Summer Solstice Grief Retreat_old

Drake Living & Dying Design

Summer Solstice Grief Retreat

A day and a half on a working flower farm. The solstice as threshold.
June 20–21, 2026Farm53 Flowers · Shelton, WA10–15 Participants$225–$325 Sliding Scale

Space is limited. Registration is by email.

Email Bob to Register
About This Retreat

Grief unwitnessed doesn’t resolve. It settles.

On June 20th and 21st, I’m hosting a small grief retreat at Farm53 Flowers — a six-acre working flower farm on Oakland Bay in Shelton, Washington. Day and a half. Ten to fifteen people. The summer solstice.

The work is the same work I do in the eight-week cohort series and the Death Soirée, compressed into an immersive format: being witnessed, moving through what has been stuck, a self-forgiveness practice, and Sunday morning — the solstice — as a threshold. A ritual releasing at the land. A first movement toward something different.

This is for anyone carrying grief. The loss of a person, a relationship, a version of life that was supposed to continue. No particular background or belief system required.

You don’t have to be ready. Most people who come to a retreat like this aren’t sure they’re ready. They come anyway, because the weight of carrying it alone has become heavier than the discomfort of being witnessed.

What to Expect

How the time unfolds

The retreat is structured and moves. By Sunday morning, something will have shifted.

Saturday, June 20
Morning
Arrival & Opening CircleScones and coffee. Each person names their loss — briefly, without commentary from the group. Just naming it and being heard. That’s the first act of grief work, and it’s harder and more meaningful than it sounds.
Late Morning
The Scar Tissue TeachingThe framework Bob has developed over twenty years: what unwitnessed grief does to us over time, and what becomes possible when it’s finally seen.
Midday
Lunch TogetherProvided. Time to breathe and be with the farm.
Afternoon
Facilitated Pairs Work & Forgiveness PracticeTwo people witness each other — not fixing, not advising, not sharing their own story. Just presence. Attention. The thing most of us have never given our grief. Followed by the forgiveness work: not forgiving others, but forgiving yourself.
Evening
Free Time on the FarmThe formal work is done for the day. The farm is yours — the fields, the forest edge, Oakland Bay. A fire. That kind of quiet.
Sunday, June 21 — The Solstice
Morning
Scones & CoffeeThe last morning at the farm.
Mid-Morning
Solstice Ritual at the LandWriting what we’re willing to release. Offering it at the fire or the water. Not because the work is finished, but because the direction has shifted. A threshold practice on the longest day of the year.
Closing
Closing Circle & Sending OffIntegration, not resolution. Honoring what the group built — and releasing into it.
Practical Information

Everything you need to know

Dates

June 20–21, 2026

Location

Farm53 Flowers
Shelton, WA (Oakland Bay)

Group Size

10–15 participants

Pricing

$225–$325 sliding scale

Scholarships

A small number of scholarship spots are available. Reach out directly — no elaborate explanation required.

What’s Included

Saturday lunch · Scones & coffee each morning · All facilitated sessions

Lodging

Not included. Shelton has local options; Olympia is 30 min away. Ask Bob for suggestions.

Registration

By email. Reply to confirm your spot and arrange payment.

Your Facilitator

Bob Drake

Interfaith Clinical Chaplain · End-of-Life Educator · Death Doula · Grief Counselor


I’ve spent twenty years at the intersection of life and death — in hospice rooms, ICUs, and pediatric oncology wards, as well as in emergency, psychiatric, and disaster spiritual care. I served as Director of Spiritual Care Education at the Academy of Aid in Dying Medicine, and I lecture nationally on end-of-life care, MAiD, VSED, and grief.

This work is the work I’ve done in clinical settings, translated into a community container. The same frameworks. The same rigor. Room for it to be what it needs to be.

Questions before registering? I welcome them. Email me at Support@DrakeLDD.com or call (971) 813-4357.

Ready to come?

The group is small by design. If this is calling you, I’d encourage you not to wait.

Email Bob to RegisterCall (971) 813-4357

Scholarship spots available — reach out directly if cost is a barrier.

Farm53 Flowers sits on the ancestral homelands of the Squaxin Island Tribe — the People of the Water — and within the traditional territory of the Skokomish Tribal Nation — the People of the River — whose peoples have lived along these southern Puget Sound inlets and Oakland Bay since time immemorial and remain sovereign peoples in this place today. We gather on this land with gratitude and with respect.