As she walked between tables of people in a conference room at Mission: St. Louis on North Grand Boulevard, Rebeccah Bennett posed a question.

“Who remembers where they were on May 16?”

The crowd of about 40 murmured in recognition — they hardly needed a reminder. Even months later, the day a powerful tornado hit their homes and neighborhoods was still at the top of everyone’s mind.

The group was gathered for a daylong retreat called Go Deeper. It aimed to address pain and trauma participants have related to green spaces and trees. The retreat was held by Forest ReLeaf, a nonprofit that grows and plants trees in Missouri, and community healing organizations InPower Institute and Black Healers Collective.

“We want to hold the paradox today … for a reverence for nature and for the fear t

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