Joyful Heart Retreat and Wellness Programs are all designed to complement traditional talk therapy on the survivor's healing journey. Our therapies engage the body through movement, the mind through creative expression, and the spirit through group sharing experiences, in order to help participants move beyond survivorship and into an experience of living life with joy.
Through partnerships with expert crisis service providers, as well as our own clinical assessment process, each participant is thoughtfully evaluated to ensure the safety and therapeutic value of the program, and to determine appropriate ongoing support that will help the program participant integrate her retreat experience into her ongoing healing process.
Joyful Heart's goal is to complement and support existing programs, and to broaden the spectrum of healing opportunities available to individuals and the community at large. In a safe and nurturing environment, the modalities we use may include creative arts therapy, guided writing, body work, yoga and meditation, experiencing the ocean, music, dance, movement, somatic experiencing, interaction with animals, play, and mindfulness practice.
Joyful Heart also provides Community Programs that connect survivors with Joyful Heart for the first time, and allow retreat participants the opportunity to reconnect to their retreat experience while enhancing their community of support. These ongoing programs are also free of charge and include monthly wellness days and weekly workshops. Joyful Heart's wellness and community programs in shelters and communities across the country have already provided hope and healing to thousands of survivors.
Since survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse have had to encounter some of the worst that life has to offer, all of Joyful Heart's programming endeavors to expose them to some of the best life has to offer: safety, compassion, connection, community and possibility.
Joyful Heart's approach to healing trauma is based on the most recent research being performed by experts in the field. To learn more about the the trauma studies that help guide our program model, follow the links below:
