A Collaboration with Max Love Project

Rett’s Roost Heartquarters in Ogunquit, ME

A unique day of self-care for parents of children with cancer. Create space for yourself and find community amongst people who truly understand. 

At this retreat, we will bring together dads for Saturday and moms for Sunday to recharge their spirits and dive into a few deep healing techniques. Psychosocial support, that given to help meet the mental, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of patients and their families is shown to be one of the most effective strategies for processing the trauma of raising a child with cancer or other similarly treated illness. Coming together, we will foster a community of parents who are medical caregivers and individually work through emotions in ways other than traditional talk therapy.

9 am: Arrival and Light Snack

Plan to arrive at 9 am to allow at least 45 minutes of getting to know each other before the real work begins. We’ll set intentions for the day and get ourselves ready to receive a day of group support and personal healing.

10 am – 12 pm: Internal Family Systems for Emotional Health

Internal Family Systems is an evidence-based, paradigm-shifting psychotherapeutic approach that today is practiced by thousands of therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists around the world. IFS sees our minds as a system of various parts, or sub-personalities, each with its own unique perspective, emotions, and role to play in our lives. The goal of IFS is to foster harmony and healing within this internal system by establishing a compassionate and curious relationship with each part. By understanding and engaging with our internal parts, we can improve our mental, emotional, and spiritual health in profound ways.

1 – 3 pm: Psychedelic Breathwork

Psychedelic breathwork is a unique practice based in holotropic-style breathing. It opens up the body, heart, and mind to help us witness what we’ve been holding on to, compassionately release what is not ours to hold, and open us to our deeper wisdom and clarity inside. Justin will help you do this by first guiding you through meditation practices inspired by an Internal Family Systems framework. He’ll then lead you into the psychedelic breathwork, followed by an integrative journaling and processing session to close the experience. Psychedelic breathwork sessions are safe but powerful experiences for individuals who are ready for breakthroughs of greater clarity, self-compassion, and self-expression. 

3-5 pm: Stand-up Paddle Session on the Ogunquit River

At the end of the day, we’ll meet up with Sarah from Yoga on York for a stand up paddle (SUP) board session that may include a few yoga poses. A child’s diagnosis certainly throws you off balance. Both SUP boarding and yoga are the perfect way to bring balance into your body and have that translate into life. Experiencing natural beauty, while out on the Ogunquit River, is an amazing way to seal in the earlier work that you do with Justin. This is truly going to be a powerful experience.

About our Facilitator

We are so excited to have Justin Wilford join us in Maine for this retreat. Justin is the father of Max, a 14-year survivor of Glioblastoma, and Maesie. He holds doctorates in public health (UC Irvine) and cultural geography (UCLA). He co-founded the childhood cancer nonprofit MaxLove Project with his wife Audra. He is also a cofounder of an emotional health platform called Yes Collective that focuses on Internal Family Systems-based therapeutic programming. He is a health program designer, Internal Family Systems practitioner, psychedelic medicine guide, and conscious dance DJ.