Workshops

Loss of a Child   |   Surviving Divorce   |   Emotional Healing From Loss   |   Loss of a Partner

Golden Willow Retreat offers 3 day workshops on a variety of grief issues. We invite outside speakers within the realm of wellness and healing to offer seminars, workshops and conferences to take place at our facility.

All workshops are $275. (Lodging and meals are separate. Call us at 575-776-2024 for more information.)

Visit our Calendar page for upcoming scheduled workshops.
 

Loss of a Child - "Coping, Growing, and Moving Forward"  Click here for upcoming workshop information

There is an unwritten law that seems to say our children will outlive us as parents. When this law is broken, the most devastating grief possible can take over our lives. All realities are shattered and nothing that we took as truth seems real anymore. The loss of a child is most parents’ nightmare and when it comes true, the level of grief is immeasurable. The intensity of emotion can be out of control and the spin indescribable.

Even with the wonderful support of friends and family with good intentions, you may find yourself feeling alone, desperate, afraid, angry, guilty or any other emotion possible, often arising at the same time and in conflict with each other. With so many emotions coming and going, it is difficult to make conscious choices and function in a world that demands decisions, answers and production. All of these may seem completely unattainable.

Our goal in this workshop is to honor your grief process as a parent while helping you find an intellectual “foothold”, allowing that falling feeling to be reduced, so that you can begin forming a new foundation of reality. With education, ceremony, sharing, different types of expressive modalities, self-care, rest, and reassurance, we will explore the grief process and provide some tools that can be used to start rebuilding your life with renewed energy, based on conscious decisions.

Surviving Divorce – “Finding & Redefining Yourself Again”   Click here for upcoming workshop information

Someone once said, “Grief is a walk through loss and pain with no competition or time trials.” Whenever we experience a loss, or an attachment is broken, a scar is left where there once was a bond of love. Grief can come in many guises: death, divorce, loss of a pet, miscarriage, an illness, an accident, stillbirth, retirement, graduation of a child, being fired, and so on. Anything that shakes your foundation of reality as you know it can cause grief. By understanding the layers of grief, and learning the scope of the “emotional roller coaster”, you can begin to face the world and process your feelings without judgments.

Many types of grief are not recognized in our society, leaving us feeling alone and with nowhere to turn; this is called “disenfranchised grief”. Other times, people put a time limit on how long we should grieve and if we pass this set amount of time, we may feel that we're supposed to “hurry and get over it”. Due to these social pressures, we often deny our true feelings and cut ourselves off from the healing process. We deprive ourselves of the opportunity to restore the balance and stimulate growth in our new lives.  We will discuss in detail the layers of the grief process and how they affect the lives of all who surround us. We will encourage you to honor each layer, seeing it as a necessary element of growth toward becoming “whole” again.

Our goal is to allow you the space to feel your grief, honor your grief and your growth, while giving you educational information and “tools” to take back with you to start living a happier and more conscious life. 

Loss of a Partner – “Where is The Team?”   Click here for upcoming workshop information

The loss of a partner is likely to leave the one left behind, feeling helpless, alone, robbed, and lost. All of a sudden, you and you alone are faced with all those decisions, actions and ideas that you used to deal with as a team. Plans, dreams and immediate needs are scattered, with no apparent direction or even a footpath in site. Thought processes, motives, values and beliefs become unclear and each decision may seem insurmountable. With or without support from the community and family, you find yourself confronting the stark reality of being alone with a vast array of choices and responsibilities ranging from parenting, relocating and envisioning future plans, to paying the bills or even beginning to think about dating. The emotions rise and fall like a constant storm that is relentless and exhausting.

Our goal in this workshop is to help educate you and provide you with enough of an intellectual foothold on the grief process so that you can grieve consciously while honoring your partner. Our second goal will be to help you obtain personal tools that offer you some strength and energy to move forward in life while honoring your loss as well as cultivating your own personal growth and future.

Visit our Calendar page for all upcoming scheduled workshops.

"Kubler’s work expanded and explained. The workshop was balanced and well presented…I’ll be back." –C G