Learning to Love Ourselves:

Working Through Survivor Physical, Emotional, Mental & Spiritual Pain

Mini-Retreat

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Events begin at 4:00 AM PT/7 AM ET/12 PM BST/01:00 ECT/4:30 PM IST/9 PM AEST

Events end at 6:00 PM PT/9:00 PM ET/2:00 AM (Sunday) BST/03:00 AM ECT/6:30 AM IST/11 AM AEST

See Below for Complete Event Description of the Theme & Workshops/Activities

Registration is a two-part process; registration is done by sending an email to: sia.wsc.miniretreat@gmail.com
The suggested contribution for the retreat is a $20 and can be sent via PayPal after registering.
Please note that no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

All workshops and meetings are 1.5 hours in length with 15-minute breaks between workshops & a 45-minute meal break.

Mini-retreat Theme Description

To love ourselves. To be able to provide the unconditional acknowledgement, normalization and support that each of us deserves as survivors—this is a central goal of our 12 Step Recovery Process. Yet love, and the trust that love is built upon doesn’t come easily for survivors. As a result, we have difficulty living consciously. We have difficulty pursuing our possibilities and dreams. Some days, just the ability to get out of bed and face another day is a major accomplishment. Yet, learning to love ourselves when we can’t get out of bed, have another setback, or experience a host of other inevitable survivor challenges is the key to self-actualization. How then do we learn to love ourselves when lost in PTSD triggers or emotional flashbacks? How do we learn to love ourselves when physical pain and disability interferes with the ability to move freely and makes us feel that we have always been helpless, and always will be? How do we restore the “breath of life” or sense of spiritual well-being or faith in a loving Higher Power that is greater than ourselves when all notions of life being a place of beauty, wonder and discovery were stripped from us by our perpetrators? These are some of the questions that SIA’s next World Service Conference Mini-retreat attempts to address. Indeed, learning to love ourselves is the pathway through survivor pain. It ushers in acceptance and a host of new affirming possibilities. Self-love creates new tools by which to live richer, fuller lives. Self-love heals our broken wings so that as survivors we can learn to soar again. 

Learning to Love Ourselves Workshop Topics

Loving Communication with Inner Kids

Dropping the Shame Pain

Dancing the 5 Rhythms: An Introduction to Emotional Release via Conscious Dancing

Anger & Grief Release

Healing Body

Turning Pain into Art

Learning to Lean into a Higher Power of Our Own Understanding

The Practice of Unconditional Self-Acceptance

Open Share Meetings (Survivors of Color

Fellowship & Play Room Activities:

Closing Processing Share Meeting

Sing Along, Games, & Share a Meal

Call for Tech Volunteers

At this point we still have a need for a number of tech hosts at our workshops and fellowship activities. Tech hosts have two responsibilities: letting the workshop presenter know when a person’s hand is raised, and splitting folk up into random groups for processing/sharing workshop inventory ideas. If you can help please write us at: sia.wsc.miniretreats@gmail.com