Women’s Rites of Passage at MoonPhase Wellness
Guided, nonclinical experiences for women moving through meaningful endings, beginnings, identity shifts, and life transitions.
MoonPhase offers reflective and intentional support for women who want space to name what is changing, honor what has been lived, and make conscious room for what is emerging.
This pathway is separate from psychiatric care and from nurse-led health education.
What Women’s Rites of Passage Is For
Some transitions are more than events. They can mark the ending of one identity, the uncertainty of a threshold, and the beginning of something not yet fully known.
Women’s Rites of Passage offers guided, nonclinical space for reflection, meaning-making, and intentional transition. Sessions may include conversation, writing, storytelling, symbolic practices, movement, ritual design, or other reflective approaches shaped around the woman and the transition she is moving through.
No particular belief system is required. The focus is on creating a thoughtful structure for acknowledging change, marking what matters, and supporting a more conscious passage into what comes next.
This pathway is not psychotherapy, psychiatric treatment, or medical care.
Why This Space Matters
There are moments in a woman’s life that are not meant to be rushed through, explained away, or carried alone.
At MoonPhase, there is deep value in women holding space for women—whether through a single conversation, a shared ritual, a small circle, or a more intentional rite of passage.
Sometimes what is needed is not treatment, advice, or problem-solving, but witness: a place to name what is ending, what is changing, what is being reclaimed, and what is beginning to emerge.
The form may be simple or ceremonial. What matters is that the transition is given attention, meaning, and space to be consciously experienced rather than silently moved through.
Who Provides This Service
Women’s Rites of Passage is facilitated by Michele Whitaker, MSN, RN, PMHNP-BC, drawing from advanced training and experience in women’s mental health, reproductive transitions, integrative wellness, movement, reflective practice, and group facilitation.
These offerings are nonclinical and are separate from MoonPhase psychiatric care and nurse-led health education.
They may be offered individually, in small groups, through workshops, or as part of retreat-based experiences developed independently or in collaboration with aligned organizations and facilitators.
Transitions We May Honor
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For women reclaiming authorship of their lives, clarifying boundaries, redefining identity, or choosing what they will and will not carry forward.renew reclaim remember
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For women intentionally marking the transition into elderhood, cronehood, or a later-life identity grounded in experience, discernment, freedom, and self-possession. -
Creating space for identity shifts connected to becoming a mother, changing family roles, children leaving home, caregiving, or redefining yourself beyond familiar roles. -
Honoring the emotional and symbolic significance of loss, endings, separation, or the closing of an important chapter. -
Marking changes in body, identity, sexuality, energy, relationships, visibility, or sense of self that may accompany midlife and menopause. -
Making space for changes in body relationship, sexuality, desire, sensuality, and personal agency across different life stages. -
Reflecting on what has ended, what is being reclaimed, and what you want to carry forward into the next chapter. -
Exploring transitions in work, purpose, leadership, retirement, or the ways identity can change when a long-held role shifts. -
For moments when something new is emerging—a project, identity, relationship to self, spiritual orientation, or way of living that deserves intentional recognition. -
Righteous Rage
A rite for women who are tired of swallowing anger shaped by patriarchy, silence, expectation, dismissal, and the demand to remain agreeable. A space to give rage voice, movement, witness, and expression—to honor what has been endured and what can no longer remain unspoken. -
A rite for honoring the people, stories, traditions, and inheritances that came before us—making space for gratitude, grief, continuity, and discernment around what is carried forward, what is transformed, and what may be allowed to end.
How Rites May Be Held
Women’s Rites of Passage may be offered in different forms depending on the transition, setting, and intention of the work.
Offerings may include:
Individual guided sessions
Small-group circles
Reflective writing and storytelling
Movement, breath, or embodied practices
Symbolic or ritual-based practices
Personal ritual design
Workshops and facilitated group experiences
Retreat-based offerings
Collaborative programs with aligned facilitators or practitioners whose expertise complements the experience
Some rites may be developed as specialized packages that include more than one session, preparation before the rite itself, and integration afterward.
When appropriate, MoonPhase may also collaborate with other practitioners or facilitators whose skills are relevant to the particular passage being honored. Their roles, scope, and participation would be identified separately.
How a Rite of Passage May Begin & Take Shape
Initial Rites Consultation
60 minutes
This exploratory session creates space to understand the transition you are moving through, what you hope to mark or honor, and what kind of experience may feel meaningful.
Together, we may explore the intention of the rite, preferred setting, timing, level of ceremony or ritual, individual or group participation, and whether additional facilitators, practitioners, materials, or preparation may be appropriate.
Custom Rite Development
Following the consultation, MoonPhase may propose a custom written rite, guided rite, series, workshop, or retreat-based experience.
A written rite may be created for a woman who prefers to move through the experience privately, independently, or at a time and place of her own choosing. It may include reflective prompts, symbolic actions, readings, movement, writing, or other elements shaped around the transition being honored.
Scope & Planning
The proposed scope will outline the anticipated format, timeline, number and length of sessions when applicable, level of support, preparation, materials, integration or follow-up, collaborators when applicable, and associated fees.
Because each rite may vary in complexity, duration, setting, materials, number of participants, level of support, and facilitator involvement, the cost of a custom experience is determined after the initial consultation and agreed upon before the work begins.
Completion & Integration
A rite is not only the moment of ceremony. When appropriate, the experience may include preparation beforehand and a final integration or closing session afterward.
The closing provides space to reflect on what was witnessed or marked, consider what is being carried forward, and formally complete the agreed-upon experience.
Availability & Payment
Women’s Rites of Passage is a self-pay, nonclinical service and is separate from MoonPhase psychiatric care and nurse-led health education.
Offerings may be available virtually or in person depending on the type of experience, location, facilitator involvement, and format selected.
Individual consultations and written rites may be available more broadly, while in-person circles, workshops, retreats, or collaborative experiences may be limited to specific locations or dates.
Because custom rites vary in format and scope, final fees are established after the Initial Rites Consultation and agreed upon before the experience begins.
Payment terms, cancellation policies, and any additional costs related to materials, travel, venue, collaborators, or retreat participation will be outlined in advance when applicable.
View Financial & Practice Policies
Understanding the Service
Women’s Rites of Passage is a nonclinical offering designed for reflection, meaning-making, ritual, and intentional transition.
It is not psychotherapy, psychiatric treatment, medical care, or crisis support, and it does not include diagnosis, prescribing, or treatment of mental or medical conditions.
A rite may incorporate reflective, symbolic, embodied, spiritual, or ceremonial elements, but no particular belief system is required. Participation is always shaped around the woman’s preferences, boundaries, and the purpose of the experience.
When a concern appears to require clinical assessment, treatment, or a higher level of support, MoonPhase may recommend that you connect with an appropriate healthcare or mental health professional.
What Happens Next
Submitting a Women’s Rites of Passage request does not automatically schedule a rite or commit you to a custom experience.
Your request will be reviewed to determine whether this nonclinical pathway appears appropriate for what you are seeking and whether the format you have in mind is currently available.
If it appears to be a good fit, the next step is the Initial Rites Consultation — 60 minutes | $175. That consultation is used to explore the transition, intention, preferred format, timing, level of support, and whether a written rite, facilitated experience, series, workshop, retreat, or collaborative offering may be appropriate.
If a custom experience is proposed, the scope, timeline, fees, collaborators, and any additional costs will be outlined and agreed upon before the work begins.