Reflections on a Wellness Retreat
By Patricia R. Turner, MTM Board Member
As a relatively new MTM Trustee, I wanted to attend one of the Wellness Retreats to discover, first hand, just what these retreats are all about. My curiosity was both professional and personal. I am a school psychologist by training and had personally experienced the trauma of forced termination some 30 years ago as the former wife of a minister. My question was, “Is this a professionally designed and presented program I can wholeheartedly recommend to others?”
The big day arrived last December. I drove from my home in the Baltimore, MD area to the meeting place near Richmond, VA. I was excited to be a participant in the five-day group encounter. From the start, I was impressed by the MTM leaders and the relaxed, non-judgmental, caring atmosphere. People who had never known one another developed rapport and real concern for each other as we shared stories of pain, disillusionment, betrayal and faltering hope.
All were experiencing an array of confused and conflicting emotions. The really tough emotion involved questioning self-identity and personal faith: “How could I not have seen it coming?” “I find I don’t trust people as much as I did before.” “It was where I felt God had called me! Was I wrong?” “What will this do to my family?”
Nourishment flowed to every participant—how to care for yourself physically, opportunities to discover your own personality strengths, ways to regain the depth of spiritual closeness to God, information regarding legal rights, negotiating skills, conflict resolution, how to deal with anger, and how to market your skills. Excellent mental health resources were available and utilized, as well as information on how to form support groups after leaving the retreat.
Emotional healing was clearly visible in some participants. All of us received a deep level of caring and an acceptance of who we were, just as we were.
Yes, I can wholeheartedly recommend participation in an MTM Wellness Retreat to any and all who are hurting from forced terminations, as well as to those who are in struggling ministries becoming tense and full of conflict.
This was one of the most intense, well designed, well facilitated and effective group encounters I have ever experienced. What help it would have been in my own life, to have attended this MTM Wellness Retreat when I struggled with many of the same issues and emotions.