Hi! We are Rachel Cole and Tessie Castillo.

In response to the personal and collective grief we are witnessing and experiencing in our communities, we are offering a ceremony to bring people together to release grief and to restore a feeling of wholeness and belonging. Drawing on our experiences from grief retreats and rituals from around the country, we created Circle of Healing, a 2 hour ceremony for our Durham community, and began offering it at the People's Solidarity Hub in 2025.

We've been amazed at the reception our ceremonies have received - certainly the medicine of grief-letting is needed and we are honored to be trusted with the intimate task of leading people through the grief process. Part of earning that trust is our commitment to ongoing training, evaluation and learning to improve our facilitation and space holding.

With that goal in mind, we ask for your help in covering the cost of attending the 2025-2026 Grief Tender Mentoring Program in Olympia, Washington. Led by elders and grief mentors Lawrence Cole and Therese Charvet (who were trained by legendary grief facilitators Sobonfu and Malidoma Some’) the program will help us hone skills such as reflective listening, how to best create vulnerable and courageous spaces, and how to craft a safe space for intense grief, as well as provide opportunities to network with grief facilitators across the country.

The program costs $1700 per person and involves an in-person grief retreat at the onset (Oct 31-Nov 2, 2025), required monthly zoom meetings from November. 2025-March 2026, and an in-person closing retreat in mid-April (April 9-12) in Olympia, Washington.

Any help you could provide is greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Love,

Rachel and Tessie