Write Your Grief

Participants will be led through a short meditation/reiki offering to ground and center in the space, followed by some intentional and prompted writing time, where we'll pick a source of grief, or grief itself, and write letters. There will be optional time for sharing about the experience itself or what you've written and some additional prompts for continued writing practice. Participants are also invited to submit completed letters to a queer grief zine for publication.

Melissa Delizia, MSW, LSW, DSW (she/they) is a writer, witch, social worker, educator, death doula, and Reiki Master Teacher whose work lives at the intersection of sacred care, social justice, and transformative education. Their practice centers queer and transgender experiences of death, dying, grief, and ritual, with a deep commitment to equitable, accessible, and community-rooted death care.

Melissa teaches social work courses focused on social justice, human rights, and death and dying, and is an educator with La Mort, where she teaches classes focused on death work, queer and trans grief experiences, writing, and energy work. Across their teaching, writing, and facilitation, Melissa is especially interested in how community writing can cultivate ritual, remembrance, and belonging. Their work invites participants to slow down, tell the truths we are often taught to hide, and imagine new ways of holding grief, love, identity, and loss—together.

You can find out more about Melissa and their work on Substack, by joining their writing group, or taking one of their classes.

Agreements for participation:

We are curious, open, and respectful - We assume good will, ask questions, and allow space for different experiences and points of view

We take care of ourselves - We stretch, take a break, eat, mute for a bit, drink, use restroom, connect with a friend, rest, call it a nights, etc.

We keep confidentiality - We speak from personal experience and take home learnings while taking care not to identify anyone other than oneself.

We use inclusive language - We speak using plain language and ask clarifying questions when we aren't sure what someone means. We take effort to use gender-neutral language as appropriate.

We are all here because we want and choose to be here - We are free to leave at any time, for any reason.

We respect each other - Anyone engaging in prejudice towards another group member will be subject to immediate removal.