I am looking for 100 conscious leaders businesses, or organizations who can contribute $5,000 to The Sacred Grief Project.

The Backstory:
On March 11, 2022, my family was one of 26 chosen to testify against the Sackler family in a civilian court case. Listen to the testimony here. The Sackler family are the owners of Purdue Pharma and inventors of oxycontin. Because of their deceitful marketing schemes, lies to doctors, and greed, hundreds of thousands of people have died, and millions have been negatively impacted.

Purdue Pharma has recently been court mandated to give $6 billion dollars to state and local governments in a recent settlement. In exchange, they have complete immunity from future 1:1 civilian lawsuits. This means that the families directly impacted by drug overdose, and usually, those who have suffered the most, will not receive a dime of the $6B settlement.

Pharmacies have also been involved in lawsuits for their reckless oxycontin distribution. For example, Walmart was recently demanded to give $3 billion to state and local governments for their role in the distribution of Oxycontin. Again, it is unsure how immediate family members will be impacted and as of now, they will not receive a cent of this money Instead, states and local governments will decide where the money will go. What about the families grieving and directly impacted by drug overdose? What about the families that have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and their life savings on outrageously priced rehab facilities trying to save their child's life? Our healthcare system has failed millions of Americans that were impacted by these atrocious acts of deceit, greed, and lies.

Although the above information is very tragic, it would be ridiculous to blame an entire drug epidemic on one company or one family. In fact, we live in a society and system that has neglected mental health, ignored alternative medicine practices, and consider energetic healing, sound healing, and psychedelic therapy as "woo woo," or unrealistic. Instead, a 'war' on drugs was started for political campaigns, power, and greed.

In reality, the true war is the war on consciousness and the war within the mind. There are many theories as to why people become addicted to drugs, but my core beliefs are that it begins from a deep emotional need that has not been met or from unhealed emotional, physical, or psychiatric trauma. Drugs are then used to numb an emotion or to create an ecstatic feeling to disengage and disassociate from the discomfort or pain in our bodies. Unfortunately, our economic conditions, toxic workforce conditions, 24/7 news cycles, and 10+ hours a day on a screen have caused us to become completely disassociated from the needs, desires, and intuition of our bodies, minds, and spirits. We have forgotten how to properly regulate our nervous systems so that we can live peaceful, prosperous lives, and manage stress in a healthy way to prevent long-term disease. This is where The Sacred Grief Project provides solutions through community support, tools, resources, educational discussions, healing retreats and alternative medicine practices to heal from grief.

Therefore, I am looking for 100 conscious leaders, small businesses, or organizations who can contribute $5,000 to my cause to help me reach my goals.

Through these donations, I plan to build a positive, caring, safe and supportive community of those who are grieving the death of a loved one; more specifically, people who have lost siblings, family members, and close friends to opioid addiction. I want to raise $500K in memory of the 500K+ human lives who have died from Oxycontin and other opioids. I want to provide solutions for others who may have suffered and grieved in silence, like me.

This money will be used to draft legislation demanding longer bereavement labor laws in Georgia, my home state, provide tools, resources and alternative medicine/healing practices for grieving families, and facilitate in-person retreats to heal from grief.

GOALS:

Legislation for Longer Bereavement Leave for Employees: Death affects our nation and country more than we realize and employees should have a right for extended time off to grieve the loss of their loved ones. There are laws that have passed for extended maternity and paternity leave for new life, but what about extended leave for employees when a close family member, friend or relative dies? In Georgia, there is no law requiring employers to grant employees bereavement leave. Most employers only give 3 days, which is pathetic and insulting.

According to Mental Health America, MHA, the state of Georgia is ranked 48th out of all 51 states in their level of “Access to Care.” The Access to Care Ranking indicates how much access to mental health care exists within a state. The access measures include access to insurance, access to treatment, quality and cost of insurance, access to special education, and workforce availability.
Georgia law does not require employers to provide employees bereavement leave or leave to attend funerals. Bereavement leave is leave that is taken by an employee due to the death of another individual, usually a close relative. GA Employment Law Handbook
According to the US Department of Labor, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of UNPAID, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave. You can only receive these benefits if you have worked for your employer for 12 months. Bereavement from the death of a loved one is not included in the list of reasons. The list of reasons include:

For the birth and care of the newborn child of an employee
For placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care;
To care for an immediate family member (i.e., spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
To take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

Education Tools, and Resources

1. Podcasts Production with real healing conversations
  1. Human Be True podcast: where I interview experts, healers, gurus about ways to heal from grief and alternative/traditional medicine practices to facilitate more in depth and diverse solutions to healing
  2. Meta Spiritual podcast: where I weave spirituality with the future of technology and interview founders, artists, and companies that are using new technology to improve mental health
2. eBooks - step by step processes to heal from grief from death
3. LinkedIn Lives -live sessions to join the conversation
4. In Person meetups in Atlanta, GA and Tulum, MX
5. Discord Community - I am building an international online and in-person community for grief support, join here!
6. Recorded Meditations and sound scapes to heal the body through the vibrational frequencies of sound.
7. Nervous system health - education to relax the nervous system. Dysregulated nervous systems are one of the leading causes of autoimmune disorders and chronic illnesses. We have built a workforce and entire society around unhealthy working habits, which has led to many diseases, discomfort within the body, and complete disconnection and disassociation from our bodies and our health.
8. Grief Academy with online programs and world class facilitators
  1. Watch live educational sessions with healers and conversations of how to heal from grief - all of the above will be recorded and repurposed into an online academy for future viewing and future cohorts

Sacred Grief Retreats
1. Life is sacred. Death is sacred. We’ve lost touch with death and how it transforms our lives, identities, emotions, and cellular DNA. We are never the same after someone we love dies. We are not given the time to grief our loved ones. We are offered casseroles or awkward silences, blank stares and thoughts and prayers. What if we were actually given more time, tools, and resources in a safe place of respite where those in mourning could be received in the fullness of their grief, with tangible tools and modalities to truly heal? During my time in Tulum, MX I have met incredible facilitators, healers, and shamans from around the world that have changed my life and greatly assisted me on my healing path. My retreats will include world class healers and facilitators who are deeply connected to their practice, embodied, who will provide transformational results.

I am looking for 100 people, small businesses, organizations, who can contribute $5,000 to my cause. Please share this campaign with anyone you think that can help. I am also looking for people to partner alongside me and join my team.

FACTS:

The opioid crisis costs the U.S. more than $1 trillion every year, according to the Centers for Disease and Control.

Related News Articles :

Purdue Pharma, Sacklers reach $6 billion deal with state attorneys general: https://www.npr.org/2022/03/03...

Rueters: Pharmacies, drug companies settle lawsuits over U.S. opioid crisis https://www.reuters.com/busine...

4 U.S. companies will pay $26 billion to settle claims they fueled the opioid crisis: https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25...

NPR: "For the first time, victims of the opioid crisis formally confront the Sackler family" https://www.npr.org/2022/03/10...

Justice Department Announces Global Resolution of Criminal and Civil Investigations with Opioid Manufacturer Purdue Pharma and Civil Settlement with Members of the Sackler Family :https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr...

The Sacred Grief Project

By Victoria Madison

The Sacred Grief Project

Raising $500,000 to Build a Global Community of Healing and Support for Grieving Families Affected by the Opioid Epidemic

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