SECOND ANNUAL
A space to meet death with courage and curiosity
Held in community, guided by compassion
October 30, 2026. · Champion Mill Conference Center at Spooky Nook · Hamilton, Ohio
A gathering to open up about death, love and grief.
Come curious. Leave changed.
Mind
Body
Spirit
Emotion
Keynote
This year the Before I Die Cincinnati Festival is organized around four interconnected dimensions of the human experience: Mind, Body, Spirit and Emotion.
The body is where the realities of aging, illness and dying are experienced. The mind seeks understanding, information and clarity as we navigate life's most profound transition. Emotions naturally arise throughout the journey, inviting acknowledgment, expression and integration. Spirit provides a sense of connection, meaning and possibility creating space for presence, healing and transformation.
Throughout the festival presentations will explore these four dimensions from a variety of perspectives. Attendees will discover practical tools, gain valuable knowledge, engage in meaningful reflection and connect with others who are committed to creating a more informed and compassionate culture around death and dying.
MORNING
8:30-9:00
Registration
Get registered and grab yourself a seat!
9:00-
9:15
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Jen Blalock & Shelby Mundy
Grounding the collective energy and welcoming everyone who felt called to this day of education and community. We open with gratitude for our sponsors and the people who made this gathering possible.
9:15-
9:45
Setting & Energizing the Container
Victoria Wilson-Jones, MS
Victoria opens the sacred space of the day with a grounding meditation — setting the container with intention, breath, and the resonance of the singing bowl.
9:45-
10:30
When death finds you let it find you living fully
Dr. Sandi Amoils, MD & Dr. Steve Amoils, MD
Join Dr. Sandi Amoils and her husband Dr. Steve Amoils, the Medical Co-Directors of AIM for Wellbeing and co-authors of AIM for Wellbeing: Your Roadmap to Optimal Health, as they interweave medical and personal experiences in this keynote. Drs. Sandi and Steve will share their profound experience with their daughter Maya and her ability to access California's Medical Aid in Dying and how it helped Maya maintain autonomy around her own dying experience after her battle with cancer. Drs. Sandi and Steve will also talk about how they created Maya's Way, a program inspired by Maya's resilience, grace and holistic approach to wellness. Maya's Way provides free integrative medicine therapies to adults under 40 with cancer, helping them enhance their well-being and navigate treatment with greater strength and comfort. In building Maya's Way, Drs. Sandi and Steve saw firsthand how death doulas could be a powerful asset to the program which led them to bring Jen Blalock on as a death doula to assist Maya's Way patients. Jen began working with Shelby's husband Nick Mundy in 2022, a year and a half before his passing. Jen and Shelby's relationship began while Nick was actively dying which was a touchingly beautiful and sad experience, ultimately drawing Shelby into this work alongside her. It's this chain of connection that brings us full circle to the Before I Die Cincinnati Festival.
10:30-
11:00
Break and Vendor Exploration
BREAKOUT
SESSION I
11:00-
12:00
Planning for the People You Love
Whitney Ellison, Attorney at Law
If tomorrow didn't go as planned, would the people you love know your wishes? What happens if you die without a will? Who would make medical decisions for you if you couldn't speak for yourself? Do trusts really help you avoid probate? Is estate tax something most families actually need to worry about? Join estate planning and probate attorney Whitney Ellison as she separates fact from fiction, explains the differences between wills and trusts, and shares why health care directives, and powers of attorney are some of the most important documents you'll ever sign. You'll leave with practical knowledge, greater peace of mind, and a bunch of busted myths.
Living Well With A Serious Illness
Jen Hester, The Christ Hospital
With serious illness, the path forward can feel overwhelming. Palliative care is the kind of support that most people have never heard of, but wish they'd found sooner. This session is an introduction to a specialized medical team whose focus is helping seriously ill people feel better, make informed choices, and live as fully as possible — no matter the prognosis.
Signs Your Loved Ones Are with You
Julie Conrad, Begin to Blossom
Your loved ones are still with you — just in a different form. Join Julie Conrad, evidential medium and author of Conversations In Between with My Mom in the Afterlife, for an exploration of how those who've transitioned continue to communicate and show up in our everyday lives. Julie will share insight into the signs, sensations, and synchronicities your loved ones use to reach you, and what they're truly capable of from the spirit world. The session will include time for questions and answers.
Carrying Them with You: A Path Through Grief
Christina Rose
Grief doesn't just break your heart — it can shake your sense of belonging, safety, identity, and foundation in the world. In this session, Christina Rose shares her own story of profound loss and the path that took her from surviving to truly living again. She'll introduce her core framework for grief work: doing it for the people you've lost when you can't yet do it for yourself, doing it with them by carrying their love into the life you're rebuilding, and eventually doing it for you, claiming that rebuilt life as fully your own. This isn't about "getting over" loss or checking off a list of coping strategies, it's about finding your way back to yourself while still carrying the people you love with you. Participants will leave this hour with practical tools for navigating grief in their own lives, along with a felt sense of connection to others who understand this kind of pain. The session blends storytelling, teaching, and a guided relational activity where attendees connect with one another around their own experiences of loss; because grief is not meant to be carried in isolation. Whether you're actively grieving or supporting someone who is, you'll walk away with language, perspective, and community to help you move from disconnection back toward life.
AFTERNOON
12:00-
1:15
Communal Lunch
Eat, visit, connect- a time to process the morning.
1:15-
2:00
TBD
TBD
Stay tuned
2:00-
2:30
Break and Vendor Exploration
BREAKOUT
SESSION II
2:30-
3:30
Your Life, Your Death, Your Decision: The U.S Model of MAID
Molly & Lisa,
Curious about the reality of end-of-life care options? Join us for an engaging and informative session demystifying Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) in the United States. We will explore how state laws work, who is eligible, and the ethical and personal conversations shaping this evolving healthcare landscape.
Green Burial
Heritage Acres Memorial Sanctuary
More coming soon
Walking Each Other Home: The Role of the Psychopomp
Victoria Wilson-Jones, MS
Ram Dass was famous for reminding people, "We are all just walking each other home." When someone we love dies, we may worry about what has happened to them. Can people get stuck or lost? How do I know they are okay? As a holistic counselor and shamanic practitioner, Victoria has been asked this question many times. The answer is yes — people can get confused, lost, and stuck. In shamanic healing there is a practice called psychopomp that addresses this need. In a trance state, a trained practitioner can find a confused soul and, with love and skill, walk them home. There is healing and assistance in every stage of the death process — and that includes after life.
Have You Met death?
Heidi Eversole
How psychedelics helped heal my relationship with death. Heidi weaves her personal Psilocybin encounter with cutting-edge clinical research — exploring how Ketamine, MDMA, Psilocybin, and DMT help heal traumatic relationships with death. From NDEs and terminal diagnosis to grief and suicidal ideation, this session draws on MAPS Phase 3 data, somatic processing, and the science of how the body holds — and can release — its deepest encounters with mortality. Includes real patient video stories.
ClOSING
3:45-
4:30
Singing bow/Integration and Closing
Victoria Wilson-Jones, MS
Victoria closes the sacred container of the day — guiding the collective through integration, sound healing, and a closing ceremony that honors everything we have held together. We leave not as strangers to death, but as a community who has looked at it together.
"Embrace The Passage"
BEFORE I DIE CINCINNATI · OCTOBER 30, 2026