Our grief retreats are a supportive space in which we can all explore and express our grief in a safe & nourishing container. We are each other’s village, caring for one another across space and time.

We value progress, not perfection, and are always in the process of becoming, circling back continuously to align our actions and our intentions. We believe love is love, your gender is up to you, no human is illegal, Black lives matter, your life matters, science is important, women’s rights are human rights, animals (including humans) are individuals with an emotional experience as well as part of an interdependent global community, kindness is everything, and peace deserves a chance. We value and celebrate the many ways of being human. We continue to learn how to better live our values, which are reflected in our work in our local and international communities.

In particular, our work is that of tending to collective grief.

Alison Roffman & Grisha Stewart Co-facilitate Village Rising Grief Rituals

Alison Roffman, LCSW is a somatic therapist in private practice living in Corvallis, Oregon. After gaining her masters in social work in 2019, she worked for Lumina Hospice for 3 years supporting patients and their families in end of life transitions. She also facilitated grief groups for individuals and families. This opportunity increased Alison’s capacity to hold space and be with the hard and uncomfortable. Alison continued to train in somatic therapies, especially Internal Family Systems (IFS/parts work) and became EMDR certified. After reading Francis Weller’s book “The Wild Edge of Sorrow,” Alison attended her first grief ritual early 2022 and she left feeling inspired to learn this powerful gift in order to be able to offer it to her local communities. Alison began attending numerous grief rituals and weekend immersions and completed a 6 month grief facilitator training with Francis Weller. She currently mentors with Laurance Cole and Therese Chavet. Alison has her own personal journey with grief and finds it healing to gather together to grieve in community.Here is Alison Roffman website for her therapy offerings.


Grisha Stewart, MA, CPDT-KA, KPACTP
Her apprenticeship to grief began in earnest with the death of her heart dog, Peanut. The skills learned during that transformative process served her several years later, during the passing of her late husband, Brice.
Positive reinforcement applied in trauma- and attachment-informed ways that directly benefit the animal are the foundation of her collaborative online school, the Grisha Stewart Academy. She also has the brainchild of Stellar Village a sort of online year-round summer school for belonging, bringing the world together in song, grief, and learning for wholehearted living.
Grisha is also a song catcher, woodworker, and keynote speaker. She grew up off the grid, with no electricity or running water, and now spends a lot of her time on the computer, but still lives happily among the trees with her husband, Tom, their two dogs (Joey and Zuki) and cat Garbanzo.