On this Community Call, hear an overview of the RCC’s 3-year history, and then explore introductory questions, commentary, and stories from participants around the country. These stories reveal a shared sense of grief and loss, punctuated by hope and resilience.

Our second Land Legacies session brought together retreat center leaders across the United States to discuss how retreat centers are contributing to the legacy of the land on which they're situated. "The land" is a complex and interdependent web of life -- whose legacy extends across time -- and at retreat centers we are both stewards of, and co-facilitators with the land.

Like quests, we often think of retreats as journeys out of the ordinary, toward depth and clarity in special ‘thin places’ where transformation and transcendence break through. In this thoughtful essay, Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma encourages us to “embrace the freedom to trust the ordinariness of our work.”

Join leaders from across the country as they share their hybrid program designs, stories of challenges and success, and tips for design and implementation on this Community Call. Highlights from the presentations and Q&A are captured in our notes.

We’ve been digging more deeply into the various interpretations we hold of the meaning of ‘retreat centers’ and ‘retreat centeredness.’ On this Community Call, we reflect collectively and in small groups on our various interpretations and how they impact our work.

‘Land legacies’ is a useful phrase because it’s versatile and provocative. It teases us into thinking bigger. How did this conversation start at the RCC? And where is it headed? RCC Program Manager Ben Scott-Brandt shares what he’s learning from the network in this short essay.

After our Flourishing Together retreat last week, today's Community Call provided quick tours of our network map, geographic map, and Mighty Network social platform, as well as 40-minute topical breakout rooms for further discussion on the threads we explored during the retreat.

Join leaders from Pendle Hill in PA, Manresa Jesuit Retreat House in MI, and Spirit Center in ID as they share the spotlight on their reopening experiences in short presentations and a Q+A.

The eco-justice hub was formed in response to the RCC Fall 2020 survey where the vast majority of survey participants indicated both ecology and sustainability as important aspects of their center. Did that mean actively stewarding the land, developing eco-friendly hospitality guidelines, or participating in global movements to respond to climate chaos? Turns out it was all of it.

On April 14 the Retreat Center Collaboration joined up with the Holistic Centers Network and Advaya to share a joint webinar. We learned more about each other, the values that guide our organizations and programming, and the different ways we approach collaboration in our networks and communities.

Abdul-Rehman Malik shares his experience facilitating story circles, encouraging retreat center leaders to weave stories of transformation, belonging, and social justice.

While there's nothing easy about challenging culturally dominant paradigms and working together in radically different ways, the team at the Whidbey Institute has experienced self-organization through Symbiotic Enterprise as a profoundly important step into greater health.

This JEDI Series Discussion connects the RCC community with the work of our peers at Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme). Learn about iBme's journey toward greater equity and interdependence, and their recent transition to a collaborative leadership model.

Our collaborative partners at Retreat Guru join us for a conversation on the current needs and wishes of retreat centers. If you were given a magic wand at your organization, where would you wave it? Click to learn more.

Justine Johnson reflects on these multimedia stories of the RCC during the pandemic. This week marks one year since we held our first Community Call addressing COVID-19 on March 10, 2020. Click to read more.

We chose two emerging topics for our discussion this week, and spent time in small group discussions together with our hosts, Justine Johnson and Maureen Connors. Click to learn more and watch the video.

Transforming an organization requires slowing down, leading from a place of vulnerability, and being willing to look at shadows. Robert Mulhall of Kripalu shares a presentation on organizational transformation, using the Theory U framework. Click to learn more and watch the video.

In this call, our guest expert, Dr. Anna O'Malley, MD, shares a presentation on mRNA vaccine design and function, herd immunity and "community immunity," ethics and related resources. Our Q&A session covers precautionary measures, policies, language-ing, testing, outdoor programming, and more. Click to watch the video.

In a time of multiple crises, the future of retreat centers is often unclear. So when partners in our collaboration break ground for new construction, it’s a cause for celebration! Click to read the story of the future site of the Commons—a flexible, multi-purpose space for hosting transformative work in the years and decades ahead.

How are retreat centers and holistic centers using a JEDI lens to deepen their work in justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion? How do we create JEDI spaces and circles? Jenyng Wu guides us through a reflective and embodied framing of JEDI. Click to learn more.