Our world is hurting. Even a cursory glance at the news depicts people and communities that are in desperate need of soul-healing. Trauma is a daily part of life for countless men and women who yearn to restore the spark of the Divine within them.

That’s where we come in.

What Makes Us Different

Our life-affirming retreat ministries uniquely combine the latest trauma-sensitive psychology, somatic techniques, and neuroscience to address the emotional, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of each person. Many people tell us they felt misunderstood by counselors who often diagnosed or pathologized their symptoms and did little to foster their resiliency. Yet within our ministries, they feel understood and respected, and they encounter God at a deeper level.

Because of the training and methods we use, our retreats have proven to be remarkably effective in facilitating emotional and spiritual recovery. Each retreat is staffed by a well-trained team consisting of a counselor, pastor/clergy person, and lay women and men, many of whom experienced trauma and found healing through our retreats. Our group model creates a sacred space for people with shared histories of abuse and trauma – and has built-in accountability and safety for the participants. In this environment, retreatants are gently walked through their past traumas in God’s presence. Here, they reclaim their lost dignity and a deepened relationship with God.

One Grief to Grace participant wrote to us:

“I almost didn't come on the retreat because I don't have childhood or sexual trauma. But I had 20 years of trauma from a narcissistic, abusive first marriage. I didn't realize the full extent of the pain I was carrying, and how it was negatively affecting me. Through the retreat I received powerful healing from the false guilt of being responsible for everyone else's happiness. I'm now free from the heavy burden of guilt and over-responsibility for the decisions of others. What a difference in my life! If you're on the fence, go on the retreat. I can't recommend it highly enough. It will be life-changing!”

Another wrote:

“This retreat has been above and beyond anything that I had hoped for. It has given me the gift of openness with tears and laughter. It has given me such a bonding with my brothers and sisters who have sought healing and growth here.”

And another :

“The painful abuse I suffered as a young child was embedded for seven decades and required a thorough and careful unpacking in order to lift it from my mind, heart, and soul. The team members were patient, kind, and respectful, yet appropriately challenged my buried secrets. They skillfully helped me express the sorrow, anger, and grief that I needed to make real before I could feel relief and joy. I experienced profound, life-affirming realizations in these few intensely packed days that I had never experienced in past therapies. I witnessed the AMAZING transformation in all the other retreatants, as well.”

Healing Within the Church

In deep recognition of their need, and hearing of a safe place to heal, many religious sisters and priests have begun to make the journey from Grief to Grace along with other victims of abuse. After attending the program, one priest who had been abused as a child by another priest wrote:

“I do not have the words to tell you how grateful I am for all I have been given this week through you and your team, by your heart so full of faith, hope and love... I never believed so powerful a journey could happen so suddenly. Thank you from the depths of my heart, now so overflowing with peace and joy.”

 Another priest who suffered abuse as a child shared that Grief to Grace provided the missing piece that 22 years of addiction treatment had failed to provide – addressing the spiritual component of his own relationship with God.

 A religious sister who had been sexually abused as a child expressed the following:

“Things are so much better in terms of house dynamics with my superior. I have come to see that I not only saw God as a perpetrator but also the Sisters I live with. When I began to take off the lens of my abuse, I saw that I really am very loved by God and my Sisters. It’s funny...at any given moment, when I stop to think, I know exactly what I am feeling and why and what to do about it. In prayer, I’ve been asking Jesus to touch my heart and to hold me close. I am trying to make a habit of visualizing this in prayer. Our Lord is telling me to be not afraid.”

 Where we are