My father died on New Year’s Eve, 2020. I was a thousand miles away, too sick with the Delta variant to go to his funeral — I watched it on Facebook on a borrowed account.
My COVID didn’t resolve. I went from running 10Ks and building my own business to barely making it around the block with my German Shepherd. By then I’d already lost the business, and the pandemic had decimated my finances. I had so much grief and no idea what to do with it.
I joined a church grief group, worked a grief recovery book, and slowly began to understand how much I was carrying. When I talked about it, people often didn’t know what to say. So I started listening instead — and the more I listened, the more I heard the same thing everywhere: grief was rising, in all kinds of people, for all kinds of reasons. Death, divorce, breakups, pets, health, retirement, moving, the loss of the world as we knew it.
Something had to be done.
In April 2021, the grief meeting began — once a week, online, two people. It grew. Today, Joyful Again: Relief from Grief meets twice a week with meditation, readings, open sharing in a safe space, and optional tapping. It’s free, supported by donations, and it stays free, so people can return as long as they need.
We’re not allied with any religion, politics, or cause. We simply combine good tools in a loving way, and walk with people through their grief toward joy — at their own pace, without leaving behind anyone they love.
My COVID didn’t resolve. I went from running 10Ks and building my own business to barely making it around the block with my German Shepherd. By then I’d already lost the business, and the pandemic had decimated my finances. I had so much grief and no idea what to do with it.
I joined a church grief group, worked a grief recovery book, and slowly began to understand how much I was carrying. When I talked about it, people often didn’t know what to say. So I started listening instead — and the more I listened, the more I heard the same thing everywhere: grief was rising, in all kinds of people, for all kinds of reasons. Death, divorce, breakups, pets, health, retirement, moving, the loss of the world as we knew it.
Something had to be done.
In April 2021, the grief meeting began — once a week, online, two people. It grew. Today, Joyful Again: Relief from Grief meets twice a week with meditation, readings, open sharing in a safe space, and optional tapping. It’s free, supported by donations, and it stays free, so people can return as long as they need.
We’re not allied with any religion, politics, or cause. We simply combine good tools in a loving way, and walk with people through their grief toward joy — at their own pace, without leaving behind anyone they love.
Why Sea & Z
Two things carried me through my own healing: the sea, and my dog, Zosia (Z). The ocean steadied me. Z walked every hard mile beside me — through long COVID, through losing our home in the Palisades Fire, through more loss than I knew how to hold. When I asked what to call this work, my guidance was clear: name it for what heals: The sea, and Z.
Zosia died in June 2026, and the grief of losing her lives alongside all the rest. I’ve learned that time alone doesn’t heal — left untended, it often brings more grief, not less. But when you lift each grief as it comes, something else becomes possible. The same open heart that lets the sorrow move can also let in more joy.
That’s the work. Not waiting for grief to pass, but walking through it together — and finding, on the other side of each layer, a fuller life.
Zosia died in June 2026, and the grief of losing her lives alongside all the rest. I’ve learned that time alone doesn’t heal — left untended, it often brings more grief, not less. But when you lift each grief as it comes, something else becomes possible. The same open heart that lets the sorrow move can also let in more joy.
That’s the work. Not waiting for grief to pass, but walking through it together — and finding, on the other side of each layer, a fuller life.
❤️If you're in crisis dial or text 988 for suicide hotlines in North America❤️
copyright 2026 Sea & Z Healing Foundation
CA 501(c)(3) non-profit
CA 501(c)(3) non-profit