Facilitator: Dona Hohensee, Certified Grief Educator
A Sanctuary for Mothers Navigating Loss to Addiction
Welcome to HighLake Grief Healing, an extension of HighLake Vacations. We created this space to help mothers such as myself navigate the profound grief of losing a loved one taken by addiction.
Our mission is born from our own heartbreak. We lost our 24-year-old son, Phillip, unexpectedly to a fentanyl overdose. Phillip was a fighter who lived with the disease of addiction through years of both struggle and long-term sobriety. He often told me, “Mom, don’t worry, my life is so much more than my addiction,” and he was right. He was so much more.
My Approach to Healing
My journey led me to become a Certified Grief Educator under the mentorship of world-renowned grief expert David Kessler. This training provided me with the tools to understand the mechanics of loss, but my heart provided the map for navigating it.
I don’t believe we “get over” our loss. Instead, I believe we learn to:
Acknowledge the unique trauma of addiction-related loss.
Release the heavy layers of regret, guilt and “what ifs.”
Reconnect with the love and light our children brought into the world.
I combined my background in hospitality through HighLake Vacations with my grief certification to create something I wished I had: a sanctuary of high-quality care, nutritious food, and deep, communal understanding.
Carolyn Olewinski, owner of True Vibrations Massage will provide massages and sound therapy for this retreat.
Retreat Structure Overview:
Friday Night: Setting the Space
Arrival, welcome circle, and grounding
Introduction to our children through pictures and memories
Dinner and Bonfire
Saturday Morning: The Anatomy of the “Heavy” Grief
The Burden of “Why”: A guided discussion on releasing the search for answers that addiction took away.
Identifying the Weight: A quiet reflection exercise where mothers identify where they carry grief in their bodies (shoulders, chest, stomach).
Stigma and Shame: A safe circle to explicitly name and “drop” the shame often associated with overdose loss.
Gentle Yoga
Note: Massage’s for each guest will be woven into the day and again Sunday Morning follow by the option to take a jacuzzi bath afterwards.
Saturday Afternoon: The Architecture of our Beliefs
The “Relationship” Belief: Reaffirming that love is an energy that does not dissipate.
The “More” Belief: Grounding the group in our childs truth—that our children are more than their darkest days and more than the way they left this earth.
The “Survival” Belief: Shifting the narrative from “I can’t survive this” to “I am moving with this.”
Saturday Evening: Celebrating our Children’s Life
Sound Therapy
Fire celebration including 5 of each of our children’s music
Sunday Morning: Stepping Into Self-Leadership
Gentle Yoga practice: grounding new awareness through the body
Final teaching session: self-trust, responsibility, and self-leadership
Closing circle: claiming a new archetype or chapter moving forward
