Rest. Reflect. Reconnect. 

Working relationally with clients is rewarding, yet demanding. You hold space for trauma, attachment wounds, nervous systems in dysregulation, ruptures and repair. Even with good supervision, your own therapy and trusted peers, the work can feel lonely; sometimes a client's story echos a story you didn't know you were carrying.
 

This retreat is an invitation to step onto an island of safety for two days. A space co-created for professionals to settle, soften and re-centre, with horses as quiet companions to the process.

It is not training. It is not performance. It is a place to exhale.

Who this is for

This retreat is designed for those who hold space for others as part of their work. If your role involves sitting with another person's distress and helping them metabolise it, this retreat is built for you.
 

You do not need previous experience with horses, and you do not need to be IFS-trained. 

What we'll explore

Drawing on Internal Family Systems, embodied practice and the relational wisdom of horses, the two days move through four threads:

1. How client work activates our own parts and burdens, and what to do when it does.

2. How self-energy is restored, rather than performed.

3. How horses respond to what is underneath the surface, and what that reveals.

4. How a community can hold what supervision sometimes cannot.

What's included

Guided IFS-informed experiential sessions with the LEAP herd, reflective circles with peers who speak the same language, gentle body-based practices to restore regulation, quiet time, fire pit, and unhurried conversation. Refreshments both days and optional wellness add-ons on site.

Wellness add-ons available on the day: 

• Equipilates® (individual or group); reflexology for grounding and recovery; 

• Reiki with the herd. 

Bookable separately at the retreat; details circulated closer to the date.

What you'll leave with

- Renewed clarity about the work you do and why you began.

- A lighter internal load and tools to keep it that way.

- Deeper trust in your own internal system.

- A felt sense of belonging in a profession that can be isolating.

Your facilitators

Jo-Anne Karlsson is a Marriage and Family Therapist (US-trained), psychotherapist and equine facilitator, and director of LEAP Equine. She holds Internal Family Systems training to Level 2, is trained to Level 3 in Brainspotting and works systemically with complex trauma, dissociation, and compulsive and addictive behaviours in private practice. Over more than a decade of relational work with horses and clients, she rewrote both the Level 4 and Level 5 Crossfields Institute diplomas in equine-facilitated practice; the first Ofqual-regulated qualifications of their kind for qualified mental health professionals.

Philip King brings an integrative therapeutic approach to the retreat, drawing on his training in IFS, CBT, and EMDR and working in nature. He is accredited as both an individual and team coach by the International Coaching Federation and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, trained in Equine Facilitated Learning with LEAP Equine, and is currently completing his psychology master's conversion at Brunel University London. Before moving into therapeutic work, Philip practised as a barrister and taught law for over a decade at Birkbeck, University of London.

Please Note:
Attendees are responsible for their lunch and accommodation; a list of local options is circulated on booking. 
Places are limited, and preparation begins on booking; for this reason all bookings are non-refundable. By booking, you confirm your place and agree to our full terms and conditions.