Caring for Spirit at the End of Life The Psycho-Spiritual Experience of Dying for Patients and Families

Most Chaplains and Spiritual Counselors have taken CPE which provides clinical and psycho-social insight into the dynamics of dying in healthcare institutions and hospice programs. Missing from the standard CPE curriculum is a visceral prehension of the psycho-spiritual encounters that individuals experience in their sojourn through the end of life journey. This highly experiential retreat will focus on the psycho-spiritual stages of dying. Through this retreat, participants will discover elements within their own spiritual formation which may hinder and undermine intimacy with death at the bedside. This retreat will include presentations, personal and interpersonal explorations of mystery, disorientation, ego, paranormal phenomenon, and paradigms for ‘crossing-over.’

Yours, Mine, Ours The Healing of Vicarious Grief for Therapists and Spiritual Care Providers

Vicarious or Secondary Bereavement affects all who care for the spirit, soul and emotion of others. Though, as professionals, we may consider ourselves experts on the subject grief, this doesn’t mean we have found a way to identify, grieve and navigate the daily losses we experience through our intimate work with others. This experiential retreat explores how grief and loss contributes to stress in professional caregiving and emotional contraction in our personal lives. The program will include presentations, experiential exercises in healing, forgiveness, and reframing, group sharing, journaling,

Animus Mundi: A Wilderness Meditation Retreat in the Arctic Indigenous people often refer to the Arctic as the “place where life began.” Celtic Spirituality would call the Arctic a “Thin Place” where the veil between heaven and earth is so thin that the Divine is intimately present. The Arctic is the Serengeti of the Northern Hemisphere filled with amazing wildlife and infused with mystery, wonder and soul-expanding beauty.

Join John Jeffery for a 9 day retreat to one of the most remote wildernesses locations on earth. This wilderness retreat will center around daily meditation practice (for beginners and experienced) along with thought-full and heart-full leader-led conversation about life, death, mystery, wonder and the sheer gift of being alive. This retreat requires some previous wilderness camping experience. The schedule will provide ample time for personal reflection, explorations, day hiking, and overnight backpacks. Individual sessions with the retreat leader will also be available. Participants must meet with the leader prior to acceptance. Minimum 6 participants, maximum 9.