Leaning In ~ End-of-life Doula Retreat

Sponsored by the Northeast Death Care Collaborative and Last Dance Shrouds, the Leaning In EOLD Retreat is an opportunity for practicing end-of-life doulas (beginners included) to gather and learn, share, create, collaborate, and play. Most of us are solo practitioners and welcome any opportunity to hang out and talk shop. We fervently hoped that Leaning In would be an in-person event, and now are shifting to Zoom in the interest of covid safety, weather considerations, and other real-world circumstances. We are working tirelessly to create a space that is surprisingly more connected than other learning environments you've encountered online. Our hope is to offer a retreat-at-home and doula community experience that is stimulating, heart-warming, and genuinely useful to you and to the people you serve. Please email any questions to: leaning.ineold@gmail.com

MEET THE PRESENTERS:

Susannah Crolius

Lee Webster

Kemper Carlson

Aimee Francaes

Dina Stander

WORKSHOP OFFERINGS INCLUDE:

• Doula Self Care 101 ~  Making Personal Altars
• Body Basics & Last Hours: fluids, secretions, comfort measures & non-medical interventions
• After-death Body Care for EOLDs - legalities, resources, and encouragement
• A Doula's Grief Navigation Toolkit
• VSED - short films and discussion
• How to Set a Sliding Fee Scale
• Doula Self Care 102 ~ Making Bone Broth

Payment details: Leaning In is offered on a sliding fee scale, from $450 to $175 per person. Why a sliding fee scale? Basically, a sliding scale is an honor system which we employ because access matters and money can be a huge barrier to a practitioner's continuing education and professional development. Not everyone is in the same boat financially, yet we each add value to the conversation, and our clients are better served when we have spaces to learn and build skills together. People who can pay more support the event so that people who can pay less can still come out to play. We meet in the middle and hopefully the event breaks even. We are confident that the quality of presentations, the diversity of people attending, and opportunities for peer support and community building are well worth your investment. Please be a good sharer.

Here is the sliding scale for this event:

• If Your Family Income is: $30K - $50K, then your fee is: $180
• If Your Family Income is: $50K - $75K, then your fee is: $310
• If Your Family Income is: $75 - $100K , then your fee is: $465

For participants whose annual family income is less than 25k or who have other financial need, there is always a fair and affordable way. If you would like to donate to help others attend please email us to make arrangements. If a partial or full scholarship will give you access to this retreat, then send us an email briefly describing your need and we will do all we can to help. If a sliding scale is unfamiliar to you and you have questions about why Leaning In is structured in this way, we are happy to have a conversation. Please contact us directly at: leaning.ineold@gmail.com

If you already registered and were expecting the event to be in person, you have email from us! We are compelled by circumstances to move this event onto Zoom. You will be refunded the portion of your registration fee that covered room and board. If you have an unexpected change in plans a 50% refund of your fee is available up to 30 days before the retreat, but not after October 6th. If clarification of this would be helpful, email: leaning.ineold@gmail.com

Leaning In has been scheduled early in November, when northern hemisphere nights are long and many cultures teach that the 'veil between worlds' is thin. We will host a special online space for a community Offrenda through the weekend to honor the dead. We encourage you to post photos and other mementos of the people (or animals) who have been in your doula care, or who cared for you in a way that encouraged your path. Since we will not be gathering in person in a place with beautiful walking trails we encourage you to get outside where ever you may be during breaks between workshops. We will set up another online gallery space where everyone is invited to upload pictures of your beautiful places to share with the group.

Please be in touch if you have any questions: leaning.ineold@gmail.com