Retreats

Discover a Deeper Way of Living Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center offers a retreat for almost everyone. Our schedule carries a...
  • Casita Supporting Rate – $1,065.00
  • Casita Actual Rate – $960.00
  • Casita Base Rate – $855.00
  • Yurt Supporting Rate – $1,065.00
  • Yurt Actual Rate – $960.00
  • Yurt Base Rate – $855.00
  • Hermitage – $1,485.00

Date & Time Details: Check-in is from 3:00-5:00 on the first day of the retreat. The retreat will close mid-morning on the last day of the retreat. (Learn more)

PRICE: We offer a sliding scale structure. Scholarships are available, see below. Prices for this retreat range from $855-$1,485 (not including dana). (Learn more)

DANA: This is a dana based retreat. (Learn more)

SHUTTLE SERVICE: Shuttle Service is available for this retreat. (Learn more)

NOBLE SILENCE: This retreat will be held in noble silence. (Learn more)

SCHOLARSHIP / FELLOWSHIP AVAILABILITY: Scholarships are available on a limited basis for Hemera, BIPOC, and Needs Based. (Learn more)

SAFETY: We are committed to providing a safe environment for gathering. We have created multiple precautions to hold our time together. (Learn more)

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Recovering from the Full Catastrophe: An Intensive Retreat for Mental Health Professionals

With Bill Morgan, PsyD, Susan Morgan, MSN, RN, CS and Ron Siegel, PsyD

June 18 - 25, 2022

On the other side of a storm is the strength that comes from having navigated through it. Raise your sail and begin.” ― Gregory S. Williams

Vallecitos is reopening! Needless to say, these have been an extremely challenging few years for many of us—from which we’re just beginning to recover. Although mindfulness offers much more than stress reduction, might some peace and tranquility be welcome right now?

This intensive residential retreat, set in the wild mountains of New Mexico, will offer calming and settling practices to soothe and heal our nervous systems. We’ll explore the stressors of this past year, making room to acknowledge and release some of the ragged, unmetabolized emotions that may have accumulated.

During our time together you will learn tools to restore balance to your heart and mind. We will study varied meditative postures, breathing practices, exploratory exercises, and both stillness and movement techniques designed to investigate challenging emotions and integrate difficult experiences.

This course provides a safe, nurturing container in which to explore these practices with colleagues. The teaching is experience-near, focusing on the development of mindfulness and compassion practices and their relevance in our work with others, including providing accurate empathy and therapeutic presence. There will be daily mindfulness meditation instruction and three to four hours of structured practice each day, plus study modules most afternoons in combination with dyadic or small group discussion. The rest of the time we will observe silence, including during meals, to facilitate a deeper contemplative experience.

We’ll discuss how to use these practices ourselves to be more present and responsive in our personal lives and clinical work, as well as how to share them with our clients to help them work creatively with the distress of the pandemic.

Let’s gather together and support one another as a community of spiritual friends. In addition to receiving mindfulness teachings, instruction, and guided meditations, this retreat will offer ample opportunities to participate in small group discussions and explore personal practice questions.

20 CEs will be offered for psychologists, social workers and mental health counselors.

 

CONTINUING EDUCATION

  • Psychologists: The Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Institute of Meditation and Psychotherapy maintains responsibility for the program and its content. This course offers 20 hours of credit.
  • Social Workers: This program is pending approval by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS for 20.0 continuing education contact hours.
  • Nurses:  This program carries 20 Contact Hours and meets the specifications of the MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF REGISTRATION OF NURSING (244 CMR).
  • Licensed Mental Health Counselors: The Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy is recognized by the National Board for Certified Counselors to sponsor continuing education for National Certified Counselors. We adhere to NBCC Continuing Education Guidelines. This course is approved for 20 contact hours, Provider #6048 and is applicable for Commonwealth of Massachusetts Counseling/Allied Mental Health and PDP accreditation.

 

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of the program, participants will be able to:

  1. Describe the three core components of mindfulness practice.
  2. Identify the evolutionary roots and mechanisms of compassion toward self and others.
  3. Demonstrate an experiential understanding of mindfulness and compassion interventions through personal practice.
  4. Specify how a therapist can best choose which mindfulness exercises are most appropriate for different arousal states.
  5. Describe how to use mindful movement to release anxiety-related tension.
  6. Identify how mindfulness and compassion practices can enhance emotional regulation.
  7. Discuss ways to assist clients to integrate mindfulness practice in their lives, especially during uncertain times.
  8. Describe the use of mindfulness and compassion practices to support parasympathetic activation and calm sympathetic activation.
  9. Specify contraindications for various mindfulness and compassion practices.

We require all people who visit the land to be fully vaccinated. We will require a copy of your vaccination card prior to arrival. Vallecitos reserves the right to modify, cancel or close at any time.

Teachers

Bill Morgan, PsyD
Bill Morgan, PsyD is a clinical psychologist who has been practicing meditation for over 35 years in both Zen and Vipassana traditions. He has participated in more than 6 years of silent retreats, and once lived in a Trappist monastery for 6 months. He has a private practice in two Boston locations. Bill is a board member of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, a non-profit organization in Boston, which offers seminars, courses, retreats and a certificate program for mental health professionals. He is a contributing author to Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, a best selling text in its second edition. billandsusan.org
Learn more about Bill Morgan, PsyD
Susan Morgan, MSN, RN, CS
Susan Morgan is a psychotherapist in private practice in Cambridge, MA. She consults with therapists who are interested in deepening therapeutic presence. Susan completed a 4-year silent mindfulness meditation retreat along with her partner, Bill in 2013. She has co-led retreats for psychotherapists with Bill for the past 15 years and together also lead small on-line study-practice groups or sanghas for psychotherapists. Lovingkindness and mindfulness of the body are integral to her mindfulness teaching. Susan is a board member of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, a non-profit organization in Boston, which offers seminars, courses, retreats and a certificate program…
Learn more about Susan Morgan, MSN, RN, CS
Ron Siegel, PsyD
Dr. Ronald D. Siegel is Assistant Professor of Psychology, part time, Harvard Medical School; serves on the Board of Directors and faculty, Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy; is author of The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary: Finding Happiness Right Where You Are; The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems, coauthor of Sitting Together: Essential Skills for Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy and Back Sense; coeditor of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy and Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy: Deepening Mindfulness in Clinical Practice; and professor for The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based Path to Well-Being produced by The Great Courses. He is also a regular…
Learn more about Ron Siegel, PsyD