Jana Pitková – speaker at MKRF2024

Jana Pitková is a Prešov resident, a graduated ethnographer and still an active folklorist. For many years she owned and ran an agency that organized many cultural events, concerts and events. Her family tragedy led her to work with families who had lost one or more close members.

In 2013, together with Majka Demitrova and with the support of the League for Mental Health, she founded the civic association Circle of Life, which helps bereaved families cope with the difficult loss of loved ones. As a statutory director, she manages the work of the association, organizes free summer camps for children without parents and stays for young widows and widowers, drama therapy workshops and other activities of the association such as the Festival on the Circle of Life and Death „Deadline“.

The Circle of Life umbrellas three support groups for survivors „When death splits love too soon“, „Bereaved Parents Support Group“ and „Journey through Life after the Loss of a Parent“. She works as a certified bereavement counselor. Together with Jana Gorst and Andrea Tóthová, she conducts unique experiential-educational seminars „Dula for the Dying“ in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

As part of her outreach, she has co-published two motivational diaries for the Circle of Life, „Losses and Findings“ and „The Miracle of Gratitude“. She is the author of „The Four Roles of Grief in the Circle of Nature“ and co-author of „The Two Faces of Death“ with Katarina Nádaska. In 2017, she was awarded the title „Slovak Woman of the Year“ in the category „Charity“.