The cost of the Retreat is £625. A deposit of £325 secures your space with the remaining £300 payable by September.

From the moment we are born, even before we are born, we are experiencing loss. Our sorrows can gather and grow and become the path that we most fear to tread. If only we collectively knew that by giving ourselves an opportunity to be with our sorrow and turn towards our hidden pain, we may find our way home to our Self sooner.

We have to be able to grieve to praise life and connect with our full authentic selves, it is testament to the fact that we love. Grief gets stuck and like trauma, it is downloaded into our bodies, which stops the flow of our accurate present moment experiences, our access to Self-Energy and living freely.

We are wired to connect and co-regulate to survive. Connection in community is no longer a priority in many societies today. We may have lost the sense of belonging that our ancestors once had, through living in community, in tribes and villages.

This 3-day retreat offers a unique space of holding for expressing the unexpressed, being witnessed, enabling each in their own way to be seen, heard and felt together in community. This is often our missing experience.

We will be laying the ground for the expression and witnessing of grief in community, that which is deeply personal, yet universal.

Four passionate grief warriors who know from the inside the importance of being with grief and having walked this path with many, are offering an opportunity to honour our losses and live our fullest life. We will be stepping outside of our cultural burdens of individualism to come together with our sorrow.

We will be exploring grief as much broader than (and including) the loss of a loved one. We may also experience the grief of our expectations not being met for this life; grief held in our systems from our ancestors; grief of events in the world; grief about the harm we have caused others in our lives; the grief that our parts hold as our life changes as we and our families age; and the grief held by our parts as we heal and consider how different things could have been for them.

This retreat will be held within the frame of Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS), with heart opening sacred ritual and ceremony, incorporating sound healing, gongs, drums and voice and supported by yoga, Reiki, meditation and internal enquiry. We will be making use of the beautiful grounds at Penny Brohn (Bristol) to support our healing and connecting intentions.

Our retreat is suitable for anyone with some familiarity with IFS either through your own personal work or professional practice.

The space will be held by Lynn Palethorpe, Sally Burke, Zandra Bamford and Becky Cresswell.

Lynn is a gentle and containing Approved IFS Consultant, Certified IFS Therapist (L3) and Clinical and IFS Supervisor. Alongside her private practice, she’s a Program Assistant on IFS trainings, Lecturer in Counselling and Reiki Practitioner. Sally works collaboratively and compassionately as an Integrative Psychotherapist, Certified Sensorimotor Psychotherapist, IFS Certified Therapist, Approved Consultant with the IFS Institute and Reiki Practitioner. Zandra is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Approved IFS Consultant and Certified IFS Therapist with over 20 years experience working with complex trauma within a deeply compassionate and holistic approach. Becky, founder of GroundedPeace is a certified Sound Healing Practitioner and Teacher, Musician, Yoga Teacher and Reiki Healer.

* A retreat that offers a unique experience of expressing and witnessing our grief in community.

* All parts are truly welcome and celebrated

* Discovering through rituals and sound how unexpressed grief may have kept us stuck in repeating patterns.

* Befriending protectors through meditations and creative practices.

* Ritual and release focusing on six gates of grief.

* Exploring and expressing sorrow through sound, voice and movement.

* Reiki, Yoga, Breathwork and ceremony with highly experienced facilitator's.

* Choice in how you wish to respond and take part (all parts are welcome).

* Optional follow up group for further integration 12 weeks later.

* Nutritious, balanced food catering to all dietary requirements.

There are two booking options available: with or without dinner and bed and breakfast (Thurs and Fri nights). Lunch and refreshments are provided for all participants throughout the 3 days.

Please email threegatesretreats@gmail.com if you have any questions.

We look forward to welcoming you.

“There are many ways grief is felt. It is not just the sorrowful tender tears that come in those quiet moments. Grief is feral and it asks us to lay our soul bare, to strip back to the bones, to surrender control, she will not be negotiated or tamed. It can arrive as anger, fear, sadness, guilt, apathy, despair, numbness, powerlessness and hopelessness. And when we are witnessed and validated, acknowledged and held in loving empathic heart presence a level of healing occurs that is deeply and profoundly freeing……”

Stephen Jenkinson

Lynn PalethorpeSally BurkeZandra Bamford
Becky Cresswell

IFS and Grief Retreat 2025