Brush With Grief

Discover Healing Through Creativity

Join our Brush With Grief workshops and embark on a journey of healing through eco-friendly art and supportive community activities. Designed to help you process grief, our workshops offer a safe and nurturing environment. Grief often gets “stuck” in the body or mind and sometimes, doing something with your hands like creating a brush to honor the grief can help move and transform the stuck energies into healing.

Workshop Highlights

  • Eco-Friendly Art Creation: Craft unique brushes from ethically sourced plants and animal materials.
  • Community Support: Participate in group sharing sessions to connect and heal with others.

What You’ll Experience

  • Creative Expression: Channel your emotions into art.
  • Supportive Community: Build connections with others who understand your journey.

Brush With Grief Upcoming Programs

Grief lives in the body, sometimes, making something with our hands helps us carry it differently. Join us for Brush With Grief, a creative workshop where you’ll craft a personal brush from partners such as elk, moose, raccoon fur, wood, and plants. You’re also welcome to bring fur, feathers, or mementos from a pet, or hair from a loved one to include in your piece.

Facilitated by Andrew Koch, LPC.
Materials provided. Donations welcome.

2026 Community Programs

January
January 25, 2026 | 1:00–3:00 PM | Eldorado Room, Boulder Main Library | Free

February
February 25, 2026 | 1:00–3:00 PM | Eldorado Room, Boulder Main Library | Free

March
March 15, 2026 | 1:00–3:00 PM | Eldorado Room, Boulder Main Library | Free
March 22 | 1:00–3:00 PM | Medicine Horse, Longmont | $35

April
April 19 | 1:00–3:00 PM | Medicine Horse, Longmont | Free

May
May 17 | 1:00–3:00 PM | Medicine Horse, Longmont | $35

June
June 21 | 1:00–3:00 PM | Medicine Horse, Longmont | $35

July
July 31 – August 2nd | Brush With Grief Retreat | Cottonwood Hot Springs, Colorado | $1400-1900

Register here for the Brush With Grief Programs

🤲 Want to Contribute or Partner?

There are many ways to support the Brush With Grief program—whether through materials, funding, or creative collaboration.

🌾 Donate Animal Materials

We gratefully accept animal hides in good condition for use in our brushmaking activities. These may be vintage family heirlooms—like your great-grandmother’s fur coat—or a hide your uncle had tanned years ago. These materials are honored and repurposed in a therapeutic way, helping participants engage grief through tactile creativity and symbolic transformation.

🎁 Sponsor a Community Workshop

Your donation directly supports our free public programs at the Boulder Public Library and similar accessible spaces. Funding helps cover facilitation, art materials, and outreach, ensuring these offerings remain inclusive and community-based. Contributions can be one-time, recurring, or dedicated in memory of a loved one.

🤝 Collaborations

We actively seek partnerships with organizations and professionals who share our commitment to accessible, meaningful grief care. Current and emerging collaborations include:

  • Medicine Horse – offering a serene, outdoor setting for facilitated art-based healing, grounded in nature and community connection.
  • The Natural Funeral – working together to develop workshops that merge eco-conscious end-of-life care with reflective, hands-on grief rituals.
  • Boulder County Area Agency on Aging – helping to connect underserved communities like Rainbow Elders (LGBTQ+/50+)
  • Mental Health Providers & End-of-Life Doulas – expanding our capacity to offer person-centered support for those grieving or anticipating loss.
  • Public Libraries, Museums, and Faith Communities – co-hosting events that hold space for grief across generations and cultures, using creativity as a unifying force.

We also welcome partnerships with:

  • Senior Living Communities & Hospice Organizations – offering onsite programming for residents, caregivers, and bereaved families navigating end-of-life transitions.
  • Schools and Youth Centers – especially in the aftermath of community trauma, to provide safe and constructive ways for young people to process grief.
  • Veterinary Clinics and Pet Loss Support Groups – creating space for honoring the deep bonds between humans and animals through memorial brushmaking and storytelling.
  • Environmental and Land-Based Groups – integrating grief for climate loss, habitat destruction, or ecological shifts into our nature-connected practices.
  • Hair Salons, Barbershops & Grooming Studios – cultivating healing conversations and pop-up art spaces in trusted environments where people gather regularly. These spaces often serve as informal support networks, especially in underserved communities.

We believe grief work belongs everywhere—in hospitals and libraries, in forests and funeral homes, in classrooms, art rooms, and salons. Let’s collaborate to meet people where they are, and offer creative, grounded support when it’s needed most.

If you or your organization is interested in contributing, co-hosting, or sponsoring a session, contact Andrew Koch at andrew@contemplativecaregiver.com. We welcome your ideas and your presence.

Past Brush With Grief Events

2024 Events

2025 Events

Feel free to reach out if you need further assistance or have any questions! We look forward to honoring life and death with you.