A Letter to Uncle Bruce - A Grief Processing Letter-Writing Workshop Registration
“Dear Uncle Bruce,
I just took a shot of tequila.
Well, maybe I did, and maybe I didn’t. Every time I even think about tequila I
think of you. Every time I read -- or think – about New York City, I think of
you. Same when I see an image of Bill Clinton or John McEnroe, for you’d
resembled each of them so closely. Uncle
Bruce, I miss you. And I keep thinking of you. So I wanted to write you
this letter to let you know.”
That is how Jenn began a letter
she wrote to her uncle in July 2020. He’d
died in March.
Five years ago, Jenn
lost her uncle Bruce Director,
z”l, after a rapid decline from pancreatic cancer, and she didn’t know how to
process his death.
So she turned to a tool known
to provide solace when grieving: letter-writing. In sitting down and penning a
letter to Uncle Bruce, it was like communing
with the person she’d known via writing to him. There was a lot to share;
there was a lot of processing to be done.
Laura Cohen, LCSW, agrees that
writing is an important, uncomplicated and effective way to help manage hard
times, including grief and the process of grieving someone or something that is no longer part of your life. An underutilized coping mechanism, letter-writing is a gentle
therapeutic tool.
A Letter to Uncle Bruce:
An in-person grief-processing
workshop through letter-writing
Facilitated by Jenn Director
Knudsen and Laura Cohen, LCSW
A journal, pen, and writing prompts will be provided.
All are welcome—whether writing is a
regular exercise or this is your first time trying this practice.
Click here to read facilitators' bios.
