Our retreats offer you the chance to join a group of people that are experiencing similar difficulties in a relaxing, nurturing and therapeutic environment.
Through collaboration with our trained professionals, these retreats are aimed at helping you gain insight and understanding of your own mental health while building new skills to help you identify and respond to uncomfortable emotional experiences in a more helpful way.
When you need a break from the stresses of your everyday life, retreat-based therapies offer a wonderful opportunity to work on your wellbeing, resilience and optimisation away from daily pressures.
You can also experience the benefits of being part of a group of people in a similar situation to yourself with everybody working towards the goal of enhanced mental and physical health.
Retreat-based therapies are not always the best option for everyone. Individuals who have difficulties sharing experiences in groups may not find these retreat-based therapies as effective as one-to-one counselling sessions. View our other clinical services for more private therapy options.
Retreat-based therapies are typically directed towards healthy adult populations as a means of promoting and optimising psychological health and wellbeing. Health retreats are often an underexplored avenue for treating chronic diseases and mental health difficulties.
Retreats have been shown to improve quality of life, reduce depression and anxiety, and positively impact physical health for individuals with chronic diseases such as cancer. These positive impacts are observed up to five-years post-retreat. Educational components and experiential facets of the retreats are key to optimising the beneficial outcomes. The provision of follow-up activities are also important to maintain the gains experienced during retreat-based therapy.
Evidence from 19 studies underscores the significant positive impact of retreats on a range of well-being and mental health outcome measures. Pre- and post-retreat analyses suggest significant positive impact on mindfulness, wellbeing, depression, anxiety and a range of other stress-related outcomes. Notably, patient characteristics, duration of the retreat, and intensity of work during the retreat emerge as crucial factors which influence the efficacy of retreats.
Improvements in health following retreat intervention are likely the result of a combination of factors, both psychosocial and biological. Learning and implementation of coping mechanisms, enhanced resilience to stress, and metabolic factors leading to alterations in gene expression and DNA repair mechanisms are some of the observed positive outcomes seen following retreat intervention for individuals with chronic, life-threatening conditions.
The limited interaction between the health sector and the retreat industry constrains the potential treatments and recovery options for many who live with chronic and life-threatening diseases as well as those contending with complex mental health conditions.
Attending spiritual retreats for a week can alter dopamine and serotonin systems of the brain, increasing availability of the neurotransmitters.
The NHS launched a Green Social Prescribing programme in 2021 to improve mental health outcomes through supporting people to engage in nature-based interventions and activities.
In Japanese culture, the relationship between nature and wellbeing is often embedded in clinical practice such as the use of shinrin-yoku (forest-bathing) to improve physical and mental health.
Meditation retreatscan exacerbate psychotic symptoms in those who already struggle with psychosis.
Mental health retreatscan trigger emotional distress and push beyond your comfort zones.
The NHS launched a Green Social Prescribing programme in 2021 to improve mental health outcomes through supporting people to engage in nature-based interventions and activities.
Life is an opportunity. Sometimes with what can seem like insurmountable challenges. Our biggest asset is that of our mind, integrating experiences into realities that can turn adversity into unique possibilities for growth
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