There's a huge amount more I could reflect on about the group.  I'll keep it here, though, to just a final set of thoughts about the overlapping field of group therapy.  These peer groups are about all kinds of things - friendship, wellbeing, ‘retreat', fun - and they are also about work on ourselves that is in significant ways ‘therapeutic'.  Group therapy is effective.  The "Group...

Why are these groups often so great, so welcome, so precious?  Real life is very rich - theories only capture aspects of this richness.  However a theory, that I like a lot, highlights one reason why these peer groups are so important.  The theory is Self-Determination Theory (SDT).  It has evolved for over three decades.  The SDT website (see below) is a treasure trove of information about...

I wake feeling sadder this morning - partly because it's the last morning, partly because there are still feelings from yesterday hanging around. It's so interesting to notice the hugely different emotional spaces I move through over the intense four days of this kind of group meeting. Again a blessing and a learning over the years - to honour and work with what comes up, but not to be too...