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MoonVine Grief

@moonvinegrief

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Therapist serving PA & FL | Grief Activist | Death Educator | Content Creator? | Enthusiastically Alive Creature | @salttrailsphilly collaborator

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Life changes? Update your beneficiaries.

Divorce, a death, a breakup, a major illness, a big move, or going no-contact can all change who you want to protect. Take a moment to review your accounts and policies so the money you intend to support your loved ones doesn’t become a source of stress, confusion, or conflict.

Don’t leave a mess behind when you’re trying to leave something meaningful and supportive.

#EstatePlanning #BeneficiaryUpdate #FinancialWellness #LegacyPlanning #LifeChanges by @moonvinegrief

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15 hours ago

Two days until we gather.

Here are a few things to know before joining the Grief Processional: You don’t need to bring anything, share anything, or participate in one particular way. You’re welcome to walk, pause, sit, listen, connect, take breaks, or stay near the gathering area.

Bring water, comfortable clothing (or wear your grief!), weather protection, and whatever helps you feel supported. You may also bring a photograph, flower, written remembrance, or small offering—but simply bringing yourself is enough. Take a look at the Salt Trails blog for accessibility supports that are available on-site.

Saturday, October 17, 1–3 p.m. at Race Street Pier. The rain date is Sunday, October 18 and will announced on the @salttrailsphilly page if we are going to utilize it.

#GriefProcessional #CommunityCare #CollectiveGrief #PhiladelphiaEvents #ComeAsYouAre by @moonvinegrief

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3 days ago

What does it mean to wear your grief?

For some, it may be a patch with a name or phrase. It may be a loved one’s shirt, jewelry, or another treasured object. It may be a color, a texture, flowers, handmade adornments, or something that only makes sense to you. It might mean symbols like tears, religious iconography, beings from nature, etc.

There is no single right way to express grief—and you do not need to wear anything at all. Your grief may be visible, subtle, private, changing, or beyond words.

For this year’s Carrying Our Grief community processional, we re-invite you to wear or carry what your grief calls for, with care for the cultures and traditions that are not your own. Draw from your own memories, relationships, and experiences rather than imitating sacred symbols or mourning practices from another community. Draw from the brilliance of the many expressions of grief we have witnessed and worn together in year’s past.

Join us October 17 from 1–3 p.m. at Race Street Pier in Philadelphia. Rain date: October 18.

#WearYourGrief #GriefProcessional #CommunityCare #CollectiveGrief #PhiladelphiaEvents by @moonvinegrief

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5 days ago

Our annual community processional takes place next weekend 🖤

Together we honor the shared weight of sorrow through movement, music, and ritual. Rooted in collective care, this gathering invites participants to walk together in remembrance, solidarity, and the sacred act of grieving in public.

Grief does not look the same for everyone. It may be expressed through silence, song, movement, tears, conversation, prayer, art, memory, or simply the choice to show up. This gathering welcomes the full range of those experiences. We invite people of all ages, racial and cultural identities, genders, sexualities, faiths, abilities, and relationships to loss. We welcome you wherever you are in your grief, whether it is silent and still, or loud and moving.

We ask everyone to help create a space where grief is treated with dignity.

💧Sixth Annual Grief Processional

🗓️Saturday, October 17, 2026, 1–3 p.m. [Rain date: Sunday, October 18, 2026, from 1–3 p.m.]

📍Race Street Pier, Race Street and North Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19106

🪻Free to attend (donations welcome)

💀You are invited to “wear your grief,” however you interpret doing so. All griefs are welcome.

More details, including information on accessibility and parking, can be found on our website (link in bio):

https://www.salttrailsphilly.com/writings/carrying-our-grief-together-6th-annual-community-grief-processional

#salttrailscollective #grievingtogether #griefprocessional #griefritual #carryingourgrieftogether by @moonvinegrief

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8 days ago

People are often surprised to learn that many clients prefer paying out of pocket for therapy. Not because it’s trendy—but because there is more freedom. No gatekeepers, no diagnosis required, no insurance oversight. Just care that’s grounded in you.

Have you ever pursued self-pay therapy? How was it for you?

#selfpaytherapy #therapyexplained #grieftherapy #somatictherapy #queertherapist by @moonvinegrief

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9 days ago

You are not behind.

You are becoming acquainted with a life you did not choose—the life after the loss, the diagnosis, the ending, the change, or the version of the future you thought was certain.

There is no timeline for learning how to move through unfamiliar terrain. Some days may feel tender, disorienting, or impossibly slow. That doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means you’re adapting to something that asked more of you than you were ready to give.

You do not have to rush whatever you are becoming. You are allowed to take your time finding your way back to yourself, or discovering who you are now.

#GriefSupport #GriefJourney #LifeTransitions #SomaticGrief #GriefIsWeird by @moonvinegrief

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11 days ago

Who are my favorite clients? Well, duh—all of them.

I welcome grievers, caregivers, shapeshifters, and dreamers. Queer, trans, kinky, and nontraditional souls who crave depth and want therapy that meets them where they truly are. The ones reimagining life after loss, reclaiming softness after burnout, and remembering how sacred their own becoming can be.

If you read this and felt a little yessssss in your body, we might work well together! Fill out the intake form on my website to take the first step toward working together.

#grieftherapy #somatichealing #queertherapist #lifetransitions #embodiedhealing by @moonvinegrief

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13 days ago

What would it look like to build a world that does not treat grief as an interruption to real life?

An adaptive grief practice makes room for loss, connection, embodiment, and interdependence. It pushes back against the pressure to “move on,” return to productivity, or process everything privately and on a timeline.

These practices are not a checklist for healing. They are invitations: to listen to the body, to let grief have a social and communal place, to honor relationships, and to create rituals that help us live with what has changed.

A more decolonized approach to grief also asks us to question the individualism and productivity culture that can isolate us. Care does not have to be earned through independence. Support does not have to wait until someone is in crisis. There is wisdom in collective practices, cultural traditions, ancestral remembrance, land connection, storytelling, ceremony, and community—but no single practice belongs to everyone. What matters is approaching these traditions with humility, consent, context, and respect rather than borrowing or flattening them.

We cannot build a world without grief. We can build a world with more capacity to hold it.

#GriefPositive #CollectiveCare #SomaticGrief #CommunityHealing #DecolonizingWellness by @moonvinegrief

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16 days ago

Everyone is a future or present griever. Loss is not rare, unusual, or something that happens only to other people—it is part of being human.

The question isn’t whether grief will touch our lives. The question is whether we are building relationships and communities capable of holding us when it does.

As members of a community, we don’t have to find the perfect words or make grief disappear. Sometimes it is about shutting up. Sometimes it’s about showing up. We can offer consistency, presence, patience, and a willingness to stay connected after the condolences have ended.

If you’re grieving now, you’re allowed to ask for specific support. If someone you love is grieving, you don’t have to fix it. Show up, keep showing up, and let them know they don’t have to carry it entirely alone.

#GriefSupport #GriefLiteracy #CommunityCare #MentalHealthSupport #GriefEducation by @moonvinegrief

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18 days ago

I have been caring for my estranged father and overseeing his hospice care.

There isn’t a simple story here. Estrangement can hold grief, anger, relief, love, resentment, responsibility, tenderness, and distance—all at the same time. Providing care does not erase the reasons for the estrangement. It does not rewrite the past or require reconciliation. It simply means I’m moving through a complicated present.

Some moments are practical or logical, some are overwhelming. Some are quiet. Some feel deeply sad. Some feel strangely ordinary.

Caring for someone at the end of life does not have to look like forgiveness, forgetting, or pretending everything was okay. Sometimes it looks like making phone calls, asking questions, advocating for comfort, setting boundaries, and doing what feels aligned with your values—while acknowledging the full truth of the relationship.

If you are caring for an estranged or complicated family member, you do not have to force your experience into a neat narrative. You do not have to lie to healthcare providers to make it make sense to them. You are allowed to grieve the relationship you had, the relationship you wanted, and the relationship that may never be possible. You are allowed to care in a way that includes care for yourself, too.

End of life care providers, please remember those of us who are trying to do the right thing for a person who didn’t necessarily offer us the same grace or compassion.

#ComplicatedGrief #EstrangementAndGrief #HospiceCare #CaregiverSupport #GriefIsNotLinear by @moonvinegrief

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20 days ago

Choosing self-pay therapy can offer flexibility and the freedom to focus on what you need most—without having to meet insurance requirements, receive a specific diagnosis, or fit your care into a predetermined number of sessions.

It also allows you to choose the type of support, pace, and frequency that feel right for you. Therapy is a personal investment in your well-being, and it should feel collaborative, respectful, and tailored to your individual needs.

The insurance system can be incredibly frustrating—it often places limits on care, creates unnecessary barriers, and doesn’t always reflect what people actually need. Until we can collaboratively build something more accessible and supportive for everyone, I’m committed to creating a different kind of space outside that system: one rooted in flexibility, transparency, and mutual respect. My sliding scale model is one way I’m working toward making therapy more accessible while offering care that centers you—not an insurance company’s requirements. My hope is to create an opportunity for meaningful support while recognizing that everyone’s financial situation is different.

#SelfPayTherapy #SlidingScaleTherapy #MentalHealthSupport #TherapyJourney #InvestInYourWellbeing by @moonvinegrief

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22 days ago

I’m nowhere near the first person to make a grief bingo card—but it’s a classic for a reason.

These two cards are a tongue-in-cheek collection of grief experiences: one a little gentler, the other slightly more unhinged. They’re all things I’ve done myself—not every single one, but definitely some of them. You can g’head and guess which ones.

Humor doesn’t make grief less real. Sometimes it’s one of the ways we make room for the absurdity, exhaustion, contradictions, and deeply strange business of being human in loss.

What would you put on your grief bingo card?

#griefsupport #griefawareness #griefjourney #griefandloss #griefBINGO by @moonvinegrief

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24 days ago