(269) 364 - 8050
All-Inclusive
Self-Care Retreat Weekend
Sponsored by the Battle Creek Community Foundation
December 6th - 9th, 2018
The Battle Creek Community Foundation and the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek Resiliency Project have given an incredible gift to volunteer advocates in the community. We are thrilled to announce that we will be offering an all-inclusive Self-Care Retreat weekend for our community advocates and volunteers who spend their time working with those whom have suffered from a traumatic incident. Join the event host and main facilitator, Amanda Wallace, at the Radisson Plaza Hotel & Suites for a full weekend of pampering, relaxation and self-care.
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This event is for anyone that does unpaid work for organizations within Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties, whose position puts them at-risk for secondary trauma. If you volunteer for Helpnet, SAS, S.A.F.E Place, YWCA, the VA or any other volunteer or intern positions that put you in direct contact with someone after trauma as a part of their healing, you qualify for this all-expenses-paid retreat weekend! Huge thank you goes to the Battle Creek Community Foundation and the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek Resiliency Project for making this all possible! Click the link (underlined below) to view the official announcement and qualification guidelines or to learn more about the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek Resiliency Project:
http://www.resiliencyprojectkzbc.org/news-events.html
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To learn more about our sponsor, the Battle Creek Community Foundation, you can visit their website here: http://www.bccfoundation.org
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About the event:
The retreat weekend will begin at 5pm on Thursday December 6th and run until 11am on Sunday December 9th at the Radisson Plaza Hotel & Suites in downtown Kalamazoo. All expenses, including overnight accommodations, parking, food and retreat services are covered by a grant from the Battle Creek Community Foundation. Retreat services include daily yoga and meditation, a free one hour massage, foot scrubs, facials, and mini nutrition consultations! In your down time, you can enjoy the several amenities offered by the Radisson, including a fitness center, indoor pool, hot tub, sauna, restaurants and downtown access. Click here to apply. Registration begins Monday, September 17th at 8am and ends at midnight on September 27th. Applications submitted outside of this time-frame will not be considered. If more than 30 applications are received, preference will be given to applicants based on volunteer time in the last year, all-time volunteer hours in the community and ability to verify volunteer hours.
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What is secondary trauma?
Secondary traumatic stress (STS) has similar effects on helpers as PTSD. STS occurs in mental healthcare professionals, and others who work or volunteer in helping professions where the practitioner is in direct contact with a victim after a traumatic situation as a part of their healing. Symptoms of STS include avoidance, change in cognitive processing (such as developing a belief that the world is unsafe), emotional exhaustion, or trouble sleeping, heightened sensitivity/emotional reaction and a feeling of worthlessness. These effects can have a mild to severe impact on mental health practitioners and can be some of the main contributing factors to burnout.(1)
When mental health workers reach burn-out stage, they may lose some of their effectiveness when working with clients. Symptoms of burnout include depression, boredom, cynicism, loss of compassion and/or discouragement. These symptoms can significantly reduce a helpers effectiveness.(2)
The goal of the self-care retreat weekend is to help replenish potentially burned-out volunteer advocates and to provide them with education, tools and resources that will help prevent future burn-out so that they can continue to be of highest service to the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Communities.
