Grief Resources for Mountain Athletes

This past winter, we hosted a community event, Mountain Resilience: Navigating Grief, Long-Term Injury, and Identity Crisis in the Backcountry. Our panel of local mountain athletes and experts in therapy and recovery, Jess Shade, River Barry, and Jessie Brunelle, shared their personal journeys through grief, long-term injury, and identity crisis. They shared coping strategies, the role of therapy, and ways to build resilience in the face of challenges. Here is a list of mental health resources for mountain athletes that they put together.

Starting Your Therapy Journey

• Resource to search for a therapist in your area: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us
• Resource of therapists that work with mountain athletes, organized
• by state: https://americanalpineclub.org/grief-therapists

Books and Podcasts Resources

• Climbing Grief Fund Book Resources: https://americanalpineclub.org/grief-booksresources
• Climbing Grief Fund Talks – Resilience with Sky Yardeni and Lorca
• Smetana: https://americanalpineclub.org/grief-fund-offerings
• Uphill Athlete Podcast – Through Trauma and Grief with Barry Blanchard: https://uphillathlete.com/trauma-grief-barry-blanchard/

Other

• Mountain Muskox Group for Death in the Mountains- professionally facilitated peer support circles for anyone who has experienced loss or trauma in the mountains: https://www.mountainmuskox.com/
• Responder Alliance- works with teams to build individual and organizational resilience in the face of long-term and traumatic stress: https://www.responderalliance.com/
• Grief Workshops: https://www.francisweller.net/
• SOAR (Survivors of Outdoor Adventures & Recovery). A nonprofit organization based out of Colorado that runs virtual and in person peer support groups, as well as connecting folks impacted by outdoor accidents to support services.