Through community-based practices and grief tending, participants will gain tools to support both their clients and their own emotional well-being. This full day workshop is designed to support professionals working in veterinary and animal health settings who face loss and experience grief due to the nature of their work.
Participants will develop and/or expand their ability to navigate the emotional complexities of their work in animal health fields with resilience and compassion by learning more about grief and loss. They will be invited to experience grief tending in a circle and develop practices to tend to their own sorrow in the community.
The intention of the day is twofold: to support professionals working with clients facing loss in clinical settings, and to help them tend to their own experience of loss in the workplace.
Dates: Aug. 24, 2025
Hours: 5 hours
Tuition: $259 + GST
The facilitated experience will invite participants to explore grief as an emotion and a shared experience within a trauma-sensitive environment. The first part of the day will focus on developing and deepening their understanding of grief, loss and sorrow. They will explore the landscape of loss in the 21st century and better understand how to cultivate support and build resilience in the face of loss and grief.
Blending psychology, neuroscience and traditional wisdom, we explore how human physiology impacts how we connect with others and navigate complex situations, particularly during times of loss and with grief. We will practice moving our bodies in grief.
In a grief-averse society, it is very common to feel ill-equipped when someone experiences loss or bereavement. It’s hard to know what to say or do. We explore the basics of 21st Century Grief, focusing on current understandings, fundamental tenets and practices that help all of us. We will come away with helpful resources, and more importantly, explore how courage, compassion and creativity can help us.
We will make space to be curious about our personal relationship with loss. Understanding that our personal story shapes how we engage with others, we explore the landscape of sorrow and cultivate capacities and attitudes that can support and sustain us.
We will focus on the practices to help manage emotions and reactions to support others and yourself. In loss, we walk alongside others in community without judgment or the desire to fix. We will explore the practice of grief tending.
Later in the day, participants will join a facilitated grief tending circle — a group practice for processing grief and loss. Through guided exercises, the circle creates space to acknowledge sorrow, build connection and make room for healing. To learn more about grief tending in a circle, visit Hiraeth Grief.
The ApproachOur approach at Groundwater Collective is knowledge creation through shared learning experiences. With gentle facilitation, we co-create supportive environments for participants to explore current understandings of loss and sorrow, reflect on their experiences and learn from each other.
Christina Tulloch is a loss awareness advocate, grief doula, educator and space holder. She works with individuals and groups, believing that learning more about the experience of loss helps all of us in a culture that shies away from grief. Her approach to loss is rooted in personal experiences and her background as a learning and development professional.
Dr. Reva Bond provides expertise in the ecological paradigm, complexity leadership theory, enabling leadership skill development, inner development skills, and complexity mentorship for leaders.
Dress for the weather — most of this course will be hosted outside.
On-campus options for food or beverage are not available, please be sure to bring your own food or plan to travel off campus.
Phone: 403.556.4740
Toll-Free: 1.800.661.6537
Email: coned@oldscollege.ca