The Honest Room — Intensive
One day. Ten people. Vienna. By application.
The first edition ran in June 2026. The next date goes to the waitlist first.
There's a zone nobody has a name for.
You're not sick enough to stay in bed. Not well enough to go back to who you were before. Not in crisis, so no one is alarmed. Not coping well, so you've stopped being honest about it. Everyone keeps asking how you are and you keep saying fine because the long answer takes a Tuesday afternoon you don't have.
This is for that.
What This Is
One day. Ten people. Vienna.
No slides. No agenda. No breakout exercises. You will not leave with a framework or a certificate.
What happens instead: a room where the rules of polite professional performance don't apply for seven hours. Where I, Roi, go first into the thing nobody is supposed to say. And where the room follows, not because anyone told it to, but because once one person stops pretending, pretending becomes harder for everyone else.
I've run this room for healthcare teams, leadership groups, patient organisations and pharma companies. This is the version open to individuals.
Next date announced to the waitlist.
What Happens
You arrive. Nine strangers and one person who has been in your kind of room before. You probably feel slightly wrong. Bring it.
I go first. Not the polished version. The version that still makes my hands cold. I don't tell you because I want you to be moved. I tell you because I need you to know that saying the real thing out loud is survivable.
The room changes. People say things they came in not planning to say. Not because I asked them to. Because the room is different now, and you are too.
“I left with the feeling that I had grown on a human level. Your workshop was a powerful reminder of how essential empathy, active listening, and perspective-taking truly are.”
— Alexandra A., healthcare professional
Who This Is For
The inbetweeners.
Too functional to qualify for help. Too broken to pretend you're fine. A year past the thing that ended your old life, still without a name for the new one. In burnout. Disappearing into a caring role. Navigating invisible illness or disability. Exhausted by performing wellness.
If you've read this far, you probably already know whether this is for you.
Who This Is Not For
If you're in acute crisis:
find a crisis line, a therapist, a friend first. Come to this when you're stabilized but stuck.
If you want tools, frameworks, or a five-step system to apply on Monday:
this isn't that room. There are excellent programs for that.
If you want to be inspired, motivated, or fixed:
you will leave more yourself, not more upgraded.
The Practical
About the Practitioner
Seven years in bed. Thirty-three doctors. A body that stopped working and a medical system that told him it wasn't.
Roi Shternin is the creator of Testimony-Based Presence and The Honest Room. He has spoken in 27 countries and run this work with healthcare teams, pharmaceutical companies, leadership groups and patient organisations. He was the first Patient in Residence at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute, lectures at IMC Krems, and has authored eight books.
He lives in Vienna.
Read more about the methodology →“I could immediately put the spirit into practice — the same evening.”
— Stefan, healthcare professional, Krems
Apply for the next date.
You don't book. You apply.
Three questions. Roi reads every one. You'll hear back within 48 hours.
If this room isn't right for you, or you'd be better served by therapy, or something else, he'll tell you that, and tell you what he thinks you actually need. No charge for that honesty.
Join the waitlist below to hear when applications open.
Next dates
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