Last year, an idea came to me about starting a wellness retreat for birth trauma survivors. I did not know how it would look or where it would be. All I knew was that I wanted a place where survivors could come together to relax, reflect and connect with one another. And do it without the demands of parenthood. Birth trauma can be such an isolating experience; we often feel so alone in it, and I wanted people to know that that they weren’t, that, in fact, they had people around them who truly understood what they were up against.

One of my goals when creating the retreat was to make it as financially accessible as possible. Therapy and other forms of trauma support can be quite costly and create several barriers to survivors seeking help.

I decided to try to fundraise through donations and sponsorships to see how low I could get the cost for them. I am new to this province, so reaching out to strangers was quite the adventure, but each step of the way, I let my passion for this community drive me.

As I continued to gain sponsorships, it still was not sitting well with me. I wanted these people to have a carefree weekend financially, where the last thing on their mind was money, where they could focus on healing. I decided to take all the money I had raised, switch to a local location that was not as extravagant as my first and make it FREE!

I reached out back out to all of the sponsors to share this new idea and was so grateful that they were on board with this big change. I crunched all of the numbers and stretched every penny, and I was so happy to see that it could send 15 birth trauma survivors for FREE!

The retreat spaces were first come, first served, and sold out in just under 2 minutes, with a waitlist of almost 200 survivors!

What took place at the retreat and the amazing sponsors that were involved. Because of the following sponsors, 15 birth trauma survivors attended the Balance after Birth Trauma Wellness Retreat for FREE! Their stay included; a night stay at the Matrix Hotel in Edmonton, all of their food for the two days, a workshop run by myself on “Reclaiming your Story after Birth Trauma”, a a sound healing bath by Kailee Smith, a pelvic floor workshop by Dr. Calista Powell, and the following day a yoga workshop that incorporated self-forgiveness work by Angie Clark, a gift bag, and professional photos.

The two days were brimming with laughter, sharing, tears, healing, and so much connection. It was evident within just hours of the retreat that this group of survivors was meant to come together. Right before the end of the retreat, the survivors had professional photos taken by Christy Wells, who donated her talent to ensure that these survivors felt special and beautiful. This was followed by all of them receiving a gift bag that was filled with local goodies that had been donated. As well as a sweater that was purchased for them through ZenLion Designs.

We ended our time at together with a sharing circle where each survivor shared what they were taking with them from the experience. It was in that moment, that for myself personally, I had to work hard to keep the tears in. To listen to them share and recall how aspects of their time “healed me”, “changed my life forever”, “finally feel less alone”, “for the first time since the birth trauma I felt seen and understood”, and more. It was all that I had hoped and dreamed of. It had exceeded all of that.

A huge thank you to the sponsors listed below; thank you for taking a chance on me and for seeing how much value there is to talking about birth trauma and supporting those who have been through it.

A special thank you to Dr Shenaigh Newman, a chiropractor extraordinaire, who was also my right-hand woman and truly like a sister to me throughout planning all of this.

And the warmest thank you to the survivors, who took a risk and chance on their healing; it was through your sharing and vulnerability that these connections were made.

Stay tuned for the next retreat, and if you would like to be involved as a sponsor, please reach out!

SPONSORS:

Lavender & Lace, Pine Integrated Health Centre, Blush Artistry & Empowerfit Sherwood Park, The Fourth, Flow Functional Health Centre, Mother Nurture Massage Doula Services, Concrete Blonde Hair, Yomama Maternity, and Bellamaas Boutique.

Sponsors for Gift Bags:

Filament Hair, Prairie Soap Shack, Popcorn Company, Under this Moon, Solaire Soul Collective, Nourish and Nurture Postpartum, Kristy Prodorutti.

Writen by: Teela Tomassetti, Registered Provisional Psychologist

** Participants gave written and verbal consent for pictures to be shared**