Coming alongside
– Practices of Accompaniment, Care, and Rituals at the End of Life–
November 14–16, 2026
3-day retreat with Dr. Martha Jo Atkins (USA)
Before death became primarily a medical event, people died at home — surrounded by their loved ones, in a space where care, touch, words, and ritual all had their natural place. One generation passed on to the next how to be with a person at the end of life: what to do, what to say, how to help — and when the greatest help is simply to remain present.
This experiential retreat invites us into the experience of accompanying someone who is approaching death and dying.We will learn how to hold space, listen, care, know when to act — and when to simply be. The seminar will include teaching, sharing, reflection, and real rituals for the time before death and shortly after it.
This seminar is not a lecture about death from a distance. It is an invitation to come closer — to the body, emotions, silence, relationship, care, and the sacredness of ordinary gestures.
The program will be held as a sensitively structured experiential process, in which the group becomes a circle of care around a person at the end of life. It will combine teaching, model situations, ritual practice, sharing, and ongoing reflection.
My invitation to people is this: look at what you can learn so that you can be present in a different way — perhaps setting fear aside for a moment, and simply BEING there.
More about Dr. Martha Jo Atkins
Most of us have never been taught how dying happens. Over the course of our lives, we may witness two or three deaths — and yet we expect ourselves to know how to handle it with confidence.
Martha Jo Atkins, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist with the highest level of professional training, a licensed professional counselor supervisor (LPC-S), coach, consultant, author, and internationally recognized guide for people at the end of life. For more than 30 years, she has accompanied people who are facing death, loss, and grief — whether they are the ones who are dying, or those who love them.
She accompanied her first dying patient — a three-year-old girl — when she was 22. Since then, she has worked with thousands of children, adults, and families facing the inevitable, while seeking ways to remain human, present, and connected.
People invite her in when they are facing a new diagnosis or a terminal illness, when they want to find words for a family conversation, or when they wish to create space and ritual for saying goodbye — while their loved one is still present and can be part of it.
She also helps those who want to create a deep and meaningful end-of-life experience for themselves and their loved ones. She believes that even in these moments, there is room for love and creativity — and that this can be beautiful.
Martha's approach is open, non-judgmental, and deeply human. She is not interested in labels — she believes it does not matter what your age, faith, or identity is.
What matters is who you are and what you carry.
When she is not talking about dying, she drinks Dr Pepper, loves dogs — especially her boxer, Gertie — and teaches others that death does not have to be the end of a relationship, but rather its transformation.
More about the retreat:
🌿 Being in the room with a person who is dying
We will enter a model situation of accompanying a person at the end of life. We will explore what happens in such a space — not only practically, but also physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. We will focus on the quality of presence, on listening, on sensitive care, and on the ability to sense what is truly needed in the moment.
🌿 Care that grows out of relationship
We will learn to see care for a dying person as a living relational space.
The program will include teaching as well as practical moments that will help us recognize what support for a dying person, their family, and the caregiving circle can look like. We will explore how to hold space for different emotions, uncertainty, pain, love, and the ordinariness of the final moments.
🌿 Rituals before and after death
Martha Jo Atkins will introduce rituals she uses in her many years of practice accompanying dying people and those who grieve. Here, ritual will not be understood as a formal or religious act, but as a human way of giving shape to what is often difficult to put into words.
🌿 How to create a meaningful ritual
We will be introduced to a simple way of creating rituals that respond to a specific person, situation, and family. In small groups, participants will have the opportunity to design their own ritual and guide the rest of us through it.
We will learn how not to create ritual "from the outside," but how to let it grow from the story, relationships, needs, and symbols that are natural for that person and their loved ones.
🌿 Reflection, integration, and shared closing
Throughout the retreat, there will be regular moments of pause, in which we step out of the model situation, name what we have experienced, share questions, and integrate the experience. The final part of the program will offer space for shared reflection and one last ritual to close our time together.
The aim is not to leave with the feeling that we have a "manual for dying."
It is much more about cultivating the ability to be present, attentive, and human where life is coming to an end.
Why am I inviting Martha Jo Atkins back to the Czech Republic?
I see her way of working as something rare.
She does not simply share information about death, dying, and grief. She brings deep life and professional experience, rooted in practice, in real stories, and in genuine contact with people at the end of life as well as with those who are grieving.
At last year's seminar, I was deeply touched by the way she was able to bring together expertise, humanity, ritual sensitivity, and full presence. Martha did not stand apart as someone who was only there to teach. She was in it with us. She created a space where it was possible to learn, to feel, to ask questions, and to be moved — while still feeling safe.
These are exactly the kinds of spaces we need today. Spaces where death is not spoken about only from a distance, but where we can learn again how to be close to a person at the end of life.
And that is why I am inviting Martha back.
Jana Slavice – retreat organizer 2025 & 2026
Voices of participants from last year's retreat:
Martha is, for me, a person with an enormous heart — deeply human and kind. Her compassion has no limits, and that is what touched me so deeply.
Alena Horáčková
hospic sv. Kleofáše
The retreat helped me cry my way down to the very bottom of my grief and allowed me to bring a year of intense grieving to a close. At the same time, it helped me find answers to the questions families in home hospice care ask me.
retreat 2025
home hospice worker
A great gift for me was Martha's presence and personality — grounded in reality, in life experience, and in the practice she has lived and continues to live. I deeply appreciated how sensitively she guided us step by step through difficult themes: what we would see, what we would hear, how it might affect us, and how she then accompanied us through it.
Jana Princová
End of life doula
VENUE:
Retreat centrum Zastávka Obořice, Czech Republic
Our gathering will take place in a cozy and inspiring space, held in the quiet of nature, not far from the village of Ležáky — a place with deep memory and story.
This landscape can teach us how to be with pain and grief. Not through instructions, but through silence, presence, and the kind of stillness that allows everything to be as it is.
The atmosphere of the place is clear, calm, and supportive — a place where it is possible to rest safely and open gently.
We will sleep in an airy attic space with beds or comfortable mattresses.
The food will be light, varied, and vegetarian.
If you prefer more privacy or comfort, we will be happy to recommend accommodation options nearby.
The group will be limited to a maximum of 25 participants, so that we can go truly deep, with respect for each individual story.
Schedule:
It is possible to arrive and settle in already on Friday, November 13.
Saturday, November 14 – we begin at 10:00 AM
Monday, November 16 – we end with a shared lunch around 1:00 PM
Early Bird Retreat Fee until June 30: €575
Includes: tuition fee, meals, and accommodation
Regular Retreat Fee after June 30: €600
Registration:
After we receive your email, we will send you a registration questionnaire, including the terms and conditions and the liability waiver for this retreat. You can also read them here.