ABOUT US
“I believe the future of our world depends greatly on the manner in which we handle our grief.”
– Sobonfu Some
ABOUT NORTHWEST GRIEF TENDING
Northwest Grief Tending supports individual and collective healing by welcoming grief back into community space. We believe that mending our culture of separation is essential for restoring our collective wellbeing and for responding to the converging crises of our times. In many traditional cultures, community grief tending is considered the “glue” of connection that holds the community together. It offers us one of the most powerful means for reweaving this connection and belonging to ourselves, each other, and all our relations.
We invite you to learn more, explore our offerings, and join us in this import work of reconnecting. Please don’t hesitate to reach out for support or with any questions you might have.
ABOUT OUR GRIEF RITUAL LINEAGE
We thank our teachers
Northwest Grief Tending donates 10% of all proceeds from grief rituals to the Dagara community and our local Duwamish tribe. We invite you to join us in practicing reciprocity.
There are many lineage threads woven into the grief rituals that we offer. As facilitators, in addition to what we bring in from our ancestral backgrounds, we also carry the stories from our teachers who helped initiate us into this work. We honor and thank these teachers, including Therese Charvet, Laurence Cole, Francis Weller, Vince Horan, Martin Prechtel, Joanna Macy, and many others who have been instrumental in reviving community grief tending practices.
While there are many teachers who inform our approach to grief rituals, it is particularly important to us to honor the lineage of Malidoma Somé, Sobonfu Somé, and the elders of the Dagara tribe of Dano, Burkina Faso, West Africa. Without their generous teachings, the community grief tending movement that’s emerging in the Pacific Northwest would not be happening. For those who have benefited from grief rituals connected to this teaching lineage, we ask you to learn about their stories and give back by donation through the Dagara Water Empowerment Project.
“Grieving is a soul cleansing way to reclaim and to recover our spirit. When we do not grieve, we stay in an unhealthy place and lose who we are. “
– Sibonfu Some
I’d love to hear from you! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or to learn more.
ABOUT ME
Siena Tenisci (MA, LMHCA) is a therapist, community organizer, founder of Northwest Grief Tending, and host of the Dear Circle Tender podcast. She is a descendant of Abruzzese and Celtic peoples – lineages where keening women once held dedicated and respected roles in society as vocal rituals who supported communal grief work.
Siena has been facilitating grief rituals for over a decade and continues to mentor in grief ritual leadership with Therese Charvet, Laurence Cole, Francis Weller, and Vince Horan. She completed her Masters in Counseling at Antioch University in Seattle – a program focused on advancing social, racial, economic, and environmental justice – is committed to a lifelong practice of cultural sensitivity and to dismantling systemic and internalized oppression.
ABOUT ME
Siena Tenisci (MA, LMHCA) is a therapist, community organizer, founder of Northwest Grief Tending, and host of the Dear Circle Tender podcast. She is a descendant of Abruzzese and Celtic peoples – lineages where keening women once held dedicated and respected roles in society as vocal rituals who supported the communal grief work.
Siena has been facilitating grief rituals for over a decade and continues to mentor in grief ritual leadership with Therese Charvet, Laurence Cole, Francis Weller, and Vince Horan. She completed her Masters in Counseling at Antioch University in Seattle – a program focused on advancing social, racial, economic, and environmental justice – and is committed to a lifelong practice of cultural sensitivity and to dismantling systemic and internalized oppression.