The Grief That Doesn't Get A Funeral - Juniper Wong On Ambiguous & Ancestral Loss

Sometimes grief and how it shows up is obvious. Other times we might not recognize our experience as grief until something shifts our perspective. This was true for Juniper Wong, MSW, LICSW, a therapist who specializes in supporting those who are grieving through self-compassion, mindfulness, somatic experiencing, and Internal Family Systems (IFS).

Juniper shares how caring for her father during the final weeks of his life changed her understanding of grief, sparking a recognition of how much of her own life had been shaped by the loss and grief passed down her family line. Becoming a mother led Juniper to see connections between her own fears and those of the women in her family line, fears that were rooted in loss. She describes using meditation, movement, writing, and even imagined conversations with ancestors as ways of making sense of what she was carrying.

All of these personal experiences with grief inform the work Juniper does to help others name and work with their grief - including Happy Hour for Sad People, a monthly gathering through Grounded Grief in Portland, Oregon, where laughter, dark humor, tears, and connection can coexist.

We Discuss:

• Recognizing how grief often underlies other challenges like anxiety and depression
• How caring for a dying parent can transform a relationship
• The grief that can surface when someone no longer has the energy to keep it buried
• Ancestral grief and the losses we may carry without knowing their origins
• Ambiguous loss and "the loss that doesn't get a funeral"
• How pregnancy and motherhood opened up a new understanding of family grief
• Rituals for staying connected to people who have died
• Making room for laughter and dark humor alongside grief
• Creating less traditional spaces for people to gather around loss

Follow Juniper on IG - https://www.instagram.com/iamjuniperwong 

Substack - https://substack.com/@juniperwong 

Grounded Grief - https://www.groundedgrief.com/