Rachel Schmidt, BSW, PLC
Rachel Schmidt, BSW, PLC
Welcome to Creative Acts of Grief
May this be a gentle place to slow down, reflect, and tend to your grief with kindness and compassion.
Grief alters the landscape of our lives, the way we move through the world, and the way we see ourselves. It can leave us feeling untethered, searching for something that helps us make sense of what has changed. It also asks us to explore questions that cannot be solved or rushed: Who am I becoming? What am I carrying? How do I continue to love what I've lost while remaining open to life?
This 4 month online series gives you a framework, a slow and gentle contemplative process, for these deeper questions to emerge, while connecting you to the beauty and goodness of the natural world, a source of healing and comfort. You'll spend time outdoors, returning to the same places and deepening your relationship with the natural world through slow observation, reflection, and creativity.
These regular visits become an important part of the grieving process, offering space to process your emotions, restore your nervous system, and witness how the rhythms of the natural world can gently support healing. As you return again and again, you'll begin to notice that nature doesn't ask you to leave your grief behind, it simply offers a place where it can be held with greater tenderness.
Through the changing seasons, forests, rivers, birds, stones, and open skies, we begin to see our own experience reflected in the living world, reminding us that change, loss, and renewal are all part of life.
When Words Are Not Enough
Throughout the series, we'll also explore the work of artists such as Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe, noticing how they used art to express loss, suffering, beauty, resilience, and transformation. Their work reminds us that creativity can help us give form to experiences that are often beyond language. Art and beauty help us access feelings that cannot always be explained, allowing us to make meaning of our experience through image, colour, metaphor, and creative expression.
A Creative Contemplative Circle of Women
This is a contemplative creative community rather than a therapy group. Each woman brings her own story, and there is no expectation to share more than feels right. Together, we'll develop practices inspired by the living world that you can return to long after the course has ended, discovering how the natural world can offer companionship, perspective, and quiet wisdom as we learn to carry grief with greater tenderness.
No art experience needed.
Overview of Creative Acts of Grief
4 Month Online Women's Series
Month One — The Landscape of Grief
Learning to see grief through the natural world.
Slow observation.
The seasons of grief.
The forest as witness.
Creating a field journal.
Walking as contemplative practice.
Listening to the language of place.
Finding beauty alongside sorrow.
Learning to notice what is still alive.
Creative explorations
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Nature journaling
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Contemplative photography
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Collecting natural objects
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Mapping your inner landscape
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Field notes from the forest
Month Two — Remembering
The natural world helps us remember what love leaves behind.
Birds' nests and belonging.
Trees as keepers of memory.
Rivers and continuing bonds.
Gathering meaningful objects.
The stories held in landscapes.
Memory through image and symbol.
Creating rituals of remembrance.
Finding those we love in the living world.
Creative explorations
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Memory boxes using natural materials
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Botanical printing
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Found-object collage
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Nature altars
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Letters to those we love
Month Three — Nature's Wisdom
Learning from the cycles of decay, renewal, and transformation.
Composting and transformation.
Fallen trees and resilience.
Seeds, roots, and regeneration.
The patience of forests.
Impermanence and belonging.
What the seasons teach us about change.
Living with unanswered questions.
Trusting nature's slow rhythms.
Creative explorations
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Earth pigments
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Natural weaving
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Clay and stone
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Ephemeral land art
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Walking meditations
Month Four — Slowly Living Forward
Creating a life that honours both grief and joy.
Continuing bonds.
Daily creative rituals.
Living seasonally.
Returning to places that restore you.
Creating a personal practice of remembrance.
Building a body of contemplative work.
Belonging to the more-than-human world.
Carrying love forward through creativity.
Creative explorations
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Personal grief rituals
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A final contemplative art practice
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Artist's reflections
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Nature mandalas
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Creating your own seasonal practice
Throughout the Course
Each month includes:
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Guided contemplative practices in nature
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Creative invitations using natural materials
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Reflective writing
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Nature-based mindfulness
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Group conversations
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Monthly creative projects - a growing field journal documenting your relationship with grief, creativity, and the living world
Dates
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Starts September 2026
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Monthly Sessions
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Friday, September 18, 2026
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Friday, October 16, 2026
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Friday, November 13, 2026
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Friday, December 18, 2026
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Times
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10:00 am - 12:00 pm PST
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1:00 pm - 3:00 pm EST
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6:00 pm - 8:00 pm UK/Ireland
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Cost
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$325 CAD + GST (approx. $242.18 USD, $212.82 Euros including tax)
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Total Class Hours: 8
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Limited Seats: 8, with 2 remaining
Facilitator
Rachel Schmidt holds a degree in Social Work and is an artist, award-winning documentary filmmaker, certified Psychosynthesis practitioner, and contemplative arts teacher. For more than 30 years, she has explored the relationship between creativity, psychology, grief, and the natural world, believing that healing often begins when we make space for reflection, beauty, and the deeper questions life asks of us.
From her forest studio in British Columbia, Canada, Rachel creates contemplative experiences that weave together nature, creativity, and reflective practice. Through time spent outdoors, contemplative art, photography, journaling, and meaningful conversation, she gently guides women in developing practices that help them make meaning of loss, reconnect with beauty and goodness, and discover a more compassionate way of carrying grief.
Rachel believes that while grief changes us, we do not have to navigate it alone. The natural world, creativity, and community can become trusted companions, offering comfort, perspective, and quiet wisdom as we find our way forward.
Rachel Schmidt, BSW, PLC
Reviews
Kind words from women
What made this series so meaningful was its gentleness. There was no pressure to move on, find the right words, or make sense of my grief before I was ready. Instead, Rachel created a compassionate space where I could slow down, spend time in nature, create, reflect, and simply be with what I was carrying. The combination of creativity, the natural world, and thoughtful reflection helped me move through some deeply painful loss. It gave me a way to process feelings I couldn't put into words and offered comfort, perspective, and hope when I needed it most.
Trish, 42
Rachel is an exceptional facilitator...warm, compassionate, and deeply attuned to the people she works with. She creates a space where everyone feels safe, seen, and genuinely valued. This is the kind of thoughtful care and presence our world needs more of. If you're considering joining one of her women's series, don't hesitate, you won't regret it.
Mel, 47
Rachel has a rare gift for listening beneath the words. She can gently reframe and distill what you're trying to express into something deeply heartfelt and meaningful, helping you feel truly heard, understood, and able to see your situation with fresh perspective. Her insights create the clarity needed for lasting, meaningful change.
I've never experienced another grief offering quite like this. Rachel gently weaves together the wisdom of the natural world, contemplative creativity, and thoughtful reflection in a way that helps you make sense of loss without trying to fix it. It's a beautiful, restorative experience that continues to support you long after the course is over.
Sarah, 52
Carrie, 51