Full Circle Grief Center

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Richmond, VA
Full Circle Grief Center

Central Virginia's comprehensive grief and bereavement resource. The risk is high for that family to break apart.

Full Circle Grief Center was founded in 2008 in response to the great need in Central Virginia to help families who had experienced the death of someone they loved – most often a father or spouse. Those families and their at-risk children were too often grieving in isolation without support – and often did not have the funds to pursue private counseling or other forms of grief support. Our programs have touched more than 9,000 lives. Our goals are to help grieving individuals:

• Increase communication with family members so families stay together in grief
• Learn coping skills to deal with traumatic events and grief
• Build support networks to reduce isolation
• Heal through creative expression

Full Circle is very unique in its approach to bereavement care:

- We combine professionally-designed grief support programs with creative expression in the form of art, music, play, dance and journaling to trigger discussions that may not have occurred otherwise.

- We are the only organization in Richmond to provide bereavement groups for extended families along with age-appropriate groups simultaneously. Families learn to grieve together rather than in isolation.

- We are also the only organization in Richmond to provide bereavement support to underserved students at their inner-city school. The need is so high that we are focusing our efforts on traumatic death. We rely 100% on the community to provide these services free of charge to all participants through our three main programs:

Counseling Groups for Families:
• Hands On Healing for children ages 3-18 and their families.
• Perinatal Loss Group for parents who are grieving the death of a baby.
• Suicide Loss Group for adults and school-aged children grieving a loss by suicide. Outreach Groups for Underserved At-Risk Youth at:
• Inner-city schools
• Community partner sites: ChildSavers, Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, etc.
• Richmond City Police Department (Homicide Support Group)

Grief Education:
• Bereavement training for local professionals and community members
• Published the area’s first and only comprehensive grief resource manual

03/12/2026

The loss of a furry (or feathery, or scaly) family member is one that we don't take lightly here at Full Circle, and we can only hope that others feel the same. 🐾

Our latest staff blog comes from our Grief Services Director, Carrie Schaeffer, LCSW, as she discusses the unique and challenging emotions that can arise after the loss of a pet. 💙

Pet loss, she suggests, can be seen as a kind of "disenfranchised" grief, meaning that the loss of a pet can often go unacknowledged by larger society.

To read more, follow our link below our link in bio. 🔗

Full Circle Staff Blog | Grieving the Loss of A Pet
https://fullcirclegc.org/2026/03/04/grieving-the-loss-of-a-pet/

03/10/2026

🎉Tickets are officially on sale for our Annual Living Your Dash Luncheon! 🎉

This event brings attention to a seemingly insignificant mark – the dash. That dash signifies something important — your time here on Earth. During the luncheon, we share stories and celebrate people who are fully living their dash and turning life’s challenges into something meaningful. We celebrate those who have been moved by their mission or desire to make a difference. We honor resiliency, hope, and growth.

Our program includes our inspirational speaker, Marisa Renee Lee , award-winning author of Grief is Love and Waiting for Dawn, Living Your Dash award winners from our local community including Adri Herron of Sanctuary Rescue , Lt. Kenny Mitchell of Operation Yellow Tape, Samuel Veney of Philly Vegan , and Kathy Wrenn of Illume Family Recovery .

ALSO: Help us pack the room for our fantastic inspirational speaker, Marisa Renee Lee! The first 40 tickets sold will include a FREE copy of her new book, Waiting for Dawn. We expect these to go fast, so don't wait! Qualifying attendees will receive an e-mail with further instructions on how to claim your copy of Marisa's book after purchasing their tickets.

Our goal is to raise $65,000 to ensure our ongoing grief support groups remain free of charge to those grieving in our community. You can support our goal by attending the event, becoming a sponsor, or by making a donation.

For tickets and event details, please visit our website below or follow the link in our bio!

Full Circle Grief Center's Living Your Dash Luncheon
https://fullcirclegc.org/living-your-dash/

(📸 Last year's event photography generously provided by the talented team.)

03/08/2026

We don't say it often, but when we do, we mean it: we are a nonprofit organization led by women. It's not a small thing for us at Full Circle to honor both women's history month (March!) and International Women's Day (today!).

From our founder, to our leadership team, to our clinical folks, our staff, volunteers, partners and clients -- we are proud to be built by, and work in community with, so many women across our whole organization.

So, if you're a woman with ties to Full Circle, past or present, this one's for you. This day and this whole month is meant to serve as a chance to reflect on the accomplishments and influence of women internationally, and in your own community.

On a smaller scale, we're taking today as one brief opportunity to highlight all the ways in which women work, together, for a better and kinder future, here at Full Circle. 💪 💙 🌎

Special shout outs to two of our favorite creative ladies: Sunny Stack Goode at LOVEVOLVE for our mural and Cat McCarthy Creative for our Living Your Dash photography!

(Bonus points if you can spot our FC alumnus Cam, who is definitely celebrating International Women's Day in solidarity.) 👀

03/06/2026

We are excited to announce sponsorship opportunities for our Annual Living Your Dash Luncheon on Thursday, April 23, 2026! Sponsorship levels range from $500 up to $2,500 depending on what part of the event you'd like to support. 🎉

We also have the ever-popular Friends and Family Table Sponsorships for a group of eight ($1,000) and Corporate Table Sponsorships for eight group members ($2,000).

(Want the inside scoop on tables? General ticket sales won't be for a little while longer, and our Friends and Family Table Sponsorships SOLD OUT last year in record time! We only have TWO of this type left, so don't wait until it's too late!) 👀

If you are interested in sponsoring a specific part of Living Your Dash or have any questions, please contact Allison Schooley at allison.schooley@fullcircleg.org or check out our website linked below, or at our link in bio!

Full Circle Grief Center's Living Your Dash Luncheon
https://fullcirclegc.org/living-your-dash/

03/04/2026

🌸 Spring Support Groups 🌸 Our Spring groups for 2026 begin in March, April, and May and are open for registration. We have seats available in all of our groups, so please register at our website if you or someone you know may benefit from joining us. These groups are offered for FREE at no cost to participants. Pre-registration is required.

💙 Overdose and Substance Use-Related Loss Group | Thursdays, begins March 12

💙 Young Adult Loss Group | Ongoing, meets virtually April 7

💙 Perinatal Loss Group | Tuesdays, begins April 14

💙 Widow, Widower, and Partner Loss Group | Tuesday, begins April 7

💙 Su***de Loss Group | Wednesdays, begins May 6

💙 Overdose and Substance Use-Related Loss Group | Thursdays, begins May 7

For more information on these groups, visit our website below or our link in bio. 🔗

Full Circle Grief Center | Support Groups
https://fullcirclegc.org/support-groups

03/02/2026

Congratulations to our team members at Full Circle who are celebrating their staff anniversary this month!

Laura McDonald, LCSW
Overdose Bereavement Services Manager and Clinical Intake Manager
1 year

From our group leaders, individual therapists, administrative and clinical teams, we couldn't do it without you! 💙

02/25/2026

Our latest staff blog comes from our Practice Manager, Shannon Deneen, MSW. This month, Shannon writes on the benefits of talk therapy for grief and some commonly held misconceptions about grief and seeking mental health counseling.

Read more at the link below or our link in bio, as she debunks several myths and shines a little light on what to expect at a grief counseling session.

Staff Blog: Myths About Grief Counseling
https://fullcirclegc.org/2026/02/23/myths-about-grief-counseling

02/18/2026

We are beyond excited to announce our inspirational speaker for our 2026 Living Your Dash Luncheon is none other than Marisa Renee Lee, award-winning and best-selling author of Grief is Love. Read more about Marisa below! ✨

Marisa Renee Lee is the award-winning and bestselling author of Grief is Love. For her work on grief and healing, she has been featured on Good Morning America and NPR, in Vogue and The Atlantic, among other outlets. Her new book Waiting For Dawn (out in April 2026) reflects on her experiences with chronic illness and grief, offering solace to folks living with all kinds of uncertainty.

A longtime rabble-rouser of social healing and equity, Lee previously served as a deputy director in the Obama White House and is now CEO of Beacon Advisors, a social-impact consulting firm. She is a graduate of Harvard College and lives with her husband Matt and son, Bennett, in New York. ✨

We hope you’ll join us at our Living Your Dash Luncheon on Thursday, April 23, 2026! Keep an eye out for upcoming event announcements so you can purchase tickets as soon as they go on sale. For the most up-to-date event information, please visit our event page below. 🎉

Full Circle's 2026 Living Your Dash Luncheon
https://fullcirclegc.org/living-your-dash/

02/16/2026

SNEAK PEEK 👀 ...of our new office space! It's officially official! We got the keys Friday and our fantastic Full Circle team has been getting to work on making our new space feel like home. This weekend, we got a special sneak peek into our office at 5511 Staples Mill Road with almost *all* of our renovations completed. 🚧

Our clinical and operations team members brought all the colors of the rainbow to their offices as everyone started nesting in. However, this is just the beginning. We can't wait to show you what's to come! 🌈

Finally, a big THANK YOU to everyone who has given us the incredible gift of items from our Amazon Wish List for our latest Circle of Giving campaign. Your generosity and kindness mean the world to us as we make this big transition. 💚

If you haven't checked out our Wish List yet, you can take a look at the link below, or our link in bio. 🔗 We've got options for everyone, from basics like light bulbs and tissue box covers, to more fun stuff like chairs and rugs!

Thank you for your support, now and always. 💙

Full Circle's Relocation Wish List
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1NIM8CVN402BN

02/14/2026

Sometimes, Valentine's Day can feel like just another big, fat reminder that the person you love is gone. Another reminder that you really didn't need, or want, or even invite into your space. It just showed up in the card aisle of the grocery store, in the pile of arts and crafts from your kiddo's classroom, or in the restaurant when you picked up takeout. Even if Valentine's Day wasn't particularly meaningful to you or your loved one, it can be hard to escape it or ignore it, making grieving folks feel all the more lonely and isolated.

So, what can grieving folks do about it? Well, first off the bat is deciding if you really want to do anything at all, or rather just let your experience of Valentine's Day be what it is for right now. Or, we can dig into some suggestions from our pals at What's Your Grief for how to handle Valentine's Day:

Option 1. Take the day to be completely miserable. 💔
Option 2. Ignore the day altogether. 🚫
Option 3. Reframe how you think about the day. 🖼️

Keep reading at their blog post below...

Article: Coping with Grief on Valentine's Day
https://whatsyourgrief.com/grief-and-valentines-day-2014/

Address

5511 Staples Mill Road, Suite 301
Richmond, VA
23228

Website

http://fullcirclegc.org/

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