Working Models: Tristesse Grief Center
In a culture that treats grief like a private problem to solve quietly, the Tristesse Grief Center (TGC) in Tulsa offers something radical: space. Space to fall apart. To talk. To sit with the unfixable.
Since 2002, TGC has been a constant presence for individuals and families navigating the loss of someone significant in their lives. Through individual and group counseling, creative workshops, school-based programs and its flagship Camp Erin Tulsa, Tristesse offers an evidence-based yet deeply human model for collective healing—one that treats connection itself as medicine.
The Work + Mission
Grief touches everyone, yet in America, it’s still something we’re expected to carry alone. The Tristesse Grief Center exists to change that.
The Center’s mission is simple but profound: to provide counseling and community for those experiencing loss, and to dismantle the isolation that so often follows it.
TGC’s group programs—ranging from suicide and child loss to general grief journeys—form Oklahoma’s most comprehensive network of grief support, and are designed to help people reconnect with others and reclaim meaning after tragedy.
Beyond its own wall, the TGC’s school-based initiatives bring grief education and crisis response directly to classrooms to ensure students and teachers have access to help when loss touches their community.
And each summer, Camp Erin Tulsa gives children who have lost loved ones a place to grieve, play and heal together. Part therapy, part traditional camp, the weekend experience reminds kids that they are not alone—that their stories, and their sorrow, are meant to be witnessed.
“There’s a visible transformation that happens when grief is shared,” Madi Day, Tristesse’s Director of Community Services told HYVMEMIND. Nowhere is that more apparent than at Camp Erin.
“At drop-off, we’re given these shy, scared, grieving children,” Day revealed. “By the end of the weekend, you watch as they break through barriers, share their pain, show up for each other and come out the other side a little bit lighter.”
That transformation, witnessed again and again, embodies the TGC’s belief that healing isn’t about erasing pain but learning to hold it with others.
Who They Serve
The people who walk through Tristesse’s doors come from every corner of Oklahoma: children, adults and families arriving in all stages of loss.
Some arrive just weeks after a funeral. Others come months or even years later, when the ache they thought they’d buried resurfaces
Many also face compounding barriers: the financial strain that keeps therapy out of reach, the lack of transportation or childcare that makes attending sessions nearly impossible.
TGC’s low and no-cost services bridge those gaps, offering what is too often missing from grief care: accessibility.
What They Do
The Tristesse Grief Center provides a continuum of care designed to meet people wherever they are on their grief journey:
Individual and Family Counseling: Licensed therapists offer tailored one-on-one and family sessions to help clients process loss in a safe, supportive environment.
Group Counseling: The organization offers Oklahoma’s most comprehensive grief group programming, including specialized support groups for suicide loss, child loss, spouse/partner loss and more.
Workshops: Creative, hands-on workshops teach coping techniques that help participants build resilience and reconnect with joy.
School-Based Programs: Free grief support for students, teachers and administrators, plus crisis response when tragedy strikes a school community.
Camp Erin Tulsa: The state’s only overnight grief camp for kids, combining therapy-informed activities with classic camp fun to remind children they’re not alone in their pain.
How They Do It
Running a grief center in a culture that underfunds mental health care takes both strategy and faith. Only about 20% of the Center’s revenue comes from service fees; the rest depends on donations and the generosity of volunteers.
Camp Erin, for instance, runs on the energy of those who give up an entire weekend to show up for grieving children. It’s emotional work—work that demands care for the caregivers, too.
Inside the organization, leadership works deliberately to prevent burnout by monitoring caseloads, encouraging peer supervision and celebrating the smallest signs of progress: a client’s first laugh in months, a drawing, a story shared aloud.
Looking Toward a Culture of Compassion
What the team at Tristesse dreams of, more than anything, is awareness—a city where everyone knows where to turn when loss enters their lives.
“Too often we hear people say, ‘I wish I’d known about you sooner,’” Audrey McCraw, Executive Director of Tristesse told HYVEMIND. “That tells us the work isn’t just about grief care, it’s about visibility.”
Over the next three years, the Center plans to expand its outreach across Tulsa, with a goal of making grief support as recognizable as any other form of healthcare.
Their vision extends beyond therapy sessions and support groups. It’s a cultural one: a future where it’s normal to ask for help, and normal to give it.
In that world, grief becomes less of a private burden and more of a shared responsibility, a quiet form of neighborliness that makes healing possible.
“We hope for a future in which the stigma around seeking help for grief and mental health is significantly diminished,” McCraw said.
“We hope that all those we have touched will spread the message at the core of our work: you do not have to walk in your grief alone.”
4 Ways You can Help Support TRistesse Grief Center:
Visit their Website
Follow on Social Media
DONATE
Volunteer
To learn about Camp Erin & other opportunities: email hello@thegriefcenter.org
This feature was published as part of HYVEMIND’s Working Models series: stories from the people and organizations reshaping care, community and system repair.
We’re always looking to highlight organizations, collectives, and community experiments that are changing how care, work and wellbeing are built. If your team is running a program or initiative that others could learn from, we’d love to hear from you.
Add your org to our Community Map or send a note to hello@thehyvemind.com to be featured in an upcoming story.
