When: April 24-27, 2025
Where: GilChrist Retreat Center
Three Rivers, Michigan
Facilitators: Heather Maritano, LCSW, RPT-S & Tracy Zollinger Turner
CE Hours available if needed: 18
Early-Bird Pricing: Ends Feb. 15
Equity Pricing: (Learn More)
A weekend retreat to calm the mind & enliven your spirit.
We will delve into creativity, explore presence with the landscape, and connect to the spirit of play in this facilitated retreat. Retreatants will be invited to be creative in community with self, other, and nature, with generous time for solitary reflection in the beauty of GilCrist’s woods and meadows.
The three-night retreat is designed to practice bringing more awareness and delight to the interactions between ourselves and the worlds in which we exist, to cultivate an increased capacity to notice with all our senses, to be curious about the inner self, to linger for just a bit in a world away, and ultimately return home with a bit more grace and joyful appreciation of all that is within and around us.
The retreat is open to anyone with an interest in expressive arts and sacred play, but may be especially helpful to therapists, healing professionals, and teachers who are interested in these approaches in their work and for their own reflection and restoration. While we will be using art and generative writing processes, no prior experience with any medium is necessary.
Presence and play all day
Each day begins with a group blessing in the gathering house that will include gratitude for the indigenous history of the land, as well as the invitation to reflect on our biological ancestors and any spiritual, community, or cultural lineages that have brought sacred play into our lives.
Participants will receive prompts that can be used for reflection—as a group, or in solitary contemplation.
In between each day’s facilitated workshops, there will be ample time to explore walking trails, ponds, and the labyrinth. Art supplies will be also available in the gathering room—which will have a designated quiet space–for anyone to use as they wish. In the evening, we will come together in the gathering house for a simple, communal vegetarian meal, followed by evening activities that include expressive dance (for all bodies and abilities) and sharing reflections.
Accommodations & Meals
The accommodations for this retreat are secured directly with GilChrist at a cost of $60 per night. There are 8 cabins total, 2 of which have 2 bedrooms and the rest are studio style. A map of the property is included below in the “The Where” section.
Once you have registered contact GilChrist to reserve your cabin using the online registration form or by calling the main office at (269) 244-1130 with any questions.
Participants can check into their cabins between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on Thursday April 24. Cabin check-out is at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 27.
A communal, vegetarian dinner will take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening, and a communal brunch will occur on Sunday morning. Please contact Heather with any food restrictions. Otherwise, participants are responsible for their own meals. Each guest space at GilChrist is equipped with a complete kitchen. See the complete GilChrist FAQ for more information about the facility.
Retreat Schedule
Participants will arrive Thursday April 24, between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., and are invited to gather at WindHill for our first communal dinner beginning at 6:30 p.m. During this time, we will get to know each other and introduce the weekend’s focus on sacred art & play.
Friday, Saturday, and through Sunday at noon, participants will alternate between group interaction and unscheduled time for reflections and explorations of your choosing. Details will be provided to participants prior to the start of the retreat.
Guided Play, Writing & Expressive Arts Activities
Our art, play and writing prompts will guide us into the interior self to find expression of our creative selves. Engaging with our creativity can unblock old patterns or habits of thinking. Expressive arts allow users to laugh, let go, and relax, which helps decrease depression, anxiety, and stress.
All materials will be provided. Materials will also be available for use on your own outside of the activities selected.
No art background necessary.
GilChrist Retreat Center
Welcome to GilChrist, a place where natural beauty strengthens our human capacity for compassion, gratitude, reverence, and creativity. Located on 67 acres of woods and rolling meadows in Three Rivers, Michigan, GilChrist is the public retreat center of the Fetzer Institute. With 67 acres of trails, woods, ponds, and prairies, plus cozy cabins and a well-equipped gathering house, GilChrist is a beautiful space to support the needs of contemplative group retreats.
We support the Institute’s mission of helping build the spiritual foundation for a loving world by preserving a contemplative environment for healing self, society, and the natural world. We warmly welcome people of all faiths and affiliations.
Heather Maritano
Retreat Facilitator, LCSW, RPT-S
Heather Maritano, founder of Inner Resources Counseling & Training, has been supporting the growth and healing of clients, colleagues, and community for over 25 years through therapy, education, mentoring, and advocacy. She creates soothing spaces, relationships, and experiences that invite exploration and discernment through steady presence.
Heather has clinical specialities in play, sandtray, & expressive arts therapies. She has traveled and trained throughout the world.
She maintains a sense of awe, regularly practices her belief in the healing powers of play, and is particularly fond of dancing.
Tracy Zollinger Turner
Retreat Facilitator, Writer & Meditator
Tracy Zollinger Turner is a longtime writer, editor, and meditator with a deep love of art , music, rescue dogs, dance, play, justice, and anything else that promotes warm connection and shared humanity. A follower of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism for over 20 years, she tries to apply dharma teaching to her parenthood, daughterhood, and partnership, and the rest of her work, home, and community relationships.
The daughter of an art educator, she loves to share the gift of creating as a process, regardless of the product. She has led courses in writing poetry in response to art, workshops about the art of noticing, and writing circles designed to help participants still their critical inner editors and work with trust.
This retreat provides 18 CEs for mental health practitioners.
Inner Resources Training Institute is approved to provider CEs through the state of Indiana, NBCC, and The Association for Play Therapy. See the retreat action items below for additional information.
Objectives
Utilize movement, art, and reflection to release tension.
Apply principles of art, movement and play therapies to deepen understanding of how to shift embedded patterns of stress and trauma.
Identify how mindful practices impact the nervous system.
Create images of inner landscapes
Utilize meditation and movement to explore and release.
Compile activities to use in clinical practices, as well as for one’s own wellbeing.
Revise old patterns held in neural networks.
Continuing Education Credit Requirements
Inner Resources Training Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7363. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Inner Resources Training Institute is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Association for Play Therapy Approved Provider #07-200
To ensure you that the credits you receive are applicable for your purposes, please contact the agencies for which you are seeking credit directly. You must attend the entire session to receive credit, no partial credit will be issued. Inner Resources Training Institute follows all CE guidelines and maintains responsibility for the program.
Inner Resources Training Institute is an approved provider for the Indiana Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapist, and Mental Health Counselor. Boards have approved this organization to provide category 1 continuing education units for LSWs, LCSWs, LMFTs, and LMHCs. Provider # 98000765A
See you in Three Rivers!
Cost includes all materials, 3 dinners, Sunday brunch and 18 CEs.
Retreat Action Items
All sections must be marked as complete to receive certificate.
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