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Walking through grief: support group creates community in nature

When kindred spirits meet in nature, healing happens. The Walking through Grief Support Group offered by Victoria Hospice Bereavement Services helps bring them together.

The group runs three times a year at the Rithet’s Bog Conservation Area, near the Victoria Hospice Community Support Centre on Chatterton Way. As with other support groups, the walking group is a chance to be with others who have experienced a profound loss.

Counsellor and group facilitator Heidi Wigmore says, “People in bereavement often wonder, ‘Can anyone hold space for what I feel right now? Are there people comfortable enough to be around my grief, my tears and anger, guilt and confusion? Does anyone feel the way I do?’”

Grief can feel isolating in how intense the feelings may be, coupled with few opportunities for deeply sharing that experience, she says.

“Isolation and loneliness are a challenge in these postmodern times, and grief can make that feeling even heavier. Social connection – especially in bereavement – is essential.”

The group of 12 people meet over eight weeks to share grief experiences, nature, and community.

Participants tend to have an immediate sense of I’m not the only one,” she says. “To be with others who feel the depth and intensity of grief and a sense of shared knowing and understanding is really crucial.”

The walking group highlights awareness of the body-mind connection and the importance of movement.

“Understanding that everyone’s version of what movement is will be different, we each need motion to work through our feelings,” Heidi says. “Emotions need motion, quite literally.”

Restorative time in nature also provides a reset, with the flora and fauna of Rithet’s Bog offering endless interest.

“People are encouraged to use their mindful awareness to pay attention to the surroundings, and share at our closing circle what they might know about a species or something interesting they observed. We have a nature book in which we track observations from our walks, she says.”

“We know spending time in nature and places where we hear the waves or birds brings peace and solace. So that’s a big piece of what we hope the walking group will give as well as that human connection.”

The Walking through Grief Support Group is made possible by generous donors and community support. Learn more about how you can support people in bereavement.