Inanna Institute
Inanna Institute was formally established as a Washington nonprofit corporation to support individuals through grief, loss, and life transitions by providing confidential, nonjudgmental listening, peer support, therapeutic arts exploration, and related education.Inanna also seeks to expand access to these supports for individuals impacted by systems of isolation, marginalization, or confinement through a network of trained volunteer partners dedicated to presence, dignity, and compassionate engagement.
We work at the threshold between worlds — between prison and freedom, grief and renewal.
Inspired by the Sumerian goddess Inanna’s descent to the underworld, our programs accompany women as they navigate the profound transformations of incarceration and re-entry.
We believe that healing begins when we are witnessed, not fixed, when we can rest in the depth of our stories and allow something new to be born.
We believe that we are interconnected by our grief, and that when one person holds grief we all hold it, and when we tend to grief we all benefit.Mission
We accompany people through the deep work of descent, healing, and return.
We offer spaces where people can be witnessed without judgment, reclaim their inner voice, and rediscover meaning through presence and connection.
We believe that listening itself can be an act of liberation — a quiet form of sanctuary that restores the capacity to grieve, dream, and rejoin the world whole.
Rooted in the mythic journey of Inanna, our programs honor each person’s lived experience as sacred, a passage through loss and renewal.Vision
We envision a culture that makes space for descent — where grief is shared, dreams are valued, and those returning from incarceration are met with dignity and belonging.
Our work reclaims the ancient logic of renewal: that out of dismemberment can come re-membering; out of loss, the re-weaving of community.
By building sanctuaries —both real and symbolic— we help transform carceral spaces into sites of awakening and compassion.
support our work
Inanna's first fundraising priority is to build a fund to sustain the longstanding Shanti Inmate Support Project in Washington Corrections Center for Women.Your donation helps us train volunteer listeners, facilitate trauma-informed painting and grief workshops, and bring compassionate presence to those navigating isolation and transition — including individuals in prison and post-prison communities. Each contribution strengthens the network of care, reminding every person of their inherent worth and belonging.Listening is how we begin to remember one another again.
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Image: Representation of Inanna/Ishtar at the exhibition 'Venerated and Feared' at Caixa Forum in Zargoza (Spain) December 2024 to March 2025. Plaque of baked straw-tempered clay. The goddess was originally painted red. Loaned for the exhibition by The Trustees of the British Museum.
Thank you
Thank you for visiting Inanna.
Representation of Inana/Ishtar at the exhibition 'Venerated and Feared' at CaixaForum in Zargoza (Spain) December 2024 to March 2025. Loaned for the exhibition by The Trustees of the British Museum.