Tending The Carer: A Restorative Retreat For Helping Professionals
7–30 November 2026 | Mana Retreat Centre, Coromandel (3 nights – Friday 6pm to Monday 2pm)
This long weekend is especially for: ACC Sensitive Claims providers Psychologists, psychotherapists, counsellors, social workers. Other clinicians and carers working with PTSD / complex trauma. Anyone in a helping profession seeking genuine restoration
Your oasis of self‑care
High caseloads, vicarious exposure, ethical responsibilities, and admin demands can quietly erode our capacity to be present, creative, and well. Over time, this impacts not just us, but also the people we serve. This retreat is an invitation to put your own care first, as a core professional practice – not “when I have time,” but as part of ethical sustainability in trauma‑laden work. For one long weekend you are invited to: Leave email, caseloads, and paperwork behind. Let your nervous system soften and recalibrate. Re‑orient toward what truly sustains you in your life and work
Come on your own – or with a colleague/friend
You’re warmly invited to attend: Solo, giving yourself three nights fully for you, or With a friend or colleague, who is also a caring professional, to share a twin room, walk the tracks together, or simply have a familiar face to debrief with over cups of tea and quiet moments. We have single, twin‑share and couples rooms available. Single rooms are limited and allocated on a first‑come, first‑served basis. If there’s someone with whom you often say “we really should do something restorative together” – this is that something.
The Mana experience
Mana Retreat Centre, nestled on the hillside of the Coromandel Peninsula, offers :A beautiful practice space for yoga, meditation, workshops. Walking tracks through native bush, waterfalls and quiet forest spaces. A sauna for deep unwinding. Stunning views over the ocean and land. Wholesome, delicious vegetarian meals – nourishing and satisfying. Quiet nooks to rest, plus spaces to connect with others. Massage (by appointment, additional cost) Everything at Mana is designed to help your system shift from doing to being.
What the weekend will offer
Across the three nights, we’ll hold a spacious, choice‑based schedule that you can engage with as much or as little as you like, including:Gentle, mindful, trauma‑sensitive yoga and movement.
Guided relaxation, simple meditation and breathing practicesGuided ecotherapy sessions to connect with nature within and withoutSomatic regulation tools for your own use (and, if appropriate, in your practice).
Creative reflection (journaling / simple art) to digest your year and your work.
Time in nature – group walks, solo time, time to sit and breathe in the view.
There will also be opportunities to:Learn a handful of practical body‑based tools that can be integrated into therapy settings.
Hear about the ACC‑funded group work we offer for ACC SCS kiritaki and explore collaborative possibilities.
All sessions are optional. You are actively encouraged to listen to what you need: Sleep in instead of morning yoga. Take a solo walk instead of a group session. Sit with a book or journal on the deck. Connect with others – or enjoy some time in solitude. Our role is to offer a rich menu of restorative practices. Your role is to choose what genuinely serves you. This retreat offers a chance to: Digest what 2026 has asked of you. Soften accumulated stress and vicarious load. Remember what it feels like to be resourced and rested. Sow seeds for the year ahead – around pacing, self‑care, and ethical sustainability in your practice
About your facilitators
Jessica Dziwulska: An experienced trauma‑informed practitioner with decades of work in: Body‑based and somatic approaches to trauma and wellbeing.
Trauma‑sensitive, restorative yoga and mindful movement. Creative and reflective therapeutic practices honouring the whole person.
Group work, 1:1 work, and 15 years of running retreats in NZ and Bali.
ACC Sensitive Claims group work for PTSD and Complex Trauma.
Amy Benjamin: A holistic counsellor in private practice since 2014, specialising in:
Creating safe, relational group spaces where people feel seen, heard, and able to belong.
Co‑regulation and the healing potential of attuned, supportive relationships.
Ecotherapy‑informed practice and nature‑based mindful and somatic approaches.
Supporting reconnection with the natural world as a pathway back to self.
ACC Sensitive Claims trauma‑sensitive yoga groups and co‑facilitation of Tools for Transforming Trauma retreats.
Together, we are passionate about reframing self‑care not as indulgence, but as an ethical, professional necessity when working at depth with trauma and adversity.
Investment & practicalities
Investment: NZD $1,100 – $1,500(cost varies by room type: single, twin‑share, or couples. PLEASE NOTE: single occupancy rooms are limited and sold on a first come, first served basis).
Your investment includes: 3 nights’ accommodation. Daily delicious, nutritious vegetarian meals.
An abundant, fully optional programme of yoga, relaxation, breathwork, meditation, creativity and self‑reflection.
Optional ACC SCS group‑work information session.
Optional “somatic tools for talk‑therapists” session.
Use of sauna, grounds, walks and library at Mana.
We can provide receipts if this is claimable as a business expense.
Next steps
If you’d like to:Reserve a place (for you, or you and a friend/colleague)Ask questions about suitability, accessibility, or room options.
Please contact
Jess:Email: jessica.dziwulska@nelsonclinic.nz
Web: https://www.brighterlife.nz/retreats
This November, we’re inviting you to give yourself what we so often invite our clients to seek: time, space, kindness, and a place to truly exhale.
Warmly,
Jessica Dziwulska & Amy Benjamin