Rebecca Hensler founded the social media and internet support group "Grief Beyond Belief" for grieving people who do not believe in God or an afterlife in 2011.^[1][2][3] She was encouraged to found it by atheist activist Greta Christina.^[2] Hensler's own son Nathaniel Judah Hensler, also called Jude, died in 2009 after ninety days of life due to a congenital diaphragmatic hernia.^[4][5] Hensler also published a book called The Secular Grief Support Handbook.^[6]

Aside from her atheist activism, she helped found ACT UP San Francisco, but left when new leaders that discouraged HIV testing and medications took over.^[7]

Hensler has a BA in political activism and a MS in counseling.^[8] She works as a school counselor at a public middle school in San Francisco, and lives in the Bay Area with her wife.^[9]

Hensler has multiple sclerosis.^[10]

She is openly bisexual.^[11]