The Mourning Collective Founders & Facilitators
We are licensed marriage and family therapists with over three decades of both personal and professional experience with grief work. We are trauma informed, culturally competent experienced clinicians who bring their full selves into our work. In addition to our retreats we offer a variety of individual therapeutic experiences.
Julia Boekelheide, LMFT
I’m a creative grief guide who helps people use art to express, process, and honor their loss. Through gentle, hands-on experiences, I support grievers in finding their own way toward healing—one brushstroke, mosaic, or fiber strand at a time.
What I love most about this work is building real relationships, co-creating with others, and witnessing the quiet, powerful ways art can open space for healing.
Outside the studio, I’m a mama to two young kids, a mosaic and fiber artist, and an avid gardener. Whether I’m crafting with clients or digging in the dirt, I’m always looking for ways to promote growth.
Stacia Biltekoff, LMFT
I am a depth psychotherapist and I am most aligned when working with people to find meaning and purpose in the midst of major life transitions.
For many years, I supported families as a birth doula—helping them prepare for and navigate the profound journey into parenthood. Now my focus is supporting those in grief, the other end of that life spectrum .
As a therapist, I combine my openness, compassion and humor with the use of ritual and mindfulness. My work bridges the gap between the spiritual and the practical—moving from intuitive insights to grounded, real-world application.
What I find most meaningful in this work is witnessing people move through their grief and deepen their understanding of themselves. I especially value the opportunity to help foster connection and community—those moments of shared humanity are so powerful.
In my personal time, making malas, hanging out with my partner and 24 year old in nature and dancing to live music keeps me grounded and connected to the compassion I bring to my work.
Chela Richheimer, LMFT
I am a somatic psychotherapist, yogi, and designer. I am a therapist that doesn’t always believe in therapy, and a yogi who believes that yoga is much more than yoga poses. I use the mind body connection to work more deeply and effectively with my clients. I believe in the power of ‘felt sensation’ that movement=movement and that nature has powerful healing qualtities.
Whether leading hikes, facilitating retreats, or working with my clients individually, I am incorporating the physical experience into the therapy.
I combine my years of experience as a grief counselor with humor, compassion and fierce advocacy. I feel strongly about the benefits of being seen and heard, being the narrator of our own stories, and utilizing our strengths and resources. I believe we often need more than talk therapy for healing and transformation to occur.
When not working, I can be found hiking, gardening or finding excuses to take a walk. I live with my partner and my three legged dog and get excited when my sons, who are both in their 20’s, come to visit. At home, I love to listen to music while cooking fancy recipes and although I love the bay where I have lived since 1991, I am always ready to travel to warm places.