Humans are relational learners. There is so much growth and insight that can occur through the organic exchange of basic interaction with other people. It’s like how we automatically take on the mannerisms, habits, and curiosities of our friends, family, and romantic partners; we have a way of rubbing off on one another, learning through our differences and our similarities. There is something deeply healing about the straightforward reminder that we are not alone. And there is something deeply comforting about the fact that we are always learning, growing, and changing through these most basic mechanisms of human-ing.
It is too easy (inevitable, even) to feel isolated in our basic human experience. Sitting in a group sharing circle or on a therapist’s couch and having others reflect back to us that what we are going through is not some kind of personal failure or character deficit, but a universally challenging human life, can in and of itself provide a gradual equanimity or acceptance of the peaks and valleys each of us must traverse.
But while some of us thrive in the stimulation, newness, and complexity of group experiences like therapeutic retreats, others shut down. Everyone has a unique comfort zone and a distinct capacity for the vulnerability of relational learning. And those who prefer the intimacy of one-on-one relating, embody a more introverted way of being in the world, or have an experience of being a highly sensitive person, still need opportunities to stretch their comfort zone and access relational learning, without putting themselves outside the bounds of their sense of safety and running the risk of shutting down or never seeking relational learning at all.
Even if you’re not an introvert or a highly sensitive person, but just a hurting human who has experienced a big loss or jarring trauma and are in a period of embracing your hermit era in order to reflect and re-evaluate, having someone there with you to anchor your insight, verbally process, and mirror your self reflection, can make or break your ability to move forward in a healthier way. Sharing our internal process with another person allows us to see ourselves far more clearly than we can see ourselves when we are trying to go it alone.
My individual therapy retreats provide a safe, intimate, stabilizing container to go deep into the self awareness of a time set apart from the larger world and the well worn grooves of day-to-day life. These retreats provide clients with the best of both worlds: aloneness in good company. The ability to withdraw and reflect with the safeguard of a licensed therapist nearby to provide structure, focus, grounding, and relational integration.
My on-site location is ideal for introverts and people with high sensitivity; a sweet and simple cottage tucked away in the mountains of Western North Carolina, under an hour from Asheville but remote enough to evoke a Thoreau-esq feeling of solitude.
My individual therapy retreats are ideal for introverted and highly sensitive people whose relational learning needs include:
✔ One-on-one interaction
✔ Deep diving an internal process for several days at a time
✔ Opportunities to withdraw and recharge through spending time alone
✔ The ability to practice taking up space without the overwhelm or anxiety of tracking social norms and group dynamics or the pressure to mask
✔ Access to nature and the profound nervous system reset we can only achieve when far away from the over stimulation of a suburban or urban lifestyle
✔ A customizable retreat experience that allows you to take care of your sensory, social, and energetic needs according to the natural rhythms of your body and your nervous system capacity
To inquire further about setting up your ideal individual therapeutic retreat, click here.
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