California Retreat for Bereaved Mothers
May 9-12, 2024 | Whispertree Retreat center
Boonville (Mendocino County), Northern California
We are honored and excited to host the Return to Zero California Women's Retreat at the beautiful Whispertree in Northern California. This will be a transformative journey over 4 days / 3 nights from May 9-12, 2024.
Whispertree is a purposeful place to renew, re-energize, and reconnect to yourself, your baby, and a new community of other bereaved mothers. Attendees of previous retreats have said the experience was spiritually transformative. Please see our Testimonials and Vision statement if you haven't already. We do hope that you will join us!
There are 25 spaces available for this retreat. Register today!
Limited funding is available for our upcoming Bereaved Mother’s Retreat.
Apply for partial scholarship ($200-$400) below or email betsy@rtzhope.org with questions.
Retreat Vision
Part of your heart goes with the child that dies. After the deepest sorrow, we keep walking—we try to find meaning and live wholeheartedly despite our loss. The intention of this holistic retreat is to create a safe place to nurture yourself, connect with the child you have lost, and discover a community of people who have walked the same steps you have and with whom you can find meaning, growth, and transformation.
Nurture Yourself
Our lives are always busy. When we have experienced losses on the journey to parenthood, it is hard to find time and space to tend to ourselves. Therefore, we imagined this retreat as a break from all of that—a chance to practice unconditional love for yourself. This is a gift you are giving yourself, to honor you, your loss experience, and your journey. Come and be taken care of. Let yourself rest. Nurture your body and spirit.
Find Connection
Many people connect with their loss experience through grief and pain, however there are other ways to find this connection. No matter your beliefs, finding ways to connect with your love, loss, and your baby are supportive to the grieving process. Everyone has their own unique ways to connect with their loss experience and babies. This retreat is a place to explore this connection.
Find Community
It is an essential part of the grieving process that you do not feel alone or isolated. You will have the opportunity to make connections in a brave and sacred environment with others who have been through a similar experience—whether it be infertility and recurrent loss, miscarriage, stillbirth, termination for medical reasons, infant death, or toddler death. This is a time for you to take off the mask you wear every day and be your true self. You will form friendships that will support you and your journey long after the retreat is over.
Location
Activities
Accommodations & pricing
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Registration info
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FAQ
Our goal is to offer unconditional support for all parents who have experience losses on the journey to parenthood, no matter what their age, situation, or stage of their grief journey.
If you have other questions that have not been answered here please email us.
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Yes. We have had women who are pregnant attend the previous retreats. Pregnancy after loss can be filled with anxiety, and we hope that you can connect with others at the retreat who have walked this part of the journey and can share their experiences with you.
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Yes. Although the majority of the people attending the retreat have experienced the death of a child during or shortly after pregnancy, we know that grief of a young child is similarly heartbreaking.
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Yes. We know that if you have terminated a pregnancy, it was the hardest, most painful decision of your life. You are grieving the death of your baby.
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No. We have had people attend the retreat whose loss was as recent as 3 weeks and as long ago as 35 years.
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No. The pain from the pregnancy and infant loss never goes away. If it has been a long time since your loss but you feel like it's the right moment to dedicate special time to your healing, please join us.
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Our goal is to create a space for people of all faiths to process their grief. We do not bring a specific religion into the retreat curriculum, however all participates are free to include their belief system in their own experience. There will be elements of spirituality available in connecting with your self and your loss experience, but it is up to each participant on how they do this.
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Unfortunately, this is an adults-only retreat.
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Unfortunately, at this time the retreats are currently for women only.
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If you have any special requests, please write them in the "Additional Comments" section of the registration page. We will try our hardest to meet your expectations but cannot make any guarantees.