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.

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. Please click <here> to register for this drop-in circle.

with Paul Puccinelli and Barbara Reid

Please join us in a series Healing Circles for Grief “to discover the extent and limits of what is lost, what is left and what is possible.” – John Schneider

If you have lost a loved one, this is an opportunity to share what is on your heart and mind right now, to listen and be listened to deeply and generously. Together we create a safe space for listening to messages from our inner experience.

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.

Some Assumptions about Grief

The experience of grief is unique for each individual. While we can make some general assumptions, there is no template that describes the experience for all people.
Grief is cumulative. That is, each time loss is grieved, the grief encompasses the lifetime of loss and the remnants of each experience.
Grief following a significant loss is most often a lifelong process, with each pivotal point in life bringing the grief back up to be processed from a new perspective.
Grief, loss and suffering fundamentally changes and reshapes the individual.
Grief is not about forgetting or disconnecting. Rather, healthy grief is about remembering the parts of self that get lost amidst the experience and reorienting the individual in their relationship with self, the world and others.
Grief is a whole body experience: emotional, physical, spiritual and intellectual. Each have a wide range of expression which can cue us that grief is present.
While grief and trauma are often intertwined there are significant differences between them. Trauma should be addressed with trauma specific interventions that often go beyond what is possible in circles.

Adapted from Khris Ford

Grieving Together Healing Circle will meet Weekly on Tuesdays from 10:30am-12:00pm EST for 6 weeks.

Grief Circle Dates:

April 4, 11, 18 & 25
May 9 & 16

About Paul Puccinelli

Since 2011, Paul has been providing counseling services to children, adults, and couples. Paul received a strong educational foundation from his graduate degree program at Dominican University, as well as advanced training at University of California San Francisco’s School of Medicine, where he completed a program focused on Interprofessional Palliative Care Education. During the last four years, he has developed a special interest in supporting people and caregivers dealing with Parkinson’s Disease. And for the last three years, he has been hosting Grieving Together and Living w/ Cancer healing circles.

About Barbara Reid

Barbara lives in the U.K. and has her own supervision, facilitation and training practice. The wonder of Zoom has enabled her to partner with others over long distances. She draws on contemplative approaches and reflective practices to support people through life passages and transitions, also offering services and programs to companies, non-profits, community groups and individuals. She is a committed mindfulness practitioner and meditator and enjoys introducing people to the practices of self-care and self-compassion that characterise this way of being in the world. She also likes to bring ‘talking circles’ into her practice and her work, nourishing the qualities of deep listening and attending to our inner voice through creative reflection on poetry, music, journaling and art. Barbara is an accredited facilitator of Circles of Trust with the Center for Courage & Renewal in the U.S., and is part of the ‘Grieving Together’ circles facilitation team with Healing Circles Global, also based in the U.S. She is also an accredited teacher of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy programs in the U.K., and in addition is an experienced teacher trainer for people seeking to do this work, having served at the University of Bangor’s (Wales) Centre for Mindfulness Research & Practice for a few years. She recently completed training with David Kessler Training and is certified as a grief educator. Barbara likes to have joy in her life, and finds this in her circle of friends, in the world of folk music, working with textiles, Nordic walking and t’ai chi, and of course her cats Mizzle and Perkin.

This program is being offered virtually through Zoom. In order to participate and receive the Zoom link, register by clicking the RSVP button above or by emailing programs@smithcenter.org.

You will receive the Zoom information no later than the morning of your program.

with Elizabeth Belanger

in partnership with Tigerlily Foundation

*Please note that by registering for this program, you consent to have your name and email shared with Tigerlily Foundation. Tigerlily only collects this information for data purposes and it will not be shared with any other parties.

Loss of a Loved One to Cancer Support Group

This monthly support group, facilitated by a Licensed Graduate Social Worker, is for anyone who has lost a loved one to cancer. As a group, we will explore the impact of loss and find ways to cope with grief together.

The Loss of a Loved One to Cancer Support Group will meet Monthly on the first Wednesday from 6:00 – 7:00pm ET.

Upcoming Dates:

April 12 (*new date due to holiday)
May 3
June 7

Sponsored by The Washington Home

This support group is sponsored by The Washington Home.

The Washington Home (TWH) is a DC-based foundation that seeks to improve the lives of the elderly and those facing end of life, strengthen senior communities and reduce inequality in access to care. Our philanthropic vision is grounded in a commitment to pursue caregiver support, enhance connection and foster respect and dignity for seniors. We invest in local, community efforts to address social isolation, caregiver relief, food insecurity and specialized health care for seniors and the critically ill.

About Elizabeth Belanger

Elizabeth Belanger is a Licensed Graduate Social Worker (LGSW) in Washington DC. Elizabeth received her BA in Psychology with minors in Women’s Studies and Sociology from Elon University and a Master’s in Social Work from Simmons University.

Elizabeth strives to provide therapy that is client lead and trauma-informed. She is continuously seeking education on the latest techniques in culturally humble and trauma-informed therapy practices. Elizabeth currently works here in DC at Capitol Hill Consortium for Counseling and Consultation (CCCC) with young adults and adults, with issues pertaining to anxiety, depression, chronic illness, trauma, LGBTQ, and women’s issues.