Grief is multidimensional, it requires more than conversation alone. Finding a therapist or grief support group is an option and often helpful if the fit is right, but it’s not the only path to healing. Building a full toolbox full of coping skills, connection, education and community with other grievers. Creative arts—writing, painting, and hands-on crafts—offer structured, evidence-informed pathways to process loss in ways that feel accessible and embodied. Creative engagement gives grief form.
~Art acts as a language when words fall short
In early and acute grief, language is often impaired. When the brain shuts down because it’s in shock, creative expression provides a parallel channel for processing.
~Writing allows for narrative reconstruction. Journaling, letter-writing to a loved one, or storytelling supports meaning-making and identity integration. Join one of our monthly Writing As A Healing Art classes with Jan Haag. There is no pressure to share, but you’ll get an opportunity to try writing if you’ve never tried it. Jan says, “You can write your grocery list if you can’t think of anything else, and that works too.”
~Painting or drawing externalizes internal emotion. Color, texture, and movement can communicate anger, longing, regret, or love without requiring precise vocabulary. Our “Pour It Out” paint nights provide a space to explore different painting techniques.
~Crafts such as memory bracelets, collage, or symbolic art pieces translate memory into tangible form. We provide creative arts classes almost every month that invite participants to explore grief through an embodied experience.
~Art becomes a container; giving grief boundaries and shape.
Creative arts support nervous system regulation in measurable ways:
~Repetitive motions such as beading, knitting, and brush strokes promote rhythmic sensory input. Just through this repetition, the body can get back in-tuned with itself.
~Focused attention on a task requires the body to be present. Grievers often describe their days as just “going through the motions” or “feeling like their living outside their body.” Focusing on a new skill or task is asking them to come back to the moment.
~Completing a creative piece restores a sense of agency and capability. Through the creative process, the brain and the senses must talk to each other.
These practices mirror principles found in somatic regulation: predictability, repetition, and sensory engagement. Over time, creative rituals can become self-soothing anchors. (A tool for the invisible grief toolbox that is necessary for growth and moving forward.)
~Creating Cultivates Self-Compassion
Grief often carries secondary emotions—guilt, regret, or self-judgment. Creative work gently interrupts those patterns. When individuals are invited to create without critique or performance standards, they practice:
~Allowing imperfection. (Grief is messy and we all know it.)
~Honoring their lived experience. (It’s perfectly acceptable to cry and let others see you do it. Don’t apologize.)
~Validating their emotional reality. (Grief sucks and there’s no fixing it. Find others who will sit with you in your current emotional state and not try to fix you.)
The act of saying, “This is what my grief looks like today,” gives you internal permission rather than self-correction. That is self-compassion in action.
~Building Connection with Other Grieving Individuals
Isolation is one of grief’s most destabilizing effects. Creative arts in group settings offer relational repair.
When people create alongside others who have experienced loss:
~There is reduced pressure to speak immediately, but when there is opportunity given to speak, you feel heard.
~Shared silence becomes meaningful rather than awkward. Giving the space and understanding that we are all broken, judgement fades and we all realize we share a common bond.
~Organic storytelling emerges naturally from the artwork. We acknowledge the raw emotions that come up in conversation with others, because we understand first hand.
A painting session or writing circle becomes a shared experience, not just a support meeting. Participants witness one another’s grief in tangible form.
Community-based creative programs consistently show increased perceived social support—one of the strongest predictors of long-term resilience after loss. We have seen the friendships grow from our creative arts workshops. A familiar face is sometimes the best medicine for a bad day.
~Restoring Identity After Loss
Grief alters identity: spouse, parent, sibling, friend. We walk around with that invisible sign that says, “Widow” or “orphan”, and that can be overwhelmingly heavy. Creative expression allows individuals to explore who they are becoming while still honoring who they were.
Through art, people can:
~Preserve legacy
~Integrate memories into daily life
~Imagine a future that includes love and loss simultaneously
This is not about “moving on.” It is about integrating loss into a continued life story.
Creative Arts Matter in Grief Support
Exploring creative workshops provides grievers a:
Space to feel.
Space to remember.
Space to regulate.
Space to connect.
Finding creative outlets creates the space necessary to move forward. Give yourself that gift.