Migration Circles

Advance care planning gatherings to help you explore the conversations that matter most before crisis forces them. These are guided, intimate circles where reflection, practical planning, and honest conversation come together in a supportive community space.

Let's plan one!

Migration Circles are facilitated, small-group gatherings where you explore advance care planning alongside others.

In the safety of your community, we explore the questions many people avoid until urgency demands it: What makes life worth living? Who do I trust to speak for me? How do I want to be cared for at the end of life? These aren't morbid conversations, they are clarifying ones. Migration Circle participants gain language, perspective, and confidence while receiving support, structure, and guidance along the way.

Why plan ahead? Because the alternative is making decisions in crisis.

When serious illness or dying enters our lives unexpectedly, families are often left guessing, unsure what their loved one truly wants. Advance care planning shifts this experience. It allows you to clarify values before urgency, reducing uncertainty and protecting the people you love from carrying that burden alone.

Planning ahead is not about fear - it is about agency, care, and connection.

"Our ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death but a good life to the very end."          - Atul Gawande

This space may resonate with you if:

  • A recent loss has you thinking about your own mortality and who will care for you at the end of your life

  • You want to spare your loved ones from having to guess what you'd want

  • You know you should do advance care planning but don’t know where to begin or are stuck midway

  • You value thoughtful conversation and shared reflection

  • You are curious about approaching end-of-life conversations with openness rather than avoidance

Migration Circles combine structured facilitation with meaningful conversation and reflective practices. You do not need to have everything figured out. The circle creates a container where insight emerges through shared reflection. Together, we will explore:

  • personal values and priorities around care

  • communication and decision making roles

  • fears, hopes, and questions about aging, illness, and dying

  • practical planning tools and next steps

❋ Intentional Structure

Each gathering follows a thoughtful arc that helps participants arrive gently, engage in meaningful reflection, and leave with a sense of integration and clarity. Structure provides steadiness while allowing authentic conversation to unfold naturally.

❋ Meet You Where You Are

Some are starting from scratch. Some have paperwork that needs updating. Some struggle to talk about it with family. Whatever your starting point, you'll leave with one meaningful action forward.

❋ Community Learning

Hearing others articulate their experiences often unlocks insight we cannot reach alone. The group dynamic fosters empathy, perspective, and collective wisdom.

❋ Facilitation

Guided by Jessica, whose experience holding conversations around difficult and tender topics creates a space that feels both safe and grounded. Participants are supported without pressure and invited into honest exploration at their own pace.

❋ Practical Outcomes

Conversations move beyond reflection toward real-world clarity, helping participants identify next steps, initiate conversations with loved ones, and approach planning with confidence.

❋ Flexible Options

Circles may be offered as a single gathering or as a series, allowing deeper exploration over time depending on the needs of the group.

  • Your Community, My Facilitation

    Migration Circles happen within existing communities, with the people who already share connection or trust.

    Sometimes that's a group who already knows each other well. Sometimes you're the connector, bringing together people from different parts of your life. Either way, your presence as the host creates the familiarity and safety that allows people to show up more fully.

    This partnership is what makes the experience work: your community provides familiarity and relational safety, while my facilitation provides the structure, guidance, and care needed to hold both depth and ease. You gather the people and provide the space; I guide the experience with presence, clarity, and thoughtful design.

    Together we create a container where honest conversation and meaningful preparation can unfold.

    Let's talk hosting! 
How It Works

  • Migration Circles begin with relationship. You gather people you already trust (friends, family, colleagues, or community members) and that you feel called to share this work with. Some groups already know each other well; sometimes you are the bridge connecting people from different parts of your life.

    As the host, you provide a comfortable space where people can arrive as themselves, your home, a shared community space, or an outdoor setting. I recommend groups of 3–7 people to support both intimacy and meaningful conversation.

  • Select the structure that best fits your group’s readiness and curiosity:

    • Single circle - One focused gathering introducing values clarification and the foundations of advance care planning. Ideal for groups who want to explore the work gently and see how it feels before committing to a longer process. ($150 for up to 7 people)

    • Series of 3 - A deeper arc designed to support real completion and integration across 3 gatherings including: values clarification, first advance directive drafts, and final documents with communication planning for loved ones. ($400 total for up to 7 people)

    • Optional add on - After completing the series, gather for a fourth session exploring funeral wishes and body disposition options, including green burial, aquamation, home funerals, and other meaningful choices. ($150 for up to 7 people)

  • You bring the people and the space; I bring the structure, guidance, and care that allows real depth to unfold without overwhelm.

    Each gathering blends conversation, reflection, and practical guidance designed to make difficult topics feel approachable and human. I arrive with facilitation tools, values exercises, advance directive resources, and clear frameworks that help your group move from reflection into grounded action.

    Gatherings typically last 2–2.5 hours.

  • Your community leaves with a deeper understanding of their own values, language for meaningful conversations with loved ones, and a clearer sense about their path forward - whether that's completing paperwork, talking to a healthcare proxy, or simply feeling more at ease engaging with these conversations.

Ready to host a Migration Circle?

Let’s talk about creating a space where meaningful conversations can happen before crisis arrives.

Contact Jessica