Skip to Content News Archives Economy Energy Oil & Gas Renewables Electric Vehicles Mining Commodities Agriculture Real Estate Mortgages Mortgage Rates Finance Banking Insurance Fintech Cryptocurrency Work Wealth Smart Money Wealth Management Investor Personal Finance Family Finance Retirement Taxes High Net Worth FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials More Innovation Information Technology FP500 Podcasts Small Business Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Financial Post Store Obituaries Place a Notice Advertising Advertising With Us Advertising Solutions Postmedia Ad Manager Sponsorship Requests Classifieds Place a Classifieds ad Working Profile Settings My Subscriptions Saved Articles My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ News Economy Energy Mining Real Estate Finance Work Wealth Investor FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials HomeNewsThe loneliness epidemic spurs US$1,000-a-day grief retreat boomGrief retreats are emerging as a way for the bereaved to avoid 'bowling alone'Author of the article: You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.One prominent 2019 study by WedMD estimates that more than one-third of adults in the U.S. are grieving a recent loss. Photo by Getty Images/iStock PhotoWhen Harvard professor Robert Putnam published his book Bowling Alone in 2000, smartphones didn’t exist. But already social life as we knew it was orienting itself toward screens and away from parent-teacher associations, civic groups, religious organizations and even bowling clubs. Back then it was television that absorbed our attention. Now, the median time American adults spend staring at smartphones is six hours per day.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorThe loneliness that stems from phone addiction — connections between the two phenomena have been increasingly documented by longitudinal studies — has made us unable to focus and it has even polarized society. The mental health detriments are also becoming clear, ranging from depression and anxiety to difficulty concentrating. But less time has been spent studying how loneliness has changed the ways in which we grieve.Breaking business news, incisive views, must-reads and market signals. Weekdays by 9 a.m.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Posthaste will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again“Many people are moving through profound loss without the kind of built-in community that used to help them process it,” explains Thea Gallagher, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone. “Because of that, grief often feels not just heavy but acutely isolating.”One prominent 2019 study by WedMD estimates that more than one-third of adults in the U.S. are grieving a recent loss — a death that took place in the last three years — at any given time. Some 17 per cent of them feel isolated from family and friends as a result.I felt that when my younger brother died two years ago; most friends sent little more than text messages offering “virtual big hugs” and “thoughts and prayers.” So when my mother passed away 14 months later, I kept the news quiet to avoid feeling rejection and abandonment on top of my grief.Strangers were sometimes more comforting. There was the old man I met at a New York City park who let me cry on his shoulder the week after my mother’s funeral. And when a woman at my local bathhouse learned of my loss, she began checking in on me whenever we were alone in the sauna.What I needed was community, which I sought out by voraciously reading books and articles on grief and even starting a grief newsletter to connect with others in the same position. But nothing was more effective than a suggestion that came from my therapist: traveling to grieve with others.Grief retreats are emerging as a way for the bereaved to avoid, as Putnam’s title puts it, bowling alone. Miraval Resorts created one of the first, in Tucson, Arizona, in 2005, and since then they’ve grown in proportion with our cultural ability to tend to our mental wellbeing. They’re now cropping up at wellness resorts from Massachusetts to Mexico and beyond, often pairing traditional activities like yoga, meditation and massage with facilitator-led grief workshops, journaling sessions and nature walks.Ahriana Platten, who helps design self-guided grief retreats at the Ground, a US$550-per-night hotel in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, argues that it’s not just our addiction to screens that makes us less prone to properly unpack our grief, but also the magnitude of the news cycle. Compared with global events like pandemics or war, the things happening in our own lives can seem small by comparison, she says, nudging us to jump back into our normal routines after a few days rather than giving grief the time and space it requires. “Grief needs attention,” she says. “It doesn’t resolve just because we need it to. It takes time.”I’d been to one such retreat at age 8, when my mother sent me to Camp Hope, a weekend retreat for grieving children in Madison, Wisconsin, to process my father’s death. Three decades later, a teddy bear I received there still serves as a reminder that I wasn’t the only person living with grief.It hadn’t occurred to me there might be similar offerings for adults. Some operators, like Behold Retreats, host programs periodically throughout the year; Behold charges upwards of US$3,500 for its weekend-long offerings that make use of psychedelics. “For many guests, it is the first time they have truly allowed themselves to grieve,” says Marilu Ramírez Martínez, a psychologist on that company’s facilitation team.More traditional providers like Miraval — which now offers its Grief & Loss program year-round at its Austin and Berkshires properties in addition to the Tucson flagship — have also added treatments like equine therapy and consultations with psychics. (The Miraval programs start around US$700 per day.)Most of these retreats are out of my personal budget; the ones that include accommodations tend to cost about US$1,000 per night on average, while others charge more than US$800 for half-day sessions even without flights or a place to stay. For even moderate income individuals, those costs can be a real barrier to access.The value of that investment is somewhat subjective too. Grief retreats tend to employ staff that boast multiple certifications in varying disciplines and modalities (think wellness counselling, meditation and sound healing). This increases their odds of success, but doesn’t guarantee it.Kelley Warnol, a retired sales representative from Southern California, is among the guests who have put these therapies to the test. She checks into Miraval annually — sometimes alone and sometimes with a friend — in continuation of a tradition that predates the resort’s official grief retreats and began when her sister died decades ago.“I keep coming back because I’m still a work in progress, and my experiences there have helped me process the losses in my life,” says Warnol, who calls the equine therapy sessions a favorite.NYU’s Gallagher says that while grief can be processed alone or through individual therapy, something different happens with group grief retreats. “Grief retreats allow for co-regulation, shared narrative and a kind of collective permission to feel that is harder to replicate outside of a group setting.”Not all group settings are created equal. The relief that comes from a fully focused, multiday grief retreat at a luxurious resort is distinct from the effects of traditional group therapy. Sure, idyllic landscapes are helpful as a reset for the nervous system, but more crucially, retreats allow their guests to concentrate exclusively on healing rather than balancing the daily struggles of life in between sessions.Warnol agrees. She says Miraval’s digital mindfulness approach forces her to put her phone away and prioritize herself, teaching her that she doesn’t “need to be available to others 24/7.” At home she’s joined support groups and made local relationships so that she’s no longer grieving alone.As someone who has lived with grief for decades, I know there is no cure for the affliction. Lyndi Rivers, a licensed social worker at Miraval, says curing grief isn’t the goal of retreats like hers anyway. The point is not to eliminate grief entirely, she says, but to help guests “learn to live alongside loss and grow around what has changed,” so that even though they may feel broken, they can still be whole.Behold Retreats: Luxury retreats in Costa Rica, Mexico and Portugal that incorporate plant medicine such as mushrooms, ayahuasca and other psychedelics. Weekend retreats from US$3,500.Esalen: The Graceful Exit retreat, from Aug. 31 – Sept. 4, 2026, is just one of many grief-related offerings at this oceanfront enclave in Big Sur, California. Some focus more on personal trauma & healing, while others focus specifically on mortality and end-of-life transitions. From US$3,600 per person for four nights, including private accommodations.The Ground: This nine-room, nature-oriented inn in Oregon’s Willamette Valley offers complimentary self-guided grief retreats for guests. Rooms from US$556 per night.Golden Willow Retreat: This New Mexico desert sanctuary specializes in group grief workshops such as Healing from Loss (Sept. 18-20, 2026) and those that focus on a specific type of grief, such as loss of a child. From US$375 per person for a three-day workshop.Intensive Therapy Retreats: With luxurious resorts in Massachusetts, California and Connecticut, Intensive Therapy Retreats specifically caters to people who have experienced loss, trauma, abuse and PTSD. From US$830 per half day.Miraval Resorts: Fully customized retreats in Arizona, Texas, and Massachusetts. Its Grief & Loss program includes one-on-one sessions with experts, massage, meditation and creative group workshops. Then there are new age offerings you can layer in, such as consultations with Native American healers and dream interpretation. From US$698 per person per night, inclusive of group sessions.Omega: A holistic centre 2.5 hours north of New York City, with retreats that include end-of-life doula training, creative grief tending and mothers grieving the living (such as those with children who are struggling with addiction, mental illness or incarceration). From US$440 per person for two-night retreats without accommodation; cabins are available from US$880 per night.Rancho La Puerta: This ranch in Tecate, Mexico, is offering several grief retreats around Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) 2026, including Unearthing Grief, Oct. 17-24, Dying Responsibly, Oct. 24-31, and Doing Endings Well, Oct. 31 – Nov. 6. From US$5,250 per person for seven days. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.