Transform Together Through Guided Group Experiences
Our workshops, support groups, and retreats are designed to support growth in a collaborative setting.
Groups and Retreats
Groups
Structured programs that demonstrate practical coping strategies within a supportive peer environment. If any of these groups look like you might be interested in joining, please press the waiting list tab and enter your name and email. We will contact you when a new group forms.
Retreats
Twice a year, we offer intimate weekend retreats in the tranquil setting of Lake Arrowhead, limited to 6–8 participants. These highly individualized gatherings provide a unique opportunity to explore mind and body wellness through guided yoga, mindful meditation, and focused group discussions on a variety of topics. The serene natural environment and small group size foster deep connection, personal growth, and restorative relaxation.
Accommodations include options for a private room with a bathroom, a private room with a shared bathroom, or a shared room and shared bathroom, catering to individual preferences for comfort and privacy. Rooms are priced accordingly.
To join the waiting list, please select the waiting list tab and provide your name, email, phone number, and preferred sleeping arrangement. We will contact you as soon as the next retreat is scheduled.
Format
All groups run for 6 weeks and have no more than 8 participants. Some will have no more than 6 participants. When we post that the group is scheduled, it will show the number of participants on the sign-up page.
Please select the Waiting List tab if you are interested in the group:
I want to be an influence on my kids but they won’t even listen to me
This class is designed to enhance communication skills among adults, focusing on techniques that foster positive influence in various relationships, including with children, family, friends, and colleagues. The curriculum covers:
Active listening strategies to promote understanding and empathy.
Assertive communication techniques for expressing needs and opinions respectfully.
Conflict resolution methods to address disagreements constructively.
Emotional intelligence development for managing feelings and responding appropriately. Practical exercises and role-playing to build confidence and reinforce skills.
By participating, adults learn to communicate more effectively, build stronger relationships, and positively impact those around them in both personal and professional contexts.
Active Grandparenting: how to navigate tricky waters in extended family
This course is designed to empower current and future grandparents with the knowledge, strategies, and skills necessary to navigate the evolving role of grandparenting within today’s complex family structures. Participants will explore how to build strong, positive relationships with grandchildren, support their adult children, and maintain healthy boundaries within extended families.
Key components include:
Attitudes for Success:
Encouraging openness, adaptability, and respect for parental roles while embracing the unique contributions of grandparents.
Communication Skills:
Learning effective listening, clear expression, and nonjudgmental dialogue to foster trust and understanding with both grandchildren and adult children.
Navigating Boundaries:
Strategies for respecting parental decisions, offering support without overstepping, and managing differences in parenting styles.
Conflict Resolution:
Techniques to address and resolve misunderstandings or disagreements within the family constructively.
Group Support:
Opportunities for sharing experiences, learning from peers, and building a supportive network to reduce isolation and increase confidence.
Through interactive discussions, role-playing, and practical exercises, participants will gain tools to approach grandparenting with confidence, cultivate healthy family relationships, and respond thoughtfully to the challenges and joys of their changing role.
Bringing baby home: Will this change everything?
"Bringing Baby Home" is a research-based program designed for new and expectant parents, inspired by the Gottman Institute’s principles. The course addresses the joys and challenges that come with welcoming a new child, focusing on strengthening the parental relationship and fostering healthy family dynamics during this significant transition.
Key components include:
Strengthening the Couple’s Relationship:
Tools for maintaining emotional connection, intimacy, and partnership amidst the demands of new parenthood.
Effective Communication Skills:
Techniques for expressing needs, managing stress, and resolving conflicts constructively.
Emotional Awareness and Regulation:
Strategies for recognizing and managing the emotional changes that accompany parenting.
Co-Parenting Strategies:
Guidance on working together as a team, sharing responsibilities, and supporting each other’s parenting styles.
Promoting Infant Development:
Understanding the importance of emotional attunement and responsive caregiving for the baby’s well-being.
Building a Supportive Family Environment:
Approaches for managing extended family involvement and creating a nurturing home.
Through interactive activities, discussions, and practical exercises, participants gain skills to navigate the transition to parenthood, enhance their relationship, and create a positive, supportive environment for their child and family.
My parents are driving me crazy…how will I survive?
This course is designed for adult children who face challenges in relating to and managing relationships with their parents. Recognizing the complexity of these lifelong bonds—often marked by unspoken feelings, longstanding patterns, and evolving expectations—the group offers a supportive environment to explore personal experiences and develop new approaches for healthier interactions.
Key components include:
Understanding Family Dynamics:
Exploration of common relational patterns, generational differences, and the impact of family history on current interactions.
Emotional Awareness and Expression:
Techniques for identifying and articulating unspoken feelings, setting boundaries, and managing guilt or resentment.
Effective Communication Skills:
Strategies for assertive dialogue, active listening, and conflict resolution tailored to adult parent-child relationships.
Shifting Attitudes:
Encouragement to reframe expectations, foster empathy, and accept changing roles as both parents and children age.
Problem-Solving and Coping:
Tools for addressing specific challenges, such as caregiving, decision-making, or navigating parental resistance to change.
Group Support:
Opportunities to share experiences, gain perspective, and receive feedback from peers facing similar situations.
Participants will leave with greater self-awareness, practical communication tools, and renewed confidence to approach their relationships with parents in a more balanced, compassionate, and effective manner.
Who am I? Journey back to the self
"Journey Back to the Self" is a reflective and experiential course designed to help participants reconnect with their authentic selves in the context of modern life’s distractions and demands. The course provides a supportive group environment where individuals can explore the concept of the self, identify influences that may obscure personal values and desires, and develop strategies to access and nurture their core essence.
Key components include:
Exploring the Notion of Self:
Guided discussions and exercises to define personal identity, values, and beliefs beyond external expectations.
Recognizing External Influences:
Examination of the impact of digital media, societal norms, and cultural pressures on self-perception and motivation.
Mindfulness and Self-Awareness Practices:
Techniques such as journaling, meditation, and reflective dialogue to increase awareness of thoughts, emotions, and authentic needs.
Identifying Sources of Inspiration and Nourishment:
Activities to rediscover passions, strengths, and activities that bring fulfillment and joy.
Supportive Group Process:
Opportunities to share experiences, receive feedback, and build a sense of community and belonging.
Developing Personal Action Plans:
Guidance on setting intentions and practical steps for integrating newfound self-awareness into daily life.
By participating, individuals gain insight into their authentic selves, cultivate self-compassion, and develop practical tools to live more intentionally and meaningfully.
Earned Secure Attachment
Secure attachment begins in the very beginning of life, and patterns emerge by 8 months of age that continue into adulthood, affecting every aspect of our lives. We may not have been given secure attachment in these first few years, but happily, we can earn it ourselves.
This 6-week class provides participants with foundational knowledge of attachment theory, focusing on the characteristics and development of secure attachment. The course integrates psychoeducation, self-reflection, and practical skills to help individuals understand their attachment patterns and develop behaviors that promote secure attachment in relationships.
I can’t seem to self-regulate…HELP
"Learning to Self-Regulate" is an interactive course designed to help participants develop the skills necessary to understand, manage, and respond to their emotions and behaviors in healthy, adaptive ways. The course combines education, practical exercises, and group support to foster greater emotional awareness and self-control in everyday life.
Key components include:
Understanding Self-Regulation:
Exploration of what self-regulation is, its importance, and how it impacts mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
Recognizing Triggers:
Identification of personal stressors and emotional triggers that can lead to dysregulation.
Emotional Awareness:
Techniques for increasing awareness of emotional states through mindfulness, body scanning, and reflective practices.
Coping Strategies:
Introduction to evidence-based tools such as deep breathing, grounding exercises, and cognitive reframing to manage strong emotions and impulses.
Building Resilience:
Guidance on developing healthy routines, setting boundaries, and practicing self-care to support ongoing self-regulation.
Group Support:
Opportunities for participants to share experiences, practice new skills, and receive constructive feedback in a supportive environment.
By the end of the course, participants will have a toolkit of strategies to enhance self-regulation, improve relationships, and promote overall well-being.
Mens group: What is it to be a man in this day and age
This men’s group is designed to support participants in cultivating healthy attitudes and behaviors that strengthen relationships with partners, family, friends, and colleagues. The course provides a safe, confidential environment for men to explore and challenge societal expectations, including the often unconscious drive to meet unrealistic standards of masculinity and performance.
Key components include:
Exploring Masculinity:
Examination of cultural and social influences on male identity and how these shape attitudes, behaviors, and relationship dynamics.
Self-Awareness and Emotional Expression:
Guidance in recognizing and expressing emotions authentically, moving beyond restrictive norms around vulnerability and strength.
Building Healthy Relationships:
Strategies for effective communication, empathy, and conflict resolution to foster trust, respect, and intimacy.
Identifying and Challenging Performance Standards:
Insight into how internalized expectations can impact self-worth, relationships, and well-being, with practical steps to redefine success and self-acceptance.
Group Support and Connection:
Opportunities for open dialogue, mutual support, and learning from shared experiences, helping to reduce isolation and promote personal growth.
Through discussion, skill-building exercises, and reflective activities, participants develop tools to create more authentic, supportive, and fulfilling relationships while embracing healthier, more realistic self-expectations.
How to move through grief
"Moving Through Grief" is a supportive group program designed to help individuals navigate the complex emotional landscape of loss. This course provides a safe and compassionate environment where participants can share their experiences, learn about the grieving process, and develop healthy coping strategies.
Key components include:
Understanding Grief:
Education on the nature of grief, common emotional and physical responses, and the uniqueness of each person’s journey.
Emotional Expression:
Encouragement and guidance for expressing feelings related to loss in a supportive, nonjudgmental setting.
Coping Skills:
Introduction to practical tools and techniques for managing difficult emotions, stress, and daily challenges associated with grief.
Memory and Meaning:
Activities to honor and remember loved ones, and explore ways to find meaning and growth after loss.
Building Support Networks:
Opportunities to connect with others who are grieving, reducing isolation and fostering a sense of community.
Self-Care and Resilience:
Emphasis on self-compassion, physical well-being, and building resilience for the ongoing journey of healing.
Participants leave with greater understanding of their grief, increased emotional support, and practical strategies to help them move forward at their own pace.
Complex grief…it just wont go away.
This course is designed for individuals experiencing complex grief—an intensified or prolonged grief response often complicated by challenging circumstances surrounding the loss or the nature of the relationship with the deceased. Recognizing that grief is a highly individual process, this group provides a safe, supportive environment for participants to explore their unique experiences and emotions.
Key components include:
Understanding Complex Grief:
Education on the characteristics of complex grief, including factors such as unresolved conflicts, ambiguous loss, trauma, or loss of a difficult relationship.
Emotional Processing:
Guided activities and discussions to help participants identify, express, and process intense or conflicting emotions such as anger, guilt, regret, or relief.
Barriers to Healing:
Exploration of factors that may hinder healthy grieving, such as unfinished business, societal stigma, or lack of closure.
Coping Strategies:
Introduction to practical tools for managing overwhelming feelings, reducing distress, and fostering resilience.
Meaning-Making and Integration:
Opportunities to explore ways of finding meaning in loss, honoring the deceased, and integrating the experience into one’s life narrative.
Group Support:
A confidential space to share stories, receive empathy, and connect with others facing similar challenges, reducing isolation and fostering hope.
Participants will gain a deeper understanding of their grief, develop healthier coping mechanisms, and move toward a more adaptive relationship with their loss, supported by the shared experiences of the group.
Psychedelic integration and inner exploration
This workshop offers a supportive, confidential environment for individuals seeking to integrate and make meaning of their psychedelic experiences. While recognizing that psychedelic substances are not yet legal in California (with the exception of certain clinical uses for ketamine), many individuals have accessed these medicines through underground or legal avenues. These experiences can be profound, bringing insight, healing, or unresolved psychological material to the surface.
Key components include:
Understanding Integration:
Education on the importance of integration as an ongoing process to derive personal growth and psychological benefit from psychedelic experiences.
Processing Experiences:
Guided group discussions and reflective exercises to help participants process emotions, memories, or insights that may have arisen during their journeys.
Navigating Challenging Material:
Support for working through difficult or distressing content, including unresolved trauma, existential questions, or shifts in self-perception.
Practical Tools for Integration:
Introduction to mindfulness practices, journaling, creative expression, and somatic techniques to help ground and assimilate new awareness.
Ethics and Safety:
Discussion of legal considerations, harm reduction, and the importance of set, setting, and ongoing mental health support.
Community Support:
Opportunities to connect with others who share similar experiences, reducing isolation and fostering a sense of belonging on the integration journey.
Participants leave with a deeper understanding of their psychedelic experiences, practical strategies for ongoing integration, and a supportive network to accompany them as they continue their personal growth and healing.
Healing from Religious Trauma
This course is designed for individuals who have experienced trauma within a religious context, whether through abuse, coercion, or exposure to harmful beliefs and practices. Religious trauma can manifest as psychological, emotional, or spiritual distress, often accompanied by feelings of shame, guilt, isolation, or identity confusion. The group provides a safe, confidential, and supportive environment for participants to explore their experiences, process complex emotions, and reclaim a sense of self.
Key components include:
Understanding Religious Trauma:
Education on the forms and impact of trauma within religious settings, including sexual abuse, spiritual manipulation, and internalization of unhealthy beliefs.
Recognizing Effects:
Exploration of symptoms such as anxiety, depression, self-doubt, guilt, shame, and relational difficulties that may arise from religious trauma.
Emotional Processing:
Guided exercises and group discussions to help participants identify and express difficult emotions, challenge internalized negative beliefs, and begin the process of healing.
Reclaiming Identity:
Support for rediscovering personal values, beliefs, and identity separate from harmful religious influences.
Building Healthy Coping Strategies:
Introduction to grounding, self-compassion, boundary-setting, and self-care practices to promote resilience and well-being.
Community and Connection:
Opportunities to share experiences, receive validation, and build supportive relationships with others who understand the unique challenges of religious trauma.
Participants will gain insight into the nature and effects of religious trauma, reduce feelings of isolation, and develop practical tools to move beyond shame and guilt toward greater self-acceptance and fulfillment.