Adapted from an original blog by Ben Scott-Brandt and Justine Johnson, Retreat Center Collaboration
Our friends at the Retreat Center Collaboration (RCC) hosted a recent community call with our friends at Retreat Guru that will inform our HCN Virtual Gathering in May. We invite you to contemplate the question posed to the retreat centers present; “If you were given a magic wand what would you wish for personally, for your center, and for the world at large?” It was an engaging way to harvest the needs and challenges in conversation, rather than via a survey, and we welcome your input too as we strengthen our collective work.
The full recording is available via the RCC blog. The vibrant discussion, the first part of a two-part series, reflected an inspiring way for our networks to collaborate. We’ll continue this conversation in a follow-up session during the Virtual Gathering in May. For the last few years the Retreat Guru team have offered a presentation around trends, data and analytics. In 2021 this will be informed by even more centers and the experience of the pandemic. In the meantime you can access the 2020 insights into best practices and solutions for the sector.
At the end of the call with 25+ leaders (representing 20 retreat centers and allied organisations), Cameron Wenaus, co-founder of Retreat Guru, lifted up and interpreted a few immediate themes from the wide-ranging conversation.
Retreat / Holistic Centers wish for…
These themes thread together what participants across North America shared as their “three wishes” when asked to “wave their wands” at specific pain points for their organization and for the sector at large.
- An increasing awareness of a global movement (communication), with a large audience (marketing)
- Transformation: the ‘why’ of the work, the wonder, and how retreats dovetail with a whole/life path for participants’ everyday lives
- Opening up our centers again: What do we keep, what do we let go, and how does that impact our future?
- Collaboration: sharing data, a warehouse for policy, a communal statement on the ‘state of retreat centers’
- Social, racial, and economical accessibility and inclusion
- Staffing, volunteering, keeping the motivation going
- Curiosity: how do we regularly offer new products to new audiences
- A shift from ‘me to we’ — from individual soul work, and to global movements
- Communication: working to better articulate the benefits of retreat and holistic centers
We’ll continue to explore these and other themes in our regular webinars and monthly focus groups, leading into the Virtual Gathering 3-6 May. We look forward to you joining us for part two of this conversation and welcome your comments below.
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