Living and Loving After Sudden Loss of a Child
A Retreat Into Your Heart and Through Your Grief
March 11-18, 2023
Playa Buena Vista, Samara, Costa Rica
The sudden loss of a child to suicide, overdose, or any tragic event, feels like a plunge into quicksand. After such a soul-crushing loss, you feel heavier with every step, sinking deeper into grief and despair. Yet beyond the pit of quicksand is the river of hope … a place where you’ll know that your child senses your presence.
Where you’ll realize that you deserve to ease the pain and shame…
…and discover that you bear no blame and that your love has no bounds.
Every day is an opportunity to forge a new memory. The ones we love are never truly gone. They live on in us…but we must continue living.
We invite you to rest your weary soul and transition through your grief in Costa Rica… one of Earth’s most restorative and spiritually rich places.
From Clouded Spirits to Clear Minds and Healing Hearts
Find Peace
The best way to honor your child is to allow yourself to live fully. It’s not about moving on… it’s about moving forward, lightening the weight of grief, and wading through the rough waters to a peaceful place.
The Tools to Navigate
On this retreat, I provide compassionate support as you navigate your healing journey. I help you move through the waves of grief, ebbing and flowing, ultimately finding a place where you can float on the soothing sea.
You will gain the buoyancy of a freer spirit and a lighter heart… and with healing resources and daily practices to enhance your living.
Cultivate Connection
Our community experience in soothing Costa Rica is what you need — and deserve — to cultivate solace, embrace your connections, and rediscover your will to live.
Awaken
Come awaken your heart and move from the quicksand into a widening ocean of awareness.
Free Your Mind from Grief & Your Spirit from Shame
Do any of these sentiments resonate with you?
- You’re wondering… “Why me? What did I do? What did I do to deserve this kind of pain? I failed my child! I am a horrible parent.”
- You can’t comprehend the reason for this tragedy, so you feel a constant sense of despair.
- Your remaining relationships are crumbling under the weight of your grief, so you feel disconnected, lonely, and numb.
- You can’t stop thinking about the “what if’s” “if onlys” and “I should(n’t) have done something.”
- You lay awake at night wondering how you can keep going.
- You are so angry at the world.
“I didn’t want the pain to go away because I thought if I lost the pain, then I would lose the memory of my son. That’s what was keeping me tied to my child was the pain.”
~ Cathleen
These feelings are normal for anyone who is grieving the unexpected and sudden loss of a child. They are nothing to be ashamed of nor to be attached to.
We can acknowledge these thoughts, then redefine them as we rediscover our most cherished memories.
Even though your child’s physical presence is no longer here, there is a way to build a new relationship with their energetic presence.
On this retreat, I’ll help you connect with your lost loved one in a new way…and reconnect with the energies surrounding you.
Restore Your Spirit, Honoring Your Child
You are not stuck forever in the quicksand of grief. You can move into the pond or marsh. While the waters are still dark, they eventually flow to the sea.
Grief is messy. Allow yourself to swim to a lighter place with clearer waters. Accept that your feelings will ebb and flow. In this retreat, I’ll help you navigate your experience, wherever you’re swimming.
Here’s what we’ll learn and (re)discover together…
- Release the hold of shame, blame, and judgment
- Ways to reconnect with our loved ones and cherish the memories of the child we’ve lost
- How to ride the waves of grief and embrace life with grace
- Tools and techniques to restore and enhance your daily relationships with loved ones
- Restorative practices to implement throughout our lives
- The Universe’s bountiful energy and how to connect your energetic presence to your loved one’s
- How to recognize, honor, and cultivate the eternal human spirit as we move forward with trauma
There is life beyond grief. There is life in every moment. Let’s connect with each other as we forgive ourselves. Together, we’ll embrace a resilient community and new relationships.
Con Smania Costa Rica lets us escape the soul-draining bustle of the modern world for a place of healing and release. Join us in nourishing, spiritually rich Costa Rica and lighten the load that grief has placed on your heart.
What YOU Are Going to Walk Away With…
Wade Through the Pain to a Healing Place / The power of love is so much stronger than the pain
The grief of losing a child can feel as though you’re trapped in quicksand. You can barely take a step, and when you do, you sink even deeper.
I help you emerge from the quicksand and move into faster-flowing waters. It’s okay if you can’t see the bottom yet. In time, you will lighten your heart and embrace the ebb and flow.
On this retreat, you will realize and cultivate a new relationship with the energetic presence that’s all around you.
It’s more than living through each moment. It’s living WITH every moment.
It’s letting yourself be guided by your passion, love, and eternal connection to our families and the greater Universe.
It’s restoring your relationships that may be in turmoil, so you can stop drowning and start flowing to a lighter place.
You deserve to free your mind and spirit from the pain. You deserve to live through each loving moment without shame.
We will gather in beautiful Costa Rica, an empathetic, empowering space to move forward. Nurture yourself with good food, clean air, and abundant love in one of the 10 blue zones in the world.
You are not alone. Swim up from the depths and find a place of buoyancy and light.
Why I am holding this retreat
I help parents eliminate the unnecessary suffering they are drowning in. When my son Logan took his life, I sat in the suffering, the blame, the shame, the judgment and the immense amount of guilt that I couldn’t save my son.
Shortly after Logan’s death, I found myself lying on his grave begging to die. I was filled with so much pain and suffering I couldn’t see any way out. Then I suddenly started to become calm and heard this voice say out of nowhere, “If this happened in your life, then you’re meant to do something with it. Now go do it!”
It was at that moment I chose to step into my healing journey differently. I did everything I could to feel more connected, to create a purpose to live again.
Each step I took made a difference for me. It gave me a little hope… and a little more hope.. and then even more hope. While I didn’t know what my purpose was, I knew there could be a way to live with less pain and still stay connected to my son.
Through all that healing, I realized my purpose was to become a master healer and a master coach. I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of hours and dollars on personal development, healing and self-reflection throughout the past twelve years.
I know today that my soul’s purpose, my heart’s calling, is to help others move through their pain with awareness and intention quicker and learn new ways to stay connected with their loved ones. They can live a life full of joy, peace, connection and love.
This retreat will provide a space for parents to feel connected, release the untruths, and find new ways to live through their life in a new way; connected to themselves, their families and their loved one in spirit. We’re creating new traditions and revisiting old ones as we step into the world with a lighter heart… so parents can heal from this traumatic experience.
Why Cathleen?
I experience Cathleen as a Divine Mother presence. Difficult to explain in words, when I realized I was unwanted as my mother’s 13th pregnancy, Cathleen showed up in a magical way like a surrogate mother inviting me to say yes to life and love. The impact was that of a deeply felt experience, not a mere intellectual perspective shift. Seeing her work in a retreat setting, I’ve had the honor of witnessing the same Divine Mother presence show up as she worked with others. She continues to amaze me as a mind-blowing, body-feeling and magical experience, every time
Sitting down with Cathleen, I had no idea what to expect for myself. When asked to talk about what I wanted to work on, what came to me was feeling like a failure and continuously sabotaging myself. She began by looking in my eyes, deeply. And from there she created an incredibly safe space for me to process some of the most difficult things I went through, intuitively knowing what had happened at times and where we needed to go. I have never, ever in my life been in such a safe space where I could truly feel and cry as deeply as I did. We moved through the experience from softly whispering (and times I couldn’t even speak), to taking back my power and yelling into the universe that I AM LOVE and I AM POWER. I feel unlocked. I feel open. I’m so excited for my future! I’m extraordinarily grateful for her and her gifts! If you are feeling stuck, afraid, locked, or maybe just have an issue you’d like to be guided through, I highly recommend spending time with Cathleen. She is life changing!
“Sometimes you don’t feel the weight of something until you feel the weight of it’s release”
That’s exactly what happened to me during my retreat in Costa Rica at Con Smania. I experienced a process done by master coach and healer Cathleen Elle, one who introduced me to the property.
This was totally unexpected for both of us, but Cathleen has always been intuitive and helped me discover a huge weight that I was carrying from very deep and buried emotions. I was carrying so much, that it caused constant pain in my body. I thought it was physical and something that was coming with age and lack of exercise…. boy was I wrong!! The next day I woke up refreshed, invigorated and clearer minded than I have been in a long time. Oh, and totally pain free… I was astonished!
Cathleen is the absolute best at what she does. In less than two sessions we were able to uncover and unblock things that many therapists and professionals have tried to help me work through for the past 25+ years. She understood me, she listened to me, and supported me every step of the way without any judgement or any hesitation. She reassured me that I’m not alone on this journey.
The Venue…
Con Smania is a soothing oasis within the Costa Rican rainforest. Its lush environment, cozy casitas, and intimate gathering spaces make it ideal for this retreat. You will find yourself in a safe place, surrounded by compassionate people who can understand your grief.
Con Smania is a place for purification and restoration. Immerse yourself in comfortable, private spaces. Enjoy nourishing food as you heal through your grief. Together, we’ll wade out of the quicksand and into peaceful waters.
Why Con Smania?
Because it is a place of passion. It offers both transformation and the ability to transmute the heaviness to lightness.
The Food and Meals…
Inspired by the ingredients that make this one of the world’s five Blue Zones, our Costa Rican chef designs vegetarian focused meals that burst with flavor and texture. Get a chance to taste your way through the possibilities on offer. We believe in honoring the land through connecting closer to source in all ways. Buffet style, we encourage you to take what you need knowing you can always return for more.
Breakfasts in our front restaurant and dinners may be served in the main building, our tiki bar and poolside lounge, or up at the restaurant. Let us surprise you!
Anytime you need more nourishment, blend yourself a smoothie from local fruits and greens and nutritious add-ins. Grab a snack – never know what we may conjure up.
What’s Included:
- A full week, Saturday to Saturday, to soak in all the property and the group have to offer.
- Group call before arrival, we’re too excited to wait to meet you all.
- A home for the week and sacred space.
- Group heart opening and emotional release sessions.
- Sound Healing Ceremony.
- Healing through Art Therapy
- Experience a heightened awareness of body-breath connection and gain spiritual practices to shape the breath as needed.
- Reiki healing for body, mind and soul.
- Connect with your loved one through Mediumship.
- Housekeeping and laundry services – you choose the level according to your daily needs.
- Breakfast from our local cook served buffet style. All food needs accommodated.
- Chef prepared dinners in one of three spaces on the property.
- Unlimited smoothie and snack bar.
- Group workshops and mind-opening experiences throughout the week.
- A trip to Nosara Market
- Round trip airport transportation – your trip begins as soon as you pass through customs.
What’s Not Included:
- Your round-trip airfare
- Fees for any chosen additional excursions – Massage, Horseback Riding and Sea Kayaking are all available options during your stay
- Personal, medical, or trip cancellation insurance
Flights:
Arrive into the Liberia Daniel Oduber Airport (LIR) on March 11th before 3pm if possible so we can pick you up and get you settled in before dinner. Departure any time on March 18 or arrange an extension. We take care of arranging this for you, round trip, don’t worry.
If you want to stay longer for some exploring – please let us know, we can likely accommodate you and would be delighted for a bit more time to get to know one another.
Your Facilitators for this Retreat
Cathleen Elle
Cathleen Elle is a transformational speaker, master coach and healer, visionary guide for sudden loss, suicide loss expert, author, and podcast co-host. By assisting people who have lost a child suddenly to move through layers of pain and trauma, and to break limiting beliefs, she revolutionizes lives. Her award-winning book, Shattered Together: A Mother’s Journey From Grief to Belief — equal parts inspirational memoir and practical guide for those struggling with loss of any kind — is a #1 international bestseller on Amazon. In addition, she has been featured as an expert on spiritual healing and wellness-related topics on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and many more.
For more than twenty-five years, Cathleen served as a political leader in Vermont, working alongside the governor and as an elected legislator. During this time, she addressed the National Congress of Brazil on women and minorities serving in government, and the Israeli Knesset on behalf of a young political leaders group. She also lobbied for and led the Associated General Contractors of Vermont as executive vice president.
In March 2010, Cathleen’s world was refocused when she lost her son to suicide. Through that shattering experience, she uncovered a powerful sense of self and a connection to the divine that motivated her to redesign her life — and to guide others in doing the same.
Today, Cathleen works with parents who have lost a child suddenly in releasing the hold of trauma, igniting the light within, uniting the head with the heart, and realizing their unique purpose. She is a certified master success coach and a certified master healer specializing in Regenerating Images in Memory (RIM), a multi-sensory technique that facilitates mental, physical, and spiritual transformation.
In addition to providing personalized one-on-one and group assistance, Cathleen educates and inspires through public speaking engagements centered on suicide prevention, grief, and self-discovery, at high schools, colleges, businesses, professional symposia, and a wide variety of other locations and events. She is also available for workshops, retreats, and creative partnerships.
Donna Brown
Donna guides her clients step-by-step in finding clarity, joy, passion, and purpose through her energetic alignment sessions. She clears their energetic blocks and together they clear the emotional blocks. She especially loves supporting Empty Nesters with compassion after her own experience of leaping from a cliff as she was approaching life as an Empty Nester.
Using her pendulum, she selects the exact right crystals for her clients. Her pendulum also assists them in seeking answers to life’s tough questions allowing them to follow their path to find joy.
Donna is an Energy Intuitive Coach and Guide, Reiki Master and Teacher, Inspiring Speaker, Crystal Expert, and five time #1 Best Selling Author.
The Cost
How does it feel to know you will be moving through your grief with a group of people who understand how you are feeling?
I am honored to guide you through this time.
This retreat is an opportunity to release the weight on your soul and connect with an empathetic community.
The cost of attendance is all inclusive, encompassing 7 nights, 2 meals a day, round-trip airport transfer, a compassionate place to stay, healing hearts … and much more.
All of this for $4,447.
Or share the experience with a loved one for $5997, just an additional $1500.
I am so grateful you want to join me on this retreat into your heart and through your grief!
Are you ready to address the pain you’ve been sitting in? You know there is more to discover in your healing. Sign up today and secure your spot on this restorative retreat!
Due to the special nature of this gathering, your deposit is only refundable until January 11, 2023, minus a $555 fee. Should you need to cancel after paying in full before January 11, 2023, you will be refunded in full minus $555, canceling after January 11, 2023, you will be refunded the amount paid, minus $2555.
By completing the checkout below, you agree to these terms.