Communal Grief Retreat
Camp Kawartha Environment Centre
Nogojiwanong (Peterborough), Ontario
Saturday, November 28th, 2026. 9:30 am - 6:00 pm
Facilitated by Mila Redwood & Michael McCarthy
We aren’t meant to grieve alone. All of us come from a lineage of ancestors who, in their own unique ways, came together to grieve communally. In many traditional cultures, tending grief collectively was often the "glue" that held communities together. By grieving in a communal space, we can metabolize our sorrows into fertile ground, making way for a renewed sense of connection, belonging, and joy.
Grief is as natural a part of being human as joy, and it honours the losses of what we have loved: family, friends, jobs, relationships, dreams, and ways of life. Many of us are also grieving collectively for the planet, for humanity, and for the things we expected in life but did not receive. Grief takes many shapes and forms, and we will come together to honour the vast spectrum of what it can be.
Part workshop and part ritual, this gathering will blend song, poetry, deep listening, simple movement, humour, and compassionate presence to support our sorrows in finding their way toward a renewed sense of connection, belonging, and joy. By creating a community of care and understanding together, and through our heartfelt attention to one another, we will prepare the way for grief to move through us and, in its own mysterious way, create courageous passageways for us to carry on.
Our day together will build toward an afternoon grief ritual. Throughout the day, we’ll use Community Singing as a tool to connect with our personal and collective grief. There will also be time for personal reflection and for sharing within the group. After lunch, we’ll create a grief altar—a place of beauty and meaning that will hold our sorrows during the afternoon ritual. Following the ritual, we will come together to integrate our experience and harvest the stories that emerge from it.
Entering a communal grief-tending space may bring us into contact with the edges of our wild sorrow, our rage at injustice, or familiar childhood fears as another participant touches upon their grief. Together, we will establish agreements and practices to support a sense of safety and care. You may also wish to reflect on what safety means for you before attending: when someone expresses their sorrow or rage, how can I remain connected to myself and my own experience?
This retreat is open to all genders and to people aged 18 and older. Please bring a water bottle, journal, pen, and your beautiful self. Please know that you are welcome exactly as you are—tired and weary, full of sorrow or anger, hopeful and grateful, or anywhere in between. As always, no singing experience is required.
Facilitators
Mila Redwood is a Community Song Leader, Mother, and the Founder of Sing for Joy in Toronto. Mila uses song as a tool for building community, for restoring our sense of belonging and connection in a fragmented world. In 2014, she went to her first community grief ritual that was held by her mentor, Laurence Cole. In that one night of singing, sharing, witnessing, and wailing, she came to understand the profound healing that’s possible when we come together to tend our sorrows in community. Since then, she has attended over 20 community grief rituals with Laurence, as both a participant and helper, and is grateful for the way that these spaces bring us home to a renewed sense of aliveness and joy.
Michael McCarthy is a Registered Social Worker, Therapist, Nature Connection Mentor, and Father. Michael seeks to co-create spaces that foster safety, vulnerability, and courage through compassionate presence. As a participant and helper in various grief rituals and Indigenous ceremonies, Michael is struck by the strength of community and the simple truth that we need each other. Sharing grief in community grants us the permission to see the beauty in the falling apart, the presence in the questions, and the grace in not knowing where my next step might take me.
Together, Mila and Michael have been holding community grief rituals in Ontario since 2019. Prior to that, they were mentored by Laurence Cole in facilitating community grief rituals, and completed a 5-month grief ritual training program with Francis Weller. The lineage of these rituals stems from the work and legacy of Sobonfu and Malidoma Somé, Francis Weller, Joanna Macy, and Martin Prechtel.
If you would like to listen to an interview with Mila and Michael where they speak about community grief rituals, you can listen and read this article from Trent Radio.
Schedule of our Day
9:30 am - 10:00 am: Arrive, settle in, and drink some tea/coffee
10:00 am - 1:00 pm: Opening Circle and Morning Session
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm: Lunch Break
2:00 pm - 6:00 pm: Afternoon Session and Closing Circle
Location
We are fortunate to hold this gathering at the inspiring and beautiful Camp Kawartha Environment Centre. Located next to Trent University’s stunning wildlife sanctuary lands in Nogojiwanong (Peterborough), the Environment Centre is renowned as one of the most innovative and sustainable building designs in all of Canada. Nestled amongst two hundred acres of cedar forest, with a crackling fire in the woodstove, we’ll gather in this warm and welcoming sanctuary for a day of tending our grief together in community.
There are parking spaces available onsite for those driving, as well as public transportation options. For those who are coming from out of town, there are a number of AirBnbs within a 10-minute drive of the Camp Kawartha Environment Centre. The Environment Centre is wheelchair accessible. Please let us know if you have any additional accessibility needs.
Cost & Registration
Tiered pricing is available for this retreat, so that those of us with more can share, and those of us who could use some support can receive it.
Price per person: $175 Regular / $195 Supporter / $155 Supported (plus sales tax)
Your registration includes:
Facilitated group sessions throughout the day.
Tea, coffee, and an afternoon home-baked snack. Please bring your own lunch.
A beautiful, natural setting to relax, connect, and unwind.
A “basket” of songs to return home with.
If it would be helpful to have a brief phone conversation, to determine whether this retreat is the right fit for you, you’re welcome to contact Michael at: pathofbelonging@gmail.com.
If the tiered prices are a barrier for you, please email mila@singforjoy.ca for a possible work exchange or partial scholarship.
Terms & Conditions:
Please review the Terms & Conditions for this retreat, before booking your spot. The Terms & Conditions include information on the Cancellation & Refund Policy, Health & Wellness Agreements, and more. Click here to read the Terms & Conditions.
Words from Past Participants…
“Michael and Mila held space for this ritual with such tenderness, warmth, caring and beauty. I found it to be a heartbreaking day, but also a deeply grounding and nourishing one. It feels like overwhelmingly necessary work for me personally, and for many at this cultural moment. I am profoundly grateful to have begun to undertake this apprenticeship of grief in community.” - Samantha Mansfield
“Spending the day exploring grief in community, with Mila and Michael as our guides, was a truly beautiful experience. I can only say it is a blessing to have people committed to offering these opportunities, and to those willing to do the work. It is good, it is hard, and it brings me joy.” - Kerith Paul
“Mila and Michael, and their supportive team, create an incredible container where participants can practice being held and holding space in the rhythm of inclusive ritual. Their attentiveness to the moment and ability to root the practice in its various lineages was comforting, and allowed me to deepen into my own and the collective’s grieving. More than ever, I’m convinced grieving is our way forward together. The offering they shared feels like a passageway to social change and repair, building new futures together as humans intimately related to this earth.” - Mollie Coles Tonn
“The Communal Grief Retreat offered an experience that is generally lacking in our society: a space for dropping into the rawest of feelings, and to not be alone with them. The experience felt holy - a ceremony in service of heart and soul.” - Ursula Carsen
“Michael and Mila held space for grief with incredible care. I felt safe and easily slipped into conversations with the people I was meant to meet. I cannot recommend this experience highly enough.” - Tarzan Kay
We respectfully acknowledge that this gathering will take place on the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig Anishinaabeg. This area was originally called Nogojiwanong, Ojibwa for “place at the end of rapids”. We will gather near the shore of the Odenabe River, which was a gathering place for Indigenous people. Odenabe, or Otonabee, means the“river that beats like a heart”. We strive to learn to recognize our part in the ongoing history of colonization, and to understand how our community can work towards reconciliation, repair, and uplifting indigenous values and traditions.