About Our Retreats

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My mother died in April 2022. With her loss, I also lost my sanctuary—a refuge I could escape to and a person who would shelter me. It had been three years since my last drink, almost a year since my divorce and I still felt uncomfortable in social settings, even with my own family. I had no place to go, no excuse to give when I was invited to the family gathering on Christmas Eve. I was an admitted alcoholic, divorced without children, single, and struggling to establish healthy relationships. I felt like a stranger in a room of people I'd known all my life.

After Christmas, I attended a seminar called Purpose, Passion, Prosperity, and Service, presented by Gary Duhn at his Lakewood, Colorado recovery center – The Great Reality. Gary’s seminar inspired me to imagine a solution to my holiday distress and encouraged me to offer it to others. He also challenged me to give up my excuses. Age, loss, emotional wounds…none of these could prevent me from taking the next step in my healing. My next step is to serve others through these retreats.

Hero’s Journey Retreats will offer cost-effective retreats over Thanksgiving and Christmas 2023 for people who experience holiday distress. We define holiday distress as stress caused by expectations associated with traditional holidays combined with trauma caused by old wounds triggered by the holidays. Our holiday retreats will be safe havens where participants can engage in healthy alternatives to traditional holiday activities.

—Bob, Founder of Hero's Journey Retreats