Recognize. Reflect. Return to Yourself.

From Heartbreak to Wholeness:
A Three‑Day Retreat to Honor and Transform Career Heartbreak

Los Angeles | May 29 – 31, 2026

Limited to 14 women

Join us in May

If you’ve found your way here, something in your work life has shifted — and part of you is still catching up.

Maybe you left a role that once defined you.

Maybe change came sooner than you expected.

Maybe the dream you built began to cost too much.

This weekend is a pause.

A place to exhale, find your footing again, and let your story breathe in community with other women who understand.

This retreat offers time, structure, and care for what you've been rucksacking up the mountain — so you can move forward feeling lighter, clearer, and more connected to yourself.

When feeling stuck is something deeper

If you’ve done all the right things...

And still feel a little lost inside your work, there’s usually a reason...

It's called career grief.

Career grief is what happens when something in your work life that meant a lot to you ends or changes — and you’re expected to keep going as if it didn’t matter. A project ends. A job disappears. A dream slips through your fingers. The version of you who poured so much of yourself into building it with devotion and care doesn’t quite know where to stand.

Career grief is deeply personal, so what one person feels can look entirely different for someone else. It might sound like second‑guessing yourself in every meeting or feeling detached from work you used to love. It might show up as brain fog, irritability, over‑functioning — or that ache that tells you something is missing. Sometimes it’s a single rupture; other times it’s death by a thousand cuts.

You’re not broken. You’re grieving.

This retreat gives that grief what it rarely receives: time, language, and care — so what you’ve been carrying can finally be set down, and you can begin to move forward a little lighter.

Why this kind of space matters

When something changes at work, the world expects you to dust yourself off, stay positive, and climb back on the merry-go-round.

What it rarely gives you is a safe, steady space to lay out what actually happened — and to let your heart, mind, body, and spirit catch up.

That’s what this retreat offers: a calm in the turbulence, where you can start to hear your own wisdom again.

Inside the room, every exercise, conversation, and ritual is designed with one purpose — to give the part of you that’s been grieving the time and attention it deserves.

When that part finally has space and language, your next step stops feeling off‑track or out of sync. It starts to feel like you again.

Count me in

About Laverne

In 2006, I was let go from a high-profile role at CBS. On the outside, I knew how to strategize. I knew how to build a plan. I knew how to land on my feet. None of that touched what was happening underneath...

The shock.

The shame.

The way my identity as someone who was competent and capable, crumbled in an instant.

So I did what many high-functioning women do. I tried to outwork the grief and went on to several successful, high-profile jobs. But I still couldn’t shake the imposter syndrome, the negative self-talk, and the sense that I was trying to outrun some horrible truth about myself.

Despite therapy, self-help books, and a host of improvement workshops, the feeling of brokenness did not go away.

Years later, I came across the term disenfranchised grief.

Grief that isn’t publicly acknowledged or easily named. The kind that doesn’t get a casserole or a ritual. The kind that doesn’t wear black.

I finally had language for what had happened to me. And for what I was seeing in my clients.

We grieve inside our careers all the time.

When I began blending grief work with practical strategy, my clients stopped making reactive decisions. They stopped abandoning parts of themselves to survive the next chapter. They began choosing from integration instead of urgency.

That is the work I bring into this retreat.

Not hype.
Not forced positivity.
Not a five-year plan built over unprocessed loss.

But a way to metabolize what happened so you can move forward without pretending it didn’t.

I’ve spent more than two decades in leadership roles in entertainment. I teach at Northwestern University and coach executives, creatives, and founders through reinvention. But the most important credential I bring to this room is that I’ve done this work myself.

I can relate!

How the work unfolds

Every part of this retreat follows a simple arc I call RISE — the same framework that guided my own recovery after professional heartbreak and later became the foundation of my TEDx Talk on ritual and metabolizing grief.It’s a deliberate progression that helps you move from recognition to renewal with both insight and embodied integration.

R — Recognize the Loss
We begin by naming what changed — giving language to both the visible and the hidden losses. Because it’s rarely just the title, the paycheck, or the benefits. What dissolves right alongside them are things like confidence, belonging, identity, and the sense of purpose that once anchored your days. Bringing those losses into the open creates a foundation you can stand on.

I — Investigate the Meaning
Next, we explore the story you attached to what happened. What did you decide this experience says about you? Those interpretations can either open a door or build a wall. In this stage, we separate fact from fiction — making room for language that reflects truth and dignity instead of self‑blame.

S — Signal the Shift
With understanding comes the need to mark the change. Through a bespoke art project created for this retreat, you’ll give form to what you’ve been carrying and then release it. This part of the work is tactile and sensory — where emotion meets expression and the story begins to transform.

E — Embark on What’s Next
From there, we turn reflection into motion. You’ll define what matters now and translate it into a small, intentional choice that belongs to you — a symbolic act that says, I’m bringing myself with me. It might take the shape of a conversation, a boundary, or a project waiting to emerge. The scale doesn’t matter; the ownership does.
This is the start of moving through the world as the person loss revealed you to be.

Across the weekend, we move through these stages at a pace that lets the body breathe and the mind settle. Each step builds on the one before it — part reflection, part creativity, part ritual, all anchored in real life.

No one will be asked nor expected to perform vulnerability.

How the weekend really works

Date:
Friday - Sunday, May 29 - 31, 2026

Location:
Downtown Los Angeles
(Exact details provided after registration)

Group Size:
Limited to 14 participants

Registration Deadline:
Open until full or Friday, May 22, 2026.

Arrival & Preparation: Once you register, you’ll receive a short welcome packet with journal prompts and a preparatory reflection to help you arrive centered on what you most want to work with. You’ll also choose one small personal object — something meaningful you’re open to transforming — for the art‑based ritual we’ll create together.

Daily Rhythm:
Each day begins at 9 a.m. with light breakfast.
Friday and Sunday run until 6 p.m. Saturday runs until 8 or 9 p.m. You’ll have open time throughout the weekend for writing, rest, and connection. Saturday evening includes a shared dinner and a restorative sound bath that supports integration of the day’s work.

Post Retreat:
Integration matters to me. We’ll meet again on Zoom on Friday, June 12 at 9:00 am PST for a follow up session to support you as you translate your insights into daily life.

What’s included:

Light breakfast each morning
Lunch, snacks, and beverages throughout the day
All materials for the art-based ritual are provided. You don’t need to bring anything except your object.
Saturday dinner
Sound Bath experience

Not included:

Transportation
Lodging

Save my seat

✓ This weekend is for you if:

You’ve left a role or you are standing at the edge of a transition
You're functioning, but something in you feels off
You're tired of advice that starts with “update your LinkedIn”
You want a grounded space that holds both the emotional truth and the practical reality of your life

(X) This retreat is NOT right for you if:

You’re looking for tactical job search strategy like revamping a resume or a LinkedIn profile
You prefer to grieve entirely in private and aren’t interested in group settings.
You’re uncomfortable engaging in creative or reflective exercises.

This retreat is especially supportive if you’ve been carrying a lot for a long time and are ready to set it down.

Investment

$1297

Split into 2 payments!

Count me in!

The fee for the retreat is $1,297.

Plan Ahead Rate: $997 if you register by Friday, May 1, 2026.

Travel and lodging are not included.

This experience is intentionally small (just 14 participants) so that what you learn has room to land.

What you'll leave with

This retreat has been designed to offer you:

Relief: language for what happened, which takes the edge off the confusion and self blame.
Renewal: practices you can return to any time grief or transition shows up.
Perspective: a clearer sense of who you are now and what truly matters next.
Freedom: self‑talk that supports rather than spirals.
Rest: good food, reflection, ritual, and care that help your body exhale.
A personal code: words to live by when life or work begins to shift again.

"After the job loss retreat with Laverne, I felt like I had clarity for the first time. I had a clear plan of action and a newfound confidence in myself and my abilities."

"Job loss is no joke! I discovered through this workshop that it deserves mourning—a process of attention and care, just like the loss of a loved one. The retreat helped me re-map and reimagine life after sudden career loss. I was amazed by the rich content, from cognitive techniques to emotional release and healing. I also felt a lot less alone sitting in a room with other successful professionals navigating job loss and uncertain futures."

"Working with Laverne helped me move to the next level in my career. She provided tools that helped get me out of my head and take practical steps forward from an inspired and authentic place."

"Loss is an inevitable part of our lives, and so is the grief that follows. Understanding these nuances and taking proactive steps helped me ease through this difficult time. By the end of the retreat, I felt I had gained valuable coping skills, a renewed sense of hope, and a community built on trust and understanding."

FAQs about the retreat

Who is this retreat for?

Do I need to be an artist?

What should I bring?

Is it an emotional experience?

What if I can no longer attend?

Do I have to share in a group?

Reserve your spot

The From Heartbreak to Wholeness Retreat is limited to 14 participants to ensure a meaningful and hands-on experience. Early registration is encouraged and discounted.

I'm ready for this