Finding Light in the Darkness Mental Health Symposium
Join myself and six other licensed clinicians at this year’s Finding Light in the Darkness Mental Health Symposium, hosted by FUMC Pensacola and @centerforsacredspaceorg. Workshop options include anxiety, depression, grief, and loneliness (my workshop), religious harm, substance misuse, and trauma. Participants will hear from therapists, spend time in peer support with a clinician and spiritual director, and have a time of silent reflection.
Through participating in this event, you become a part of and expand a community that is hospitable to all those struggling with mental health issues without judgment or stigma and become become an avenue by which all people can find support as we journey alongside each other through the highs and lows of life.
The cost is $12 which includes lunch and childcare is provided for children 1 year through 5th grade for $8/child.
The Harvest Within - Women's Story Work Retreat
As we embrace the endless summer days and the play they invite us into, we shift our gaze to the coming autumn, when cooling breezes and changing leaves beckon us to slow, gather, and release. At our fall women's storywork retreat, The Harvest Within, we invite you to do the same.
Together, we will pause to connect to the earth, to each other, and to our hearts as we survey our inner landscape to see where expansive, abundant harvest is ready to be gathered, where the scarcity and scorches of drought have marked you, and how these experiences might be tools in the Master Gardener's hands to mature us into the kind of branches that bear good fruit, offer shade, and provide an ecosystem where life can flourish.
Join us for a sacred time of story work, ritual, bodywork, and gospel reflection as we tend to the life already growing within you. Come as you are, and leave with a deeper trust in the sacred work happening within you.
Location: Lake Barkley, Cadiz, KY just one hour from Nashville, TN
Cost: $850 (includes food and lodging)
Finding Help in the Hills Women's Retreat
As the temperature begins to cool, we anticipate the slowing of our pace, the draw toward warmth, and the inward turn to our souls. We shift from the work of soaking up every last hour of light and degree of hot that summer brought, into the release and exhale of shorter days and contemplative pause. Join us as we intentionally make this seasonal turn with Finding Hope in the Hills Women's Retreat. This experience is designed to nurture your soul and invite you into rest, reflection, and renewal as you are surrounded by a sisterhood of strength and support.
Ebb and Flow: A Women’s Retreat
As a woman, you are the nurturer for those under your care, a container for the storms within and around you, the creator of flow amidst chaos. But all your direction and expansion lead to exhaustion as your soul cries out for care. Join us for a transformative retreat engaging the theme of ebb and flow; a journey of reconnecting to self, others, God, and the natural world in both stillness and vibrance. Through meditation, movement and guided reflection we’ll align body, mind, and spirit in the care of God’s Presence. Through guided story work, we’ll uncover the narratives that shape us, bearing witness to one another’s deep pain and striking beauty. Through art and ritual, we will make visible the ways that these stories have marked us, moving through them and creating space for new growth. This immersive experience is your time to exhale, release, and rediscover the beauty of life’s ebb and flow.
Emotions Education 101
Emotions are messy and unpredictable, and as a culture we have not been taught how to understand or work with them in a way that is helpful. As a result, we either suppress emotions and become stoic and numb, or they overwhelm us and send us into unending spirals that we struggle to get out of. This class will provide a basic framework for understanding and relating to our emotions in order to achieve a greater emotional balance in which we are able to feel our feelings, but not be overwhelmed by them. The class will include both didactic teaching with powerpoints and videos, but will also be interactive, giving you opportunities to practice the skills and ask questions in order to translate the concepts into practical tools that you can use in everyday life.
The class will occur on Saturday mornings from 9am-12pm over a 4-week period from January 11th to February 1st. It is recommended that you read or listen to the audiobook of It’s Not Always Depression by Hilary Jacobs Hendel prior to attending the class. The class cost is Pay-What-You-Can with a suggested price of $20-$50/class depending on financial means.