This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to register and receive the Zoom link, visit the <Healing Circles Global Registration Page>
If you have any questions about this healing circle or registration, please email olivia@smithcenter.org.
with Mark Malinak and David Spaw, members of the Grief Team at Healing Circles Global
“Each person’s grief is as unique as their fingerprint. But what everyone has in common is that no matter how they grieve, they share a need for their grief to be witnessed.”
-David Kessler
If you’ve lost a loved one, a healing circle for those in grief is an opportunity to share what’s on your heart and mind, to listen, and be listened to deeply and generously.
Our healing circles are a safe and supportive space to walk with each other through these times. Each circle is a blend of sharing and silence, compassion and curiosity. Our agreements ensure acceptance and confidentiality. We honor our own unique paths to healing and respect the choices of others.
This is an ongoing circle. Therefore, you are welcome to join at any time.
Please note: Healing circles are groups of peers who support one another through deep listening and compassion. Circle participants abide by agreements, including agreements around confidentiality. The volunteers who host healing circles do not provide medical or psychotherapeutic advice or treatment. Participation in a healing circle does not replace the care provided by a qualified healthcare professional.
This circle meets on the first and third Wednesday of the month from 1:00 – 2:30pm ET.
Healing circles are offered at no charge. If you’re able, Healing Circles Global invites you to <make a gift> to help cover the cost of participating.
Suggested Donation for one circle: $12 covers the cost of your participation in one circle
About Healing Circles Global
Healing Circles Global is a nonprofit whose vision is to provide positive social support to anyone who asks for it. This takes place in small circles built on a framework that brings out the best in people. It encourages participants to treat one another with kindness and respect, hold one another’s stories in confidence, withhold judgment, and honor one another’s unique path to healing without advising, fixing, or rescuing.
Circle participants work together to explore the best ways to remove obstacles to healing, alleviate suffering, and deepen their capacity to heal. They also access their own inner guidance to determine where the greatest healing—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual—can occur.
About Mark Malinak
Mark is retired, having worked as a substance abuse/mental health counselor and wilderness counselor for 25 years. He lives alone with his yellow lab mix dog Buster in a small post and beam house in western Massachusetts. Mark’s wife Barbara passed away suddenly in October 2019. He loves poetry, writing, and tribal ambient music. Among other hobbies, Mark enjoys hiking and walking in the woods and the forests of the Berkshires.
About David Spaw
David is the Founder of Healing Circles Houston. Inspired from his personal experience of healing and by his friend, Michael Lerner, and Commonweal co-founder, David set out to bring Healing Circles to Texas. He lost two wives and a sister to cancer and was drawn to this modality as a pathway to discovery and healing accessible to all. Together with Susan Rafte, they assembled a team of volunteers, hosts, advisers and organizations who were passionate about sharing Healing Circles in community. In the time of Covid the local team joined forces with the global movement, training circle hosts in 32 countries and 22 healthcare institutions.
David is a retired corporate executive of a regional and international construction company. He has served on many nonprofit boards and community organizations, most recently at the Jung Center Houston, Community for Conscious Aging, the Greater Houston Healing Collaborative and since 2016, as the Program Director of Commonweal overseeing the Texas initiative.
