Sheffield Grief Tending is a project by Hannah Lewis and Alice McHugh. We are both facilitators and psychotherapists, and apprentices to grief and grief tending.

We have been facilitating monthly grief rituals together through Sheffield Grief Tending since February 2025.

We’re holding regular grief tending sessions because we see that loss, and grief, are an unavoidable part of any human life, and yet our grief is something many of us can often feel ashamed or afraid of. We meet many people who feel unsupported by family, friends and the wider cultural context.

Expressing the pain and sadness of losing who or what we love, or bearing witness to the many oppressions, traumas, and injustices of the world is – we feel – essential to being fully human and humane.

To do this is the context of a supportive community is a powerful practice. We have been awed by the incredible capacity for a group, even a temporary one, to support people to express their grief, and the transformative effect that can have on the individuals who participate, and on the whole group.

Our intention is to build a community of people who get to know and trust each other as witnesses to our losses, and to find ways to weave grieving into our lives so that it might become something we learn to do often, collectively, and without shame.   

We are grateful to our teachers, elders and ancestors who have supported us, and continue to support us. Among others, we feel particularly close to the teachings and support of: Sophy Banks, Sobunfu Somé, Malidoma Somé, Jean-Claude Audergon, Iona Fredenburg, Francis Weller, Violet Merthyr, Etty Hillesum.