An 8-Week Online Group for Adults in Ontario
Grief Untethered
A supportive journey to accompany you through your experience with grief, fostering a deeper living connection with your loss, and illuminating pathways to rediscover meaning and hope.
You and your grief are welcome here.
If you have found yourself here, perhaps something within you is searching for a place to land. A place where you do not have to pretend. A place where you do not have to explain or justify how you feel.
A place where your grief, in all its weight and complexity, is not something to fix or rush through.
This is that place.
Grief Untethered is a container that will hold you exactly as you are, no matter where you find yourself on this journey.
Whether your loss is fresh or decades old.
Whether you cry daily or feel strangely numb.
Whether you are drowning in sorrow or confused by relief.
There is space for all of it here.
Over eight weeks, you are invited to enter the healing grounds of grief and the many rivers that move through it.
Rivers of sorrow. Rivers of regret. Rivers of love. And rivers that have not yet found you.
Grief is meant to be sacred, collective, and communal. It is not meant to be traveled alone, though so many of us find ourselves isolated in it.
This is your invitation to grieve in the company of others who understand.
"Grief is not a disorder, a disease, or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical, and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve."
— Earl Grollman
Next Cohort
Begins February 9th, 2026
When
8 Mondays, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM Eastern Time
February 9 to April 6, 2026
(No session February 16, Family Day)
Where
Online via Zoom
Open to residents of Ontario
Limited to 12 participants
Your Investment
(approx. $87 / session)
This program will cost you
nothing out of pocket.
Grief Untethered is facilitated by a Registered Psychotherapist.
If you have an extended health benefits plan for Psychotherapy(which most insurance plans in Ontario do)
You will receive a receipt after each session to submit for full or partial reimbursement.
For many participants, the final cost is $0.
Does any of this sound familiar?
You feel stuck in your grief, unsure how to move forward without feeling like you are leaving something behind.
You carry a profound sense of isolation. People around you have moved on, but your world still feels frozen in place.
You avoid getting too close to your grief because you are afraid of what might happen if you really let yourself feel it.
Your loss was not recent, but something has resurfaced. Old feelings have clawed their way back up, and you feel like you are drowning all over again.
You are caught in a shame and guilt cycle, replaying the "what ifs" and "shoulds" on a loop that will not stop.
You are grieving someone who is still alive, and you do not know how to explain that to anyone.
Someone you love has changed so much that you no longer recognize them. And you grieve the person they used to be.
You feel relief that they are gone, and you carry shame about feeling that way.
You have tried to talk to friends or family, but they do not get it.
Or worse, you sense they are tired of hearing about it.
You feel like you are supposed to be "over it" by now. But you are not. And you do not know if you ever will be.
You are exhausted from pretending you are okay when you are not.
If even one of these resonates, you are in the right place.
Grief is not reserved for
death alone.
We grieve those we have lost to death, yes. But we also grieve those who are still alive. We grieve what was, what is, and what will never be. Grief Untethered is not just for one type of loss, because there is no such thing. Whatever you are carrying, there is room for it here.
Loss of a Loved One
The death of someone close to you. A parent, partner, child, sibling, friend. The absence that reshapes everything.
Loss of a Relationship
Divorce. Separation. The end of a partnership you once believed would last. The grief of what you thought your life would look like.
Ambiguous Loss
Grieving someone who is still physically present but no longer the person you knew. Mental illness, addiction, dementia, or Alzheimer's can create this particular kind of heartbreak.
Loss of Health
Chronic illness, disability, or a significant shift in your body. Mourning the life and abilities you once had.
Miscarriage or Stillbirth
The loss of a pregnancy and the future you had already begun to imagine. A grief that is often invisible to others.
Loss of Identity
Major life transitions like retirement, empty nest, career changes, or role shifts. Mourning who you used to be.
Loss of a Dream
When life does not turn out the way you planned. The grief of letting go of what you hoped for.
Loss of a Friendship
The end of a close friendship, whether sudden or gradual. The ache of connection that is no longer there.
Grief is the reflection of connection.
Sometimes it is the reflection of what was lost.
Sometimes it is the reflection of what never was.
Grief is not something to get over.
It is something to move through.
There is a common belief that grief is something you must "heal from" so you can get back to living. That if you just work hard enough at it, you will reach the other side and be done.
This is not only unhelpful. It can be harmful.
Grief does not end on a certain day. You cannot speed it up by trying harder. It is as individual as each of us, and it moves at its own pace. The questions you ask yourself in the dark are part of the process. How long am I going to feel like this? Will I ever feel like myself again? Will the guilt ever go away?
These questions deserve space. They deserve to be held, not rushed. In this group, we will not try to fix your grief or push you toward some imagined finish line. We will honor it. We will tend to it. We will untether it from the isolation, shame, and expectations that make it heavier than it needs to be. Because grief, when witnessed with compassion, becomes something you can carry differently.
A sacred space to arrive
exactly as you are.
This is very much an "arrive as you are" kind of group.
You can share. You can receive. You can cry. You can sit in silence. You can be numb. You can be full of anxiety and trepidation. You can be exactly as you are. There is zero pressure or expectation around how much you share or the ways in which you express your grief.
You get to choose how you wish to show up.
One thing I know for sure is this: no matter how you show up and what you choose to share or not share, having your grief witnessed from a place of compassion and understanding will have a profound impact.
You will feel less alone. More understood. More held.
The truth is, when you arrive, so will your grief. And you are both welcome here.
What to expect each week
The group will meet every Monday evening from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern Time for eight weeks, beginning February 9th, 2026. Each session will be facilitated by Leanne, a Registered Psychotherapist with deep expertise in grief work, who will guide you through exploration, processing, and healing.
*Please note: We will skip February 16th in observance of Family Day. The group will resume February 23rd.*
Building your personal grief toolkit
Each week you will be equipped with practical techniques, resources, and healing practices drawn from a variety of therapeutic modalities.
Somatic Experiencing
Addressing the physical manifestations of emotional pain stored in the body. By listening to your body's wisdom, you will learn to integrate grief and build more capacity to be with your emotions as they arise.
Polyvagal Exercises
Techniques to help regulate your nervous system and restore feelings of safety and calm, reducing the intensity of emotional and physiological distress.
Grief Writing
A structured and therapeutic outlet to express and process your emotions. By putting thoughts and feelings into words, you gain clarity, insight, and validation.
Mindfulness-Based Techniques
Practices to cultivate self-awareness and self-compassion, fostering healing and growth within the supportive context of community.
Narrative Therapy
Exploring and reinterpreting your personal grief story. By gaining new perspectives and meaning, you can externalize your grief and begin to rewrite a healthier narrative.
Energy Healing Practices
Techniques to help release blocked emotions, restore balance, and promote a sense of peace on a deeper level.
It is time to
tend to your heart.
Now is the time to tend to the inner shadows of your grief in order to build a new relationship with your current life. Now is the time because the longer you wait, the heavier it becomes. Grief left in isolation grows dense. It starts to suffocate. It starts to consume.
Now is the time because you cannot be swallowed by silence forever. You deserve a space to release what has been gnawing at your soul. Here, you will be surrounded by others who understand what it feels like to be shattered and lost. You will share stories and find solace in the understanding presence of those who have walked a similar path.
And within the wreckage of your heart, you will discover the practices and perspectives to help you carry your grief differently.
Will it be easy? No. But neither is what you are doing now. Grief is not something we are meant to go through alone.
The Details
- Online via Zoom (open to anyone in Ontario)
- 8 weeks
- Mondays:February 9, 23 | March 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 | April 6, 2026*Note: No session on February 16th (Family Day)
- 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM Eastern Time
- Limited to 12 participants
Meet your facilitator
Leanne Sawchuk is a Registered Psychotherapist and Intuitive Healer who specializes in helping people untangle themselves from the stories, sensations, and patterns that diminish their inner peace. With expertise in relational psychotherapy, somatic experiencing, trauma, and grief, she guides her clients to the root of what holds them back, where real transformation becomes possible.
Leanne does not come to this work as an observer. She comes as someone who has sat exactly where you are sitting.
On May 31, 2022, I learned my dad had brain cancer. On November 7, 2022, he left this earth. I felt grief like I had never felt before.
Having walked through my own dark waters of profound sorrow, I felt called to create this space. While I have facilitated grief groups for years, this one carries a different tone. An edge. A rawness. A vulnerability that only comes from living it.
This is to honor you, your grief, and my own."
— Leanne
Questions you might be holding
You do not have to
carry this alone.
Grief Untethered is not about quick fixes or empty platitudes. It is a sanctuary for those who are ready to stop pretending, to stop isolating, and to finally let their grief be witnessed with compassion.
Through the practice of coming together, sharing, receiving, learning, and unlearning, you will be held with care as you find your way through.
Space is limited to 12 participants to ensure the intimacy and safety of the container. If you feel the pull, trust it.
Reserve Your Spot in Grief Untethered
Not ready for a group setting yet?
Start gently with the "Waves & Windows" Guide