The Power of Ritual: Marking Loss, Making Meaning

About the event

Why does ritual matter after loss? How can it help us stay connected and steady when everything feels changed?

In this conversation, writer, artist and somatic practitioner Camille Sapara Barton and clinical psychologist and grief researcher Dr Paul M. Martin explore the role of personal and shared rituals in grief. Paul introduces the idea of personal grief rituals: meaningful actions shaped by your own beliefs and circumstances, from lighting a candle to visiting a particular place, writing a letter, or planting a tree. Camille draws on their work about ‘grief tending’ to share ways that the body, the natural world, and community support can help us carry grief over time.

Together they consider rituals that are private or shared, religious or non-religious, inherited or invented, and how communities can create practices that include people who feel isolated or pushed to the margins. Facilitated by creative producer and community practitioner Louise Hill-Davis, this session offers grounded ideas you can adapt, whether you are grieving now, supporting someone else, or simply wanting better ways to mark what matters.