Welcome to GriefWalking

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I'm a professional musician and a recording artist with a performing career spanning 30 years. I lost my father to leukaemia when I was six years old and until recently, I never had the opportunity to grieve his death. As a child I’d learnt to avoid painful emotions in order to survive such a profound loss, and for the most part, I’d remained unaware of the ways that grief had shaped my reality.

 

In 2018 I became curious about the lessons grief had to offer and signed up to volunteer as a mentor with an amazing organisation called Feel The Magic that provides free weekend camps and online support for grieving children. I undertook their training to facilitate support groups and mentored at a handful of their weekend camps, I was deeply moved by the bravery of those children being so openly vulnerable in expressing their sorrow. 

 

A year afterwards I contacted the Hammondcare Palliative Care team and was offered a position helping to facilitate a fortnightly Bereavement Walking Group on the Northern Beaches at Narrabeen Lake and Long Reef headland. Walking and talking in nature felt like the most soothing form of connecting with grief, and being part of a regular support group showed me the healing power of community. The following year I also volunteered with Hammondcare’s bereavement services department making outreach phone calls to check-in on bereaved family members. 

 

In the years since the covid lockdowns, I’ve moved away from full-time performing and changed my relationship with music from being a primary source of income, back to being an expression of love and joy. Inspired by my older brother who has Down’s syndrome, I’ve started working in disability support and have been drawn towards sharing music in therapeutic spaces, such as playing for disability clients, yoga classes, sound journeys and grief rituals. 

 

Alongside my training in bereavement support, I’ve completed a Grief Educator Certification with renowned expert David Kessler and a Grief Ritual Facilitator training from Francis Weller to hold space for those who are processing deep grief. Following my interest in therapeutic music, I trained as a Death Doula and spent a year supporting a client with Down’s syndrome at the end of life by providing relaxing bedside music, and also played at his funeral for continuity of care with his family.

 

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