Coming Together for Community and Collaboration

June’s Community Calls brought us together to share, listen, and learn from each other. 

On June 14th, we focused on a brave and supportive space where we shared ideas, struggles, and opportunities. Using a modified version of the Fourth Quadrant Partner’s Peer Assist Protocol, we spent time delving into the wisdom of the room. The purpose of the Retreat Center Collaboration was strengthened in this call by inviting people to hold each other up, share insights from lived experiences, and offer possible actions for retreat center staff to take.

On June 28th, we discussed the potential for cross collaboration. What will it take for retreat centers to collaborate on programming, staffing, and initiatives? We sat with the question, discussing our fears around competition, resourcing, and challenges to access to those we wish to serve. Even with the fears, we recognized that collaboration was the key to thriving into the future as it can help:

• pool resources together;

• reach multiple audiences;

• build a space for different viewpoints;

• us learn to support each other.

June’s Community Calls were full of dialogue focused on diving deeper into what challenges retreat centers as individual spaces and as a collective sector. While we won’t have calls in July, we will continue to loop back to the question of collaboration and how we can support each other.