller and is specifically tailored for individuals who are climate- and polycrisis-aware.

Through this training, you will receive teachings and experiential practices that guide you in navigating the intense emotional terrain that arises in grief ritual spaces.

We incorporate a blend of poetry, ritual, somatics, and imagination to deepen your learning. The program includes both pre-recorded teachings and live sessions, housed in a dedicated Mighty Network where participants can support one another and integrate the teachings.

Join us in this vital work of tending grief and fostering resilience in our communities. Together, we can face The Long Dark with courage and care.

Training Structure

This hybrid program combines five pre-recorded sessions with Francis Weller, live Q&R sessions, and additional integration sessions with facilitators Steffi Bednarek and Holly Truhlar.

What the Training Includes:

  • Five pre-recorded sessions with Francis Weller, each over 3 hours in length, adapted from the “Entering the Healing Ground” training.

  • Four live Q&R/integration sessions with Francis Weller.

  • Three live introduction and integration sessions with Steffi Bednarek and Holly Truhlar.

  • Supplemental writings, rituals, and resources to support your learning.

  • A complimentary introduction and chapter from Steffi Bednarek’s book, “Climate, Psychology, and Change,” featuring contributions from Francis Weller.

  • A dedicated Mighty Network community platform where participants can support one another and integrate the teachings

This training is designed to support individuals who are aware of the impacts of climate change and the polycrisis, providing them with the tools to tend to grief in a communal and ritual-based space.

“The mark of a mature human being is their capacity to hold grief in one hand and gratitude in the other, and be stretched large by these two presences in their life.”

Francis Weller

Grief Ritual Training Schedule

Start Date: March 22, 2025

March 22, 2025

  • First Pre-recorded training with Francis Weller
    Posted on Mighty Networks

Saturday, March 29, 2025

  • 5:00–6:30 PM UK Time / 10:00-11.30 PT
    Introduction & Orientation with Steffi Bednarek and Holly Truhlar

Saturday, April 12, 2025

  • 5:00–7:00 PM UK Time / 9:00-11:00 AM PT
    Live Questions & Reflections Session with Francis Weller

Saturday, April 26, 2025

  • 5:00–7:00 PM UK Time / 9:00-11:00 AM PT
    Live Questions & Reflections Session with Francis Weller

Saturday, May 3, 2025

  • 5:00–7:00 PM UK Time / 9:00-11:00 AM PT
    Integration Session with Steffi Bednarek and Holly Truhlar

Saturday, May 10, 2025

  • 5:00–7:00 PM UK Time / 9:00-11:00 AM PT
    Live Questions & Reflections Session with Francis Weller

Saturday, May 24, 2025

  • 5:00–7:00 PM UK Time / 9:00-11:00 AM PT
    Live Questions & Reflections Session with Francis Weller

Saturday, June 14, 2025

  • 5:00–7:00 PM UK Time / 9:00-11:00 AM PT

    Closing Session with Steffi Bednarek and Holly Truhlar

About the Facilitator

Francis Weller

Francis Weller is an American psychotherapist, writer, and Soul activist.He is the founder of Wisdom Bridge, an educational project that synthesizes psychology, anthropology, and mythology. He has taught at Sonoma State University and the Sophia Center, and he has been the featured teacher at the Minnesota Men’s Conference. He is author of “The Wild Edge of Sorrow”,  The Threshold between Loss and Revelation, In the Absence of the Ordinary: Essays in a Time of Uncertainty, and “A Trail on the Ground: The Geography of Soul”.

Registrations will open soon. Express your interest below to be the first to know.

Express your interest.

Registrations to this training will open soon. Leave your name and email address, and we’ll email you when registrations open!

Upcoming Events with Francis Weller

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