Overview
Trauma. Burnout. Two things at the heart of clinical work that most of us were never actually trained in.
Starling Health Collective's Educational Escapes are five-day professional development retreats in the stunning Margaret River Wine Region, WA — one that builds your clinical framework for recognising and responding to trauma, and one that turns that same lens on you.
Both worth it.
These retreats are designed for the whole clinician - the practitioner who wants to grow, and the person who simply needs to breathe. This is not a conference. It's definitely not a windowless room and a slide deck. Its rigorous clinical education wrapped around genuine rest, extraordinary food and wine, and the kind of unhurried time in nature that most of us have quietly stopped allowing ourselves.
Two programs are on offer in 2026:
1) Resilience in Practice: Self-Care for Clinicians
2) Trauma Essentials (Level 1 of 3 Trauma Intensives)
Why attend a Starling Health Collective Educational Escape?
Because you deserve an experience that gives back as much as you give to your clients.
- Grow your clinical skills — Both retreats deliver high-quality, evidence-informed professional development that you can use with clients immediately.
- Be genuinely nurtured — From the moment you arrive, everything is taken care of. Discover a variety of regional dining experiences curated by our Hospitality Host, Joel, showcasing the best of Margaret River's unique food and wine scene, and an itinerary that balances depth of learning with genuine rest.
- Explore and restore — Margaret River is one of Australia's most breathtaking regions, and we've designed your time here to actually experience it. Cellar door tastings at boutique wineries, farm-to-table dining, coastal scenery, and guided moments to simply take it all in. You'll return home feeling like you've had a holiday and a masterclass.
- Reconnect with yourself and your community — Surrounded by like-minded clinicians, you'll find space for the kind of honest conversations that rarely happen in everyday professional life.
RESILIENCE IN PRACTICE — Self-Care for Clinicians | 1–5 November 2026
What is it?
You can spot stress and burnout in your clients in seconds. You can spot secondary traumatic stress in a colleague before they've finished their sentence. And yet — when did you last apply any of it to yourself, with the same rigour you'd bring to a client?
This retreat is built on one honest premise: knowing the theory is not the same as doing the work.
Led by Dr Alice Morgan (Clinical Psychologist, 20+ years specialising in trauma and clinician wellbeing), Resilience in Practice draws on ACT, positive psychology, reflective practice and EMDR frameworks — not as content to consume, but as tools to actually use on yourself, in a supported setting, alongside peers who understand the work and its impact.
Over five days you will:
- Examine the neuroscience of burnout, vicarious traumatisation and moral injury as lived professional experience (not just theory);
- Work with ACT-based values clarification, defusion and psychological flexibility applied to your own clinical identity;
- Sit in an optional silent group EMDR session targeting a current occupational stressor;
- Walk in the bush and on the beach — guided mindfulness experiences in nature that function as both clinical practice and sensory reset;
- Have the reflective conversations that don't happen in supervision — often over long lunches or at a cellar door, in small peer groups where honesty feels less effortful;
- Honestly examine the personal and systemic factors that affect sustainability - including how cultural background, upbringing and values interact with professional identity, and why self-care strategies alone are never quite enough when the system is part of the problem, and
- Build a self-care plan you'll actually use, paired with an accountability buddy who'll check in with you well after you've gone home.
TRAUMA ESSENTIALS — Level 1 of 3 | 8–12 November 2026
Trauma is at the centre of what you see every day — in the patient who can't engage with treatment, the one whose physical symptoms never quite resolve, the one who drops out right when things start to matter. Without a clear framework, it's hard to name it, harder to assess it, and harder still to respond without inadvertently compounding it.
For most health professionals, trauma simply wasn't part of the training. The field moved faster than the curricula. Trauma Essentials is designed to close that gap.
This training will not certify you to become a trauma therapist. You will leave with something more immediately useful though: a coherent, evidence-based framework for recognising trauma, understanding its impact across the lifespan, and responding safely and ethically within your current scope. Led by Dr Alice Morgan, content draws on attachment theory, neurobiology, ACT and EMDR frameworks amongst others.
Over five days you'll cover:
- The neurobiology of trauma — how it affects the nervous system, body, memory and behaviour, and why this changes how you see patients (and how they feel seen);
- Trauma presentations across the lifespan from early attachment disruption through complex and intergenerational trauma;
- Co-occurring presentations including ADHD and ASD, where missed diagnosis is both common and costly;
- Trauma-informed assessment, including how to take a history sensitively, use screening tools effectively, and communicate findings across MDTs;
- The difference between asking about trauma in a way that opens a door versus one that shuts it;
- How trauma histories shape the clinician-patient relationship — trust, disclosure, engagement with treatment;
- The role of culture, systemic factors and marginalisation in shaping trauma experience; scope of practice, ethical decision-making and referral pathways that patients will actually use; and
- Vicarious traumatisation, compassion fatigue and how to sustain meaningful practice over a career, not just a year.
Learning is anchored throughout to real clinical scenarios via case discussion, peer reflection and structured application. The framework participants leave with can be embedded from day one.
Levels 2 and 3 offered in 2027.
Target Audience (both retreats)
Our educational retreats are multi-disciplinary – we rarely work in isolation, so why separate our learning experiences?
We welcome:
- Psychologists (all disciplines), therapists, counsellors
- Doctors (all specialities and levels)
- Allied Health practitioners (OTs, social workers, speech therapists)
- Nurses (all disciplines)
- All other health professionals
What's included (both retreats)
20 hours formal workshop training · 10 hours facilitated reflective practice · Group EMDR experience (Resilience in practice only) · 4-star chalet accommodation (Eight Willow Retreat) · All curated meals and wine experiences · Cellar door and regional experiences · Mindfulness walks (bush and beach) · Onsite coffee cart and fresh juices · Cheese flight · All activities and integration sessions · Transfers from Busselton Airport (Day 1) and return to Perth (Day 5) · Self-care plan development with accountability buddy
What is NOT included?
Flights to and from Margaret River; Transport to Busselton (if not on scheduled flights or arriving on alternate days); Travel insurance (strongly recommended).
Optional add-on: Six-month Supervision and Integration Package — six online group supervision sessions with board-approved supervisor, Dr Alice Morgan, and your retreat peers ($900 early bird / $1,200 standard). May count towards AHPRA peer supervision hours.
Retreats are deliberately small. Limited places only - get your tickets here:
www.starlinghc.com.au/events
Learning Outcomes
RESILIENCE IN PRACTICE — Learning Objectives
Participants will:
- Understand the psychophysiology of vicarious trauma, burnout and compassion fatigue — and identify their own personal warning signs within clinical practice
- Explore the "wounded healer" archetype and examine what their own history, culture and values bring to the work
- Apply ACT-informed strategies to address burnout, moral distress and psychological inflexibility — as a participant, not a facilitator
- Learn practical emotion regulation and stress management tools drawn from ACT, EMDR, mindfulness, positive psychology, compassion-focused therapy and attachment theory
- Reflect on professional boundaries, responsibility and ethical decision-making in the context of sustainable practice
- Examine the role of health systems in clinician burnout, and develop strategies for working well within those constraints
- Participate in optional small-group silent EMDR session targeting an occupational stressor
- Practice mindfulness in real-world settings — bush, beach, and beyond the clinic room
- Develop a personalised, values-aligned self-care and professional sustainability plan, supported by a peer accountability structure
TRAUMA ESSENTIALS — Learning Objectives
Participants will:
- Develop a foundational understanding of trauma neurobiology — how trauma affects the nervous system, body, memory and behaviour
- Recognise trauma presentations across the lifespan, from early attachment disruption through to complex and intergenerational trauma
- Differentiate trauma responses from other clinical presentations, including co-occurring ADHD and ASD, and understand how presentation varies across cultural contexts
- Apply principles of trauma-informed assessment, psychoeducation and referral within their current scope of practice
- Use trauma-informed language in clinical conversations — including how to ask about trauma safely, sensitively and effectively
- Understand how trauma histories shape the clinician-patient relationship, including trust, disclosure and engagement with treatment
- Recognise the role of developmental, cultural and systemic factors — including poverty, racism and marginalisation — in shaping trauma experience and recovery
- Clarify scope of practice, professional boundaries and ethical decision-making when working with trauma presentations
- Recognise vicarious traumatisation, compassion fatigue and burnout, and develop a personal framework for sustainable practice
- Apply learning to real clinical situations through structured case discussion and peer reflection
- Identify pathways for continued learning in trauma-informed care (Levels 2 and 3 will be held in 2027)
The Retreat Experience
The standard of care you offer others is mirrored in how you are cared for here. For the duration of the retreat, you are relieved of clinical decisions, logistical planning and daily demands.
All accommodation, food and activities are curated to allow for genuine restoration to counterbalance the professional intensity of the educational content. We deliberately alternates mornings of structured learning with afternoons of recovery, integration and exploration within the beautiful surrounds of the Margaret River Wine Region.
Once the formal workshops are finished for the day you have the chance to join us to explore the region - wine tastings at Vasse Felix, Blind Corner; brewery lunches at Eagle Bay and Shelter (both amazing views!); grazing tables at Meelup Farm; cheese tastings; breakfast on the beach... all included!
Retreat itinerary here
Retreat outcomes:
- Restoration of energy and creative thinking
- A chance to be nurtured/provided for
- A renewed sense of meaning and purpose
- Time in nature
- Professional connection and reduced professional isolation
Program Structure
- Morning: Intensive workshops; practical skills-based learning
- Midday: Reflection, peer discussion over long lunches
- Afternoon: Integration, reflection; visit Margaret River's finest nature, wineries, breweries and townships