Waves of Grief Collective
Waves of Grief™ founder Kelsey Ellis
Ocean Medicine. Community Connection. Ritual.
Healing happens in community—not in isolation—and that grief, like the ocean, moves in waves. Through ritual, movement, and shared story, Waves of Grief™ programs support reconnection to self, to others, and to nature.
Founded by Kelsey Ellis, the Waves of Grief, Audrey Ellis Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in loving memory of Audrey Ellis—a devoted nurse, ocean lover, and joyful healer. Inspired by her legacy, the team creates nature-based spaces that support individuals and communities in navigating grief with compassion, ritual, and connection.
Since 2020, Waves of Grief™ has supported thousands of people across the globe through monthly Second Sunday gatherings, immersive retreats, and community-based grief circles.
These programs are grounded in somatic and eco-therapy modalities and constructivist loss theories, offering a holistic, fluid and embodied approach to grief care. Nature provides a powerful, non-traditional setting to tend to both personal and collective grief. By gathering at the ocean’s edge, participants are invited to connect with themselves, with others, and with the ocean in meaningful, restorative ways. It is commonly believed that grief-and-loss is the most universal human experience, and is something that needs to be held in community. The hope is for individuals to feel less alone in their grief, to foster a sense of community, to inspire play joy and connection through the ocean while creating new meaningful experiences in integrated grief.
Waves of Grief™ offers a natural space to honor loss, share stories, and move through grief in the waves together. Those who participate in Waves of Grief™ can hopefully begin to develop their own sustainable therapeutic processes in nature, supported by the community that’s cultivated through every program.
