Our retreats offer a free, intimate, immersive experience to connect families touched by childhood cancer and child loss.
At our in-person retreats for both survivor and bereaved families, we offer the opportunity to heal through joyful, mindful experiences, integrated therapies, and peer connections. Our retreats include support for children with cancer and their parents and siblings, as well as bereaved parents and siblings.
‘Positively Healing’ Family Retreats
are for families that have a child surviving cancer with no evidence of disease or stable tumors. We do not accept children during the frontline course of treatment as we do not have medical staff onsite. These retreats are always full of happiness, relaxation, and deep connections. Joyful is a word you would use to describe them.
‘Open to Healing’ Family Bereavement Retreats
are for families that have lost their child to cancer or similar chronic illness. We share our children’s stories, and give strategies for moving forward in grief, while at the same time being sensitive to the fact that everyone’s process and timeline is different. Empathy is a word you would use to describe these retreats.
‘Forever Healing’ Grief Retreats
are for bereaved parents only and take place over a weekend. These are helpful to those that lost an only child or whose surviving children are over 18. While we cannot always accept families back to our family retreats due to lack of space and funds, this is a good way for parents that met previously to come together again. Connection is a word you could use to describe these retreats.
‘Caring for the Caregiver’ Retreats
are for either parents of survivors or bereaved parents and take place over a weekend. On this weekend, dads and moms have the opportunity to work separately with a highly trained therapist experienced in innovative therapies of Internal Family Systems and Holotropic “Psychedelic” Breathwork. We also offer a special keto-friendly diet to show how food can be medicine. Deep Healing is a phrase you could use to describe these retreats.
‘Healing Nest’ Family Retreats
are new this year. We have one weekend for bereaved families and another weekend for families of survivors. These intimate mini-retreats with just three families take place over a weekend. Family bonding is a phrase you could use to describe these retreats.
What’s in a retreat?
Rett’s Roost provides multiple retreats a year, of varying lengths, both for families dealing with life after a child’s cancer treatment and bereaved families grieving the loss of a young child and sibling to cancer. These signature, in-person, multi-family retreats include therapeutic and healing services for parents and children in a beautiful, peaceful location (currently in Maine or Massachusetts). Each year, we host 20-25 families at 4-5 retreats from April through November. We keep our retreats small and intimate (3-8 families) so that our families feel seen, heard, and engaged.
At our retreats, families take time to honor their experience; share and listen to one another; learn practical self-care techniques to help mitigate the emotional burden families of childhood cancer all carry; and initiate valuable, long-lasting peer connections. Parents can participate in individual talk therapy sessions; relax through therapeutic massage and energy work; try out helpful strategies for anxiety and grief; and take time to rest and rejuvenate with nature walks and restorative yoga. The children are supported with joyful and therapeutic activities like mindful martial arts and kids yoga, STEM-based magic activities, animal interactions, nature-based learning, journaling, and art/music therapy.
We also provide takeaways for families including several art projects, a collaborative song, professional family photos, and a care package of thoughtful gifts. After our retreats, we conduct virtual monthly support groups— both for parents of survivors and those who are grieving.
The Chakrabarti-Ruget Family holding a picture of Sajni who died of DIPG in 2017
“We felt so close to our grief and our love so many times— whether kayaking in nature, listening to the stunning voice of the music therapists, the morning yoga and sunrise, and all the kids activities. We are so grateful and believe the weekend helped us come together, remember, share, and heal.”
– Prabal Chakrabarti, Bereaved dad to Sajni, Sept 2022 Open to Healing Retreat
2025 Retreats
Events
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Forever Healing Grief Retreat
Forever Healing Grief Retreat Connect with a community of bereaved parents.Share your child’s story and learn new healthy ways to grieve. This weekend retreat will offer both reflective release and hopeful perspective to parents that have lost a child to illness. Our vision at Rett’s Roost is to cultivate a community of families pursuing a ... Read more
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Positively Healing Family Retreat
Positively Healing Family Retreat Join us this summer to connect and heal with other families that have a child recovering from cancer. Sponsored by: Kids Activities offered by: We understand that when a child goes through cancer treatment, the burden befalls the entire family.Finding peace and joy in life again can be tricky after the ... Read more
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One Mission Open to Healing Family Retreat
Rolling Ridge Retreat Center 660 Great Pond Rd, North Andover, MA, United StatesOne Mission Open to Healing Family Retreat Experience a meaningful week with other families that understand your loss. Open yourself and your family up to healing grief in new ways. Sponsored by: At Rett’s Roost, we show people ways to experience moments of joy & gratitude amidst their grief. While we cannot hope to relieve ... Read more
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Healing Nest Retreat – Bereaved
Healing Nest Retreat – Bereaved Connect with other bereaved families and experience fall on the farm in Maine. In Collaboration with: Healing Nest Retreats bring together three families that have been impacted by childhood cancer and child loss, but do not incorporate the jam-packed schedule we offer at our larger family retreat in the summer. ... Read more
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Caring for the Caregiver Retreat
River Winds Estate 121 Louden Road, Saco, ME, United StatesCaring for the Caregiver Retreat A unique weekend of self-care for parents. Create space for yourself and find community amongst people who have been in your shoes. At this retreat, we will bring together parents of children with cancer and other chronic illnesses to recharge their spirits and dive into a few deep healing techniques. ... Read more
