About
Grief introduced itself quietly, and then, all at once.
I'm Avery Collura, a grief practitioner, teacher, and writer. This is how I came to the work, and how I hold it now.
My Story
Where this began.
Grief has been my companion for a long time now. It introduced itself quietly through smaller losses, and then all at once in 2023, when my husband, Dan, died suddenly. The life I had with him and my stepdaughters in Australia collapsed in a single moment. I moved countries. I became alcohol free. I sat with parts of myself I did not know how to meet before.
My work was born in that space. Not in the moment of impact, but in the long, slow, crushing, hopeful, ordinary days that followed, the days when everyone else went back to their lives and my body still expected him to walk around that corner.
What I Do
Not get over it. Live with it.
Today I work with people who are learning how to live with grief. Not get over it. Not move on. Live with it. I support people navigating:
- The death of a partner, family member, or close friend
- Breakups, divorce, or shifts in attachment
- Identity collapse and major life transitions
- The quieter, less visible losses that do not always receive a name
At its core, my work is less about fixing anything and more about building a real relationship with grief, in real time, inside a real body.
How I Work
My approach sits at an intersection.
Where I trained.
In January 2026 I completed PESI's three-day Advanced Grief Specialist Certification Retreat with Dr. Erica Sirrine, on somatic integration, narrative repair, and meaning-making across the grief continuum. I trained in the Gestalt approach to groups at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, the training under Keep Grief Company and Invitation to Grieve. I am a 200-hour yoga teacher, trained through My Vinyasa Practice in December 2024, and I have studied Internal Family Systems work under several mentors.
I also trained in psychedelic-assisted work, first in the Psychedelic Guide Training at Medicinal Mindfulness in Boulder in April 2024, then in Innate Path's cohort program in Colorado in June 2025. I co-led the Colorado Psychedelic Practitioners Cohort and ran its practitioner trainings.
I am not a therapist. The work is companioning and education, one to one and in company.
The Writing
I write my way through it, too.
Much of this work begins as writing. I am working on two books, and lately I have been reading my words aloud at open mic nights, which turns out to be its own kind of grief practice: saying the true thing, out loud, in a room full of strangers.
Who This Is For
You might recognise yourself here.
"I feel like I should be over this by now, but I'm not."
"I look functional on the outside, but something inside me hasn't caught up."
"I want a space that can hold the full complexity of what I feel, without tidying it up."
"I want to stay in my life, my relationships, and my body, without abandoning my grief."
You might be deeply resourced and self-aware, and still feel stuck. You might have tried therapy, groups, and self-study, and be ready for a different kind of conversation. You might not even call it grief yet, but you know something in you is asking to be met.
A free room, every Tuesday.
Keep Grief Company is the free online grief circle I host every Tuesday at 5:00 pm Mountain. One hour, on Google Meet, any loss, any timeline. Nobody is required to speak, and coming only to listen is a normal first week. It is the easiest door into this work, and all it asks is an email for the link.
Get the circle linkWalk With Me
If something here recognises you, let's begin.
You don't need to be anywhere in particular in your grief to start. You only need a willingness to tell the truth about where you are, and a curiosity about what might be possible if you didn't have to hold it alone.
The first step is a free half hour on video, with nothing to bring.
Book the free half hourI also lead retreats, and write about grief, love, sobriety, and rebuilding a life after loss.
You were never meant to grieve alone. If we can do this, we can do anything.