Retreats
Bring Befriend Aging to your retreat.
Invite your guests into a thoughtful, engaging exploration of what it means to grow older – and how they want to meet the years ahead.
I facilitate Befriend Aging sessions as a guest presenter within established retreats. Through guided conversation, personal reflection and gentle somatic practice, participants explore the emotional, physical and existential experience of aging.
Each session is shaped around your retreat, your guests and the intention of the gathering.
A conversation many people are ready to have.
We are surrounded by advice about staying young and physically healthy, but given far fewer places to explore how aging affects our identity, relationships, sense of purpose and awareness of time.
A Befriend Aging session gives participants space to name questions they may have been carrying quietly, hear from others at a similar stage of life and develop a more conscious relationship with growing older.
The conversation makes room for what is difficult while remaining open to the possibility, wisdom and aliveness this stage of life can hold.
What I bring to the room
I bring more than 25 years of experience helping people navigate trauma, relationships, identity and change.
My professional background includes a Master of Social Work from Columbia University, postgraduate training at the Ackerman Institute for Families and Children, Somatic Experiencing Practioner, Internal Family Systems Levels 1 & 2, Sage-ing International - Cerfified Sage-ing Leader.
This combination allows me to hold meaningful conversations with depth and care while remaining grounded, respectful and attentive to the needs of the room.
Psychological depth
I create space to explore identity, grief, visibility, change, mortality and what still matters now. My clinical experience allows me to hold difficult material without turning the session into group therapy or asking participants to share more than they choose.
Body wisdom
Gentle somatic practices help participants slow down and notice what is happening beneath their thoughts. The practices are accessible, invitational and adaptable to different bodies, ages and levels of mobility.
Conscious connection
Reflection and conversation help participants recognize that many of the questions they carry are not theirs alone. The shared experience can bring perspective, relief and a deeper sense of connection with themselves and others.
I am also walking this trajectory path myself. I bring professional depth without pretending to have aging completely figured out.
What we’ll explore
I will work with you to shape a session that supports the theme of your retreat and the needs of your guests.
Topics can include:
Developing a new relationship with a changing body
Visibility, ageism and the fear of becoming less relevant
Retirement, identity and what comes next
Empty nests, caregiving and changing relationships
Grief, mortality and the growing awareness of time
Regret, unfinished parts of the past and what participants are ready to release
Purpose, legacy and what still wants to be lived
Feeling more at home in yourself as you age
The session can introduce the broader idea of befriending aging or explore one theme in greater depth.
Designed to fit within your retreat
Befriend Aging can be offered as a focused three-hour workshop or a full-day experience. Depending on the format, the session can include:
Guided reflection and writing
Full-group conversation
Partner or small-group discussion
Gentle movement and somatic practice
Time for personal integration
Questions and practices participants can carry forward
I will collaborate with you to understand your guests, the wider retreat agenda and the experience you want to create.
The workshop will be designed to feel like a natural part of the retreat rather than a separate presentation added to the schedule.
What participants take with them
Participants leave with:
Language for experiences they have struggled to name
A deeper understanding of how aging is affecting their body, identity and relationships
Greater compassion for the parts of themselves that feel afraid or resistant
A stronger sense of connection with others navigating similar questions
More clarity about what matters to them now
A renewed awareness of their value, wisdom and capacity to contribute
Questions and practices they can continue exploring after the retreat
Most of all, participants begin to experience aging as something they can engage with consciously rather than something that is simply happening to them.
In their words
“An aspect that impacted my present life was to look consciously at what has been happening to me physically and view those changes as part of a process which is a natural one. This made me feel content and accepting of various aspects which I had been trying to ignore.”
Tina – 79 Years of Life Experience“I enjoyed the reflective exercises, especially how they encouraged us to look at our own lives with honesty and perspective. I also realized how important adequate guidance is for truly benefiting from this kind of experience. The use of IFS offered valuable tools to work with the parts of ourselves that may see the world in limiting ways, while approaching those parts with compassion rather than judgment.”
Lisa – 49 Years of Life Experience
Bring Befriend Aging to your retreat.
Tell me about your retreat, the people attending and the experience you hope to create. Together, we’ll develop a session that fits your theme, schedule and audience.