240 Davis Rd, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X1 Canada
August 22 - 25, 2025
About this Retreat
Louise Amuir (she/they), Diplomas in Haven Counselling and Group Leadership is interested in creativity and expressive arts as a means to connect with self and others. Louise is committed to diversity, inclusion, equity, reconciliation, and building collaborative processes.
Louise’s varied life experiences in theatre, writing, art, dance, music, working with street youth, youth in receiving and treatment homes, parenting, relationships, and meditation bring humour, mindfulness, curiosity, and play to her work with people.
As Haven faculty, Louise leads/co-leads: Befriending your Inner Critic; Inner Wisdom for Women; Awareness through Creative Expression; Journey to Self; and Haven New Year visioning programs and co-leads or assists numerous core programmes including Come Alive, Living Alive Intensives I, II, and III. She has been on many teams working in China and in Northern First Nation communities.
Louise has extensive Satir training, delights in surfacing the Shadow, and always leads with heart. Louise has been associated with The Haven since 1989.
Details of this retreat
This program is for you if you have self-limiting beliefs that you’re not enough, or that you’re way too much or if your inner dialogue is getting in the way of how you’d like to be living. If you have ever stopped yourself from doing or having what you truly want because of negative self-talk, we’ll look at some effective ways of transforming your negative self-talk into strong self-allyship.
Through a synthesis of creative process work, somatic experiencing and a generous dollop of Satir work, Graemme and Louise will guide you in making a friendship overture to your Inner Critic. In the company of supportive co-explorers, open your curiosity to learn what you might be up to and how to establish a good working relationship with yourself moving forward.
Befriending Your Inner Critic uses music, visual arts, movement, guided meditation, laughter and story to help you build (and rebuild) a relationship with your inner critic. Think of it like mediation between you and your critic, or facilitating a creative meeting of the minds.
In this program you will...
Dialogue with your hidden critic
Get to know yourself and your strengths
Re-evaluate and re-establish your relationship with your critic
Transform your inner critic into an ally
Befriending Your Inner Critic is for people who want to:
Accept themselves
Trust themselves
Stop the negative self-talk
Build confidence in themselves
Practice present moment awareness
Be intentional about the language they use in inner dialogue
Let go of habitual responses to triggers
Accomplish their desires
This program is for everyone, whether you identify as male, female, or non-binary.
Bonus pre-work: For two weeks leading up to the retreat, carry a small notebook and pen with you. Capture the "stops" in your day. Write down each time you hear negative self-talk and notice if you stop yourself from doing something. This is an exercise in building awareness, not judgment, so just notice the stops, that's all.
Note: The program begins at 7:30 pm on the first evening. Otherwise there are no evening sessions. The daytime session times are 9 am to noon, 1 to 3 pm and 4 to 6 pm.
Investment:
Our Earlybird tuition price of $750 is available to those registered and paid in full one month prior to the program start. Full tuition is $810. Tuition must be paid in full one month prior regardless of price.
We are offering private and shared room options.
You can find our cancellation policy here
Schedule:
Your program begins with dinner at 6pm and your first session at 7:30pm.
Daily schedule:
Breakfast 8:00am - 9:00am
Morning session 9:15am to noon
Lunch noon to 1:00pm
Afternoon session 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Break 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Afternoon session 4:00pm - 6:00pm
Dinner 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Evening's off to enjoy free time, bodywork, hot tub and sunsets!
Your program finishes with lunch on the last day.
Admission requirements: The student must have the desire and ability to learn. Must demonstrate a capacity for responsible self care, responsible self organization and sound mental health. The student must understand and speak English.
This program does not require approval by the registrar of the Private Training Institutions Branch (PTIB) of the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training. As such, the registrar did not review this program. What does this mean? Click here to learn more.