Grief isn’t something to get over. It’s something we learn to live with, and sometimes, that learning needs space.

Join us for a 4-day, 3-night restorative retreat for anyone carrying the weight of loss. Whether your grief is recent or decades old, named or not, you’re invited to slow down and tend to your grief with care, in community.

Spots are limited.

Why This Retreat Matters

Space to breathe. Space to feel. Space to be.

Whether you’ve experienced the loss of a loved one, the unraveling of your identity, or a life that no longer fits, this retreat is for you. Embers of Grief is not therapy, not a support group, and definitely not another thing to "fix" yourself with.

It’s a gentle invitation into stillness, slowness, and soulful connection with yourself, with nature, and with others who understand.

A Typical Day at the Retreat

Our daily rhythm is designed to support nervous system regulation, spacious reflection, and meaningful rest.

🌅 Mornings

• Guided breathwork or journaling prompts

• Grounding rituals to start your day gently

🌲 Afternoons

• Land-based learning through nature walks or canoeing

• Embodied practices (gentle movement, rest-based practices)

• Optional integration sessions with Melissa + Cristin

🌙 Evenings

• Fire circles under the stars

• Tea, blankets, soft laughter or shared silence

• Connection without pressure

And in between?

Plenty of space to nap, reflect, wander, or do nothing at all.

What’s Included: 

• A pre-retreat call with Melissa or Cristin to ease you into the experience

• 3 nights of private or thoughtfully paired shared accommodations

• All meals + snacks (from arrival dinner to final breakfast)

• A customized grief journal to guide your integration

• Daily restorative + land-based sessions

• Evening fire circles with warm drinks

• Access to forest trails, watercraft, and cozy nooks to just be

• A curated Grief Gift Basket to carry the embers home with you

Is This Retreat for Me?

You might be craving this retreat if:

• You want time to reflect without having to perform your grief

• You're longing for community but not group therapy

• You’ve felt disconnected from yourself and want to come home again

• You’re tired of the pressure to “move on”

• You’ve experienced loss—death, divorce, deconstruction, identity shifts—that reshaped your world

Grief doesn’t need to be explained here. It’s welcome, just as it is.

What This Retreat Is Not

To be clear, this is not:

• A therapy retreat

• A group counselling space

• A space where you have to share your story unless you want to

• A retreat only for those grieving death

• A spiritual bypassing zone (we won’t tell you “everything happens for a reason”)

This is a land-based, trauma-informed, soul-tending space for the real, messy, beautiful parts of grief.

Frequently Asked Questions

Meet your Hosts

Melissa Sulley, Founder of josiah+co.

Grief + Loss Coach | Bereavement Doula | Grief Literacy Educator

Melissa Sulley (she/her) is a Certified Grief + Loss Coach and Bereavement Doula offering trauma-informed, heart-led grief support in Canada and beyond. As the founder of josiah+co., she creates inclusive, non-clinical spaces for individuals navigating the layered realities of loss—including miscarriage, stillbirth, pregnancy after loss, divorce, religious deconstruction, identity shifts, and other life-altering transitions.

With over a decade of lived experience in grief and extensive training in psychology and bereavement care, Melissa blends emotional intelligence, somatic awareness, and gentle guidance. She is a single co-parent to three living children and seven children in the stars, including her son Josiah who died at 20 weeks gestation—a pivotal moment that ignited her path into grief education and support.

Melissa’s approach is rooted in deep compassion, nervous system literacy, and a firm belief that grief doesn’t need to be fixed, simply witnessed. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and Education, a Grief + Loss Coach certification, and a Pregnancy & Infant Loss Doula certification. She facilitates community events, support groups, and collaborates with organizations to increase awareness and education around the real, lasting impacts of grief. Her spaces are known to be soft landing places where people feel seen, supported, and gently reconnected to their own inner knowing.

Current offerings include grief + loss coaching, pregnancy + infant loss bereavement care, and community engagement gatherings to deepen awareness around how grief shapes our lives.

Cristin Talentino, Founder + Steward of Birch + Bloom

Experience Curator | Embodied Facilitator | Community-Centered Leadership

Cristin Talentino (she/her) is the founder and steward of Birch + Bloom, a Northern Ontario-based gathering practice that helps individuals, teams, and communities navigate change through creative, embodied, and relational experiences.

With over two decades of experience in leadership, facilitation, and community building, Cristin is known for designing meaningful spaces that bring people together, especially in moments when the path ahead is uncertain. Her work blends creativity, embodiment, nature, and dialogue to foster meaningful connection, inner clarity, and collective insight.

Cristin’s facilitation is grounded, intuitive, trauma-aware, and deeply human. Drawing from her own lived experience of personal transformation, she brings a rare blend of depth and warmth to everything she facilitates. Her gatherings invite people to slow down, reconnect with themselves and others, and explore what’s possible when creativity and relationship are placed at the centre.

Birch + Bloom gatherings are intentionally different. They are rooted in place, shaped by story, and designed to meet the moment with reverence for complexity and care for the people inside it.

Cristin lives and works on the ancestral lands of the Anishinabek in Northern Ontario and offers retreats, workshops, and facilitated gatherings for those moving through change and uncertainty.

Current offerings include creative leadership retreats, seasonal workshops, and relational facilitation for organizations and communities in transition.

We Saved You A Seat

We created this retreat because we know how grief carves you out and how sacred it is to be witnessed in that.

We’re offering this retreat now because we believe grief deserves space. And so do you.

Only a limited number of spots are available.

Don’t wait. If this speaks to your spirit, trust the nudge. Come be with us.