Grief and the Middle East Crisis

Hi everyone,

Today’s newsletter has:

1) Current opportunities for groups
2) An empowering idea - today the focus is on Grief and the Middle East Crisis

1) Current Opportunities:
(Sign up by emailing [email protected])

A) Tuesday Evenings at Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation

Beginning November 28th, I will be holding a group in partnership with NUUC. Neighbourhood’s Tony Rapoport will be co-leading the groups from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.

B) Sunday Evenings at Christie Pits/TS Medical

Beginning Dec 3rd, I will be holding a Sunday group from 6:30pm to 8:15pm. We will start outdoors at Christie Pits and move indoors to TS Medical once we need to warm up.

C) Holy Blossom Temple 

psychiatree groups help with pain, grief, helplessness and a variety of emotions that are arising from the conflict in the Middle East. I am collecting interested people for a group at HBT and could also organize a group for other organizations affected by this conflict. Dates and times will be determined based on participant availability.

D) Virtual Group

There are still options for virtual groups with timing flexible depending on your availability.

E) Start your own Group

If you have 3 or more people who are interested in organizing a group together, we will find a time and location that works.

F) Organize a Workshop

I have expanded my offerings to also hold workshops for organizations that would benefit from the expertise of the Work That Reconnects but who do not have a clinical need. These workshops are not covered by OHIP but can be very helpful to prevent burnout among staff.

2) An Empowering Idea: Grief and the Middle East Crisis

The conflict in the Middle East has been deeply disturbing. Using the healing spiral, I have come to realize that psychiatree groups can focus on our pain and grief from the war situation just as much as they can address our pain and grief from climate destruction.

Grief is a powerful emotion and needs attention for healing to occur. Intergenerational trauma is rising to the surface as a result of this conflict. As a community, we need to grieve the loss of life, the impacts of immense violence, and the loss of respect for human dignity. The mounting disconnection from the global community as a result of polarized beliefs further adds to the pain. And there are so many more aspects to grieve as well.

We need to embrace a grieving process that heals both our intergenerational trauma and our trauma from recent events. This is healing that is most effectively done through a group process since these emotions are communal. The healing spiral is a great place to start. Please reach out to connect if you would like to join or start up a group.

To receive future psychiatree posts on healing our mental health and the planetary crisis together, please subscribe to: https://psychiatree.beehiiv.com/subscribe

I’d love to hear your reactions to this post. Please email me at [email protected].

Thanks for the care that you give,

Nate