HSP Gathering Retreats. Since 2001.
HSP Gathering Retreats.
Since 2001
I am Celebrating! 20 years since the HSP Gathering Retreats were founded and 25 years since Elaine Aron’s first book, The Highly Sensitive Person, How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You, was first published.
The HSP Gathering Retreats have evolved and grown organically over the years. It has been an honor to observe them move through three stages of growth: What? So What? and Now What? This was actually a process I thought original to me, only to find out it is a reflective model created in 2002 by Rolfe et.al.
This model asks us to pause to check, look at the bigger picture and ask ourselves three questions ~ that I have adapted to being an HSP: 1) What? What do I know about being and HSP? 2) So What? What does this mean to me? 3) Now What? Where do I go from here? What am I responsible for? Regardless of the year, these questions seem to invariably get answered collectively at an HSP Gathering Retreat.
The 37th HSP Gathering Retreat is being planned for 2022. Stay tuned!
What to Know About the HSP Gathering Retreats
The HSP Gathering Retreats, were co-founded in the U.S. in 2001 after honoring a series synchronistic events which led Jacquelyn to connect with research psychologist, Dr. Elaine Aron. Elaine and Jacquelyn Strickland, a Licensed Professional Counselor, in Ft. Collins, Colorado held the first HSP Gathering in May 2001 in Northern California for 37 HSP1!
Since that time there have been 36 (including the one in Sept 2019) HSP Gathering Retreats both nationally and internationally. There have been 4 in the United Kingdom, 3 in British Columbia, Canada, 3in Colorado USA, 2 in North Carolina USA,1in Texas, an dall others on the East and West Coasts of the U.S.
It is interesting to note: This HSP Gathering Retreats are not a conference, a workshop, a seminar or a lecture. Yet, they can contain a combination of any of these, and most accurately, these retreats are loosely structured, non-hierarchal, and experiential in nature. Each one is different from the last based on the energies, temperaments and personalities shared by the participants. Jacquelyn is a seasoned facilitator honoring each individual’s experience while encouraging a safe, open environment to share one’s joys and challenges over the course of 5 days. One participant shared: “It was the most comfortable, exciting, safe and beautiful experience for me to feel anxious in …while simultaneously coming out of my own isolated, comfort zone.”
The purpose of the HSP Gathering Retreats has evolved over time.
An excerpt from The Artist’s Way (which I affectionately call the ‘HSP Way”) says it:
“HSPs like other HSPs. HSPs help each other. As HSPs, we must find those who believe in usand in whom we believe, and band together forsupport, encouragement, and protection.”
The HSP Gathering Retreats also serve to:
- To raise the self-esteem of HSPs by providing a safe atmosphere in which to be seen, heard, and validated
- To value the trait of high sensitivity and its contribution to the world
- To foster the exchange of wisdom based on the science Sensory Processing Sensitivity as well as the sharing of personal experiences
- To educate, motivate, and inspire HSPs to create authentic lives that work for them so that they embrace their unique gifts and manifest those gifts in the world
- To help develop supportive communities for HSPs locally, nationally and internationally
Gifts You Can Expect from attending
a HSP Gathering if you are open to them
Here are some of the gifts you might receive from attending an HSP Gathering Retreat:
- To raise the self-esteem of HSPs by providing a safe atmosphere in which to be seen, heard, and validated
- To value the trait of high sensitivity and its contribution to the world
- To educate, motivate, and inspire HSPs to create authentic lives that work for themso that they embrace their unique gifts and manifest those gifts in the world
- To foster the exchange of wisdom based on personal experiences
- To help develop supportive communities for HSPs locally, nationally and internationally
