Sonja Erin ausen
“To reimagine and reshape the world, grief is a skill we need.”
-Malkia Devich-Cyril
grief, death, & public health
My work lives at the intersection of grief, death, and public health. As such, I am a midwife of dying systems, dying bodies, and to ways of being that are no longer tenable.I view my death and grief work as public health work and our society’s death and grief illiteracy as a public health crisis.
Grief is a potent medicine for this time of polycrisis–the pulse of our continued, collective becoming. While dominant systems have pathologized our grief, we remember that our grief is a force for repair.
Where there is systems decay and collapse, (re)new forms of care long to (re)emerge.
Meet me at the edges of this grief (re)emergence!
sonja’s services
grief support for the polycrisis
We are living through a complex time—peppered with loss, collapse, and death, but also one rich for re-imagination and rebirth.I work with individuals one-on-one to support them as they face these immense collective losses. I also teach classes that explore practices for courageously naming our reality and using the magic in grief and death work to find our way.
Grief literacy: groups + organizations
Organizations + small groups can struggle to thoughtfully address how systems collapse and the impact of polycrisis influence their operations and people. I create curriculum and other tools to help organizations actualize a culture that is grief and death literate. This includes topics such as meaningful endings, integrating the reality of loss into strategic planning, and holding complexity.
Alongside polycrisis care, I offer individual or small group services for those needing additional support with loss. These services include home funerals, ritual and ceremony design and planning, pregnancy and child loss support, and one-on-one holding space sessions for general grief support and ambiguous loss.
Death midwifery services
current offerings
-
Polycrisis Care: One-on-One session
Fifty minute one-on-one sessions where I hold space for you to process grief and questions/curiosities stemming from the time we are living in. I act as a witness and guide, encouraging you as you realize your inner wisdom.
-
general grief support: one-on-one session
Whether you have experienced the death of a person or pet in your life, are facing ambiguous loss, or struggling to support others in their time of grief, I offer 50-minute one-on-one sessions to support you as you navigate this grief.
pov: public health + grief
What does it look like for us to collectively reimagine our approach to public health—to reimagine a society where our grief and death illiteracy were treated as one of the public health crises of our time and as part of the solution to the many challenges we face?
I am a public health practitioner by training and this orientation influences my approach to both death and grief work. As such, I view my death and grief work as public health work and our society’s death and grief illiteracy as a public health crisis.
WHAT IS PUBLIC HEALTH?
By “official” definition, public health is “the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases” (CDC Foundation).
EXPANDING ON THE “OFFICIAL” DEFINITION
My own definition of public health holds central its focus on collective well-being. Alongside the science of public health, I seek to bring forth the spirit of public health through my death and grief work. Both science and spirit relate to how we work with death and grief.
about sonja
Daily, I step into my grief and death work by intentionally choosing to welcome the reality of grief and loss. This helps me to live with an open heart.I experience living with an open heart as devotion–a practice of naming the reality of loss and sourcing the courage to befriend it. When this becomes practice, we subvert the violent systems that keep us in denial.
I long for a world in which we can tenderly and truthfully face and address the multiple crises that threaten our collective well-being. In order to do this, we must learn and practice naming and integrating loss. We must cultivate support and resilience to buoy us in this time. My work focuses on navigating these complex days as well as supporting the individual losses we come across over the course of our lifespan.
How we address our individual orientation to grief and death is directly connected to how we face immense loss at the collective level.
