Apiana Grief Support

Samantha Canales C.G.C.

My journey to grief counseling started in the fifth grade where I met my teacher, Ted Wiard and his family in a small alternative school in Taos, New Mexico. I didn’t know then that it would end up being a lifelong connection  forged by grief. 

Following a string of losses as an adult, I reconnected with Ted,  who had been through his own series of very tragic losses and had  become a pioneer in the world of grief and loss and started Golden Willow, one of the first grief retreat centers in the country. He helped me with my losses, mentored me once again and pointed me in the direction that has since led me to working with others on their most difficult of journeys. 

Following the loss of my older brother to a drug overdose, I started working with communities with significant loss. I connect and work with these communities before actually spending time in them where I start grief support groups and do “Art from the Heart” grief support workshops for youth, while leaving the communities with the ability to continue these supports for those in need.

Apiana, the botanical name for white sage, is a healing plant with a long standing history in indigenous ceremonies in North America and there is no greater ceremony that we will go through than grief. There is not one of us who will live without going through this process, as death and loss are a fundamental part of life, but if we can come to it with with support and the understanding of its innate cycles, we can be a part of the ceremony, rather than at the mercy of it. This can be a life raft in the darkest of times. Times we can’t imagine getting through and times when human understanding and connection are needed the most.

One stick by itself can easily be broken, many sticks bundled together will not break. – Ron Alec, Mono Spiritual Leader