Application process is complete. Check back in March of 2025 for information on our next session.
Classes begin September 28, 2024 and end June 21, 2025.
Tuition:
Full Program with 2 in-person meetings, 6 day-long virtual meetings and one 3-day retreat $975
Virtual only program with 6 half-day topic-specific meetings $425
Retreat-only program – 3-day retreat spaces may be available weekend of February 28, 2025. Please email to be included on waitlist for this option.
Download the application form in the sidebar at right.
Please have the following information ready to complete the form:
Please include an essay, no longer than two pages, telling us about yourself in relation to the Program, using the following reflection questions as a guide for the content of your essay. Include any other information you deem relevant.
Please send a Recommendation Form to a person of your choosing who can send to us directly a letter of recommendation about you by August 25, 2024. You may download at right and either print or email them a copy of the form. Please be sure your name is on the form as applicant.
We prefer that you email your application materials electronically to: leeanneblank@gmail.com. Alternately you may send your application hard-copy (cover sheet, essay, and any other relevant information) by U.S. Postal mail to:
Companioning the Dying: Opening Fully to Living
c/o/ Lee Anne Blank, 617 Edmonston Drive, Rockville, MD 20851
Upon receipt of your application materials and a reference letter, we will respond in a timely fashion so that you can plan accordingly.
Please keep in mind that if finances are an obstacle for you, some limited scholarship aid is available based on need. Flexible tuition payment plans may also be available based on need. Scholarship aid or alternate payment plans should be requested at the time of submitting your application. You will be informed of the amount of any financial assistance approved with your letter of acceptance into the program.
Upon acceptance into the Program, tuition will be due by start of first session.
If you have any questions, please contact us and we will be happy to respond.
A Poem by Steve Garnaas-Holmes
That without a word you sat with me in grief, me wounded and alone, robbed beyond grasping, you silent and present, beyond grasping— this was love.
That you did not save me but accompanied me,
that when I fell apart, confident in the whole you did not try to glue back the pieces,
that you did not protect me from my pain, my heart’s crucial kneading, did not root around in the ashes looking for blame,
that you resisted the temptation of explanation, the ruse of a plan, some clever dramatic device as if the click of some little metal piece into place could dismiss what was happening in my heart,
that you set me no timetable, that you planted no fence beyond the strong horse of my anguish,
that you withheld your dexterous knowhow, so readily shouldered the weight, accepted the nails of powerlessness, dared the nothingness empty-handed,
that you were still there as the petals fell, patient for the rolling away of the stone—
this is how you loved me, helpless, raw and given.
This is how you love me still, since love that has passed through death will never die again.