Overview
The Self-Compassion in Nature Retreat is an immersive five-day residential mindfulness and self-compassion retreat designed for health professionals seeking a deeper, experiential learning environment to strengthen wellbeing, emotional regulation, and compassionate capacity — personally and professionally.
Inspired by the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) model, the retreat adapts MSC themes into a structured silent retreat format, supporting participants to learn “from the inside out” through direct practice, reflection, and integration.
Across the retreat, participants will engage in a rich combination of guided meditations, compassion practices, reflective exercises and facilitated inquiry, progressively building skills in mindfulness, compassion, and working skilfully with difficulty. Each day includes three facilitated teaching blocks (morning, afternoon and evening) that combine contemplative practice with targeted themes and structured reflection.
The retreat explores a range of core themes and practices across teaching and active learning activities, including:
- cultivating mindful awareness and self-compassion in everyday life,
- strengthening compassionate motivation and working with self-criticism,
- regulating difficult emotions using mindfulness and self-compassion practices,
- meeting challenging relationships with greater steadiness and care,
- preventing burnout and caregiver fatigue through sustainable self-care,
- reconnecting with core values, meaning and intentional living, and
- enhancing gratitude, self-appreciation and the capacity to savour positive experience.
A retreat workbook is provided to participants to support learning and integration, including summaries of key topics, guided reflections, journalling prompts, scales, references, and practice resources.
A defining feature of this retreat is the use of friendly silence as a supportive container for learning, reflection, and restoration. Participants will be invited to observe silence for most of the retreat, minimising interaction with others and limiting outside contact unless necessary. To ensure participants feel safe and supported while maintaining silence, a clear and respectful communication process is built into the retreat structure. Participants will be able to ask questions and communicate needs without disrupting the retreat environment, including through written questions/notes provided to facilitators, as well as access to check-ins or individual support conversations with retreat teachers as required.
This combination of nature immersion, silence and evidence-informed compassion training creates a powerful opportunity for restoration, professional renewal, and strengthened capacity to bring compassion into clinical practice and everyday life.
Inclusions
Teaching, accommodation, meals, relevant educational resources.
Target audience
This retreat is suitable for Psychologists, Academics, Psychology students, General Practitioners, and Allied Health Professionals such as Social Workers, Occupational Therapists and others working in counselling, teachers, Nurses, Coaches and generally anyone in a helping role.
Pre-requisite
Participants must be a healthcare worker/carer and also have some understanding of mindfulness, self-compassion and some experience in meditations. Familiarity with Mindful Self-Compassion (Kristin Neff and Chris Germer) and/or Compassion-Focused Therapy (Paul Gilbert) would be advantageous. Optional prior reading list wil be provided.
Level of learning
Intermediate. This activity is targeted to those who have some previous learning on the topic.
Professional competencies for psychology
The Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) have updated the Professional competencies for psychology effective 1 December 2025. This activity addresses the following PsyBA Professional competencies for psychology: 1, 2, & 3.
APS CPD-Approved
This activity has been assessed against the APS Standards for CPD activities and approved for its education quality. Learn more about the APS CPD Approval process.