BOULDER, Colo. — Ingrid Avison spends her days helping others process grief. By night, she's processing her own.
The Boulder grief counselor has built a second career as a singer, songwriter and storyteller — performing original music for backyard audiences in what feels less like a concert and more like group therapy with a beat.
Watch Mike Castellucci's story in the video below:
"This is just like being a therapist," Avison said.
Avison came to songwriting later than most.
"I came to songwriting later in life, at 34," Avison said.
She found her voice after a series of life-altering events following the start of the pandemic — a bad breakup, abdominal surgery and a mental breakdown in Utah. She began writing songs as a kind of personal diary.
Avison said grief has been a constant companion since childhood. She lost her father to cancer when she was young, and the loss has shaped much of her life and her music.
"Grief has played a leading role in my life since I was a kid," Avison said. "I spent the rest of my life processing that event."
One of her songs, "Walk With Me," draws directly from that loss.
"I'll sing a song tonight called 'Walk With Me,' very much a process of how I ache for him," Avison said.
Performing, she said, is where she feels closest to her father.
"Part of the reason I'm so in love with performing is, that's when I feel the most connected to him," Avison said.
Music has become the place she puts feelings that have no other home.
"For me, with grief, it's like a bottomless thing. I still miss my dad, but a song feels like a place to put it," Avison said. "So (I'm) grateful for songs as a place to put this bottomless ache that never goes away."
Her work as a therapist informs her approach to both careers.
"I think everybody needs something different. That's the beauty of being a therapist — you never know what you're going to get," Avison said.
Avison is now taking her stories further, working on an album.
At the end of her Boulder performance, the crowd asked for more — a sign it may be time to dig back into her diary and write an encore.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Ingrid Avison's name.
