2024 Educator Mindfulness Retreat
June 12-14, 2023 | Black Mountain, NC
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What's Included
Accommodations
Each participant will have accommodations in a cabin checking in on June 12 and checking out on June 14.
Trainings, activities, and book
At the beginning of the retreat, you will be provided a menu of trainings and activities. You will be free to select which of these work for you. All participants will select a book related to the content covered in the retreat.
Meals, snacks, and refreshments
Each cabin is equipped with a full kitchen. You are free to bring your own food, but we will provide the following meals:
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Day One: Dinner
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Day Two: Light Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
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Day Three: Light Breakfast
Coffee, tea, and snacks will also be provided.
Description
Educators need opportunities for renewal. They need intentional time set aside to restore their spirits, refill their own buckets, and recommit to self-care. Our educator renewal retreat offers a special kind of experience for teachers that focuses on nourishing their inner lives in an environment of autonomy, relevance, and compassion. The secular, science-based, and trauma-sensitive retreat is designed BY educators FOR educators.
This year's retreat will be held at Quietude, a micro-retreat center in Black Mountain, NC. During the retreat, participants will explore trauma-sensitive mindfulness practices, gentle, restorative yoga, and self-care practices. Together, we will cultivate community of care and create an atmosphere that facilitates personal renewal and reconnection. Our retreats are intended for public school educators, administrators, school counselors, school psychologists, education majors, and college professors who prepare teachers.
Accommodations
Quietude is a micro-retreat center dedicated to the cultivation of mindfulness and the inner life. It provides a container for awareness, introspection, and personal development. Quietude is rooted in the understanding that we all benefit from periodically taking time out from our day-to-day routines and responsibilities.
Appointed in simplicity and situated twenty minutes from Asheville N.C., Quietude is surrounded by the magic and grandeur of the Blue Ridge mountains. There is walkable access to 14 different hiking trails in the nearby town of Montreat. The property is also 1 mile from and easily walkable to the town of Black Mountain, which was voted TripAdvisor’s “Prettiest Small Town in America” in 2019.
There are eight cabins surrounding the main lodge. Every cabin has a modernized kitchen and bathroom, each with both a clawfoot bathtub and shower. There are four one-bedroom and four two-bedroom cabins ranging from 550 to 800 square feet. Each cabin is unique. All are comfortably furnished with queen beds, and fully equipped kitchens.
The laughing, bubbling water of Flat Creek runs along the rear of the property. Flat Creek has its source on nearby Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi. The creek’s personality changes in accordance with the season, contributing to the property’s quiet ambiance. The grounds include a gazebo, a pavilion, picnic tables, and foot paths. A small vegetable garden and a crystal garden further add to the peaceful atmosphere.
Retreat Expectations
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CHOICE - You may opt out of any activity
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There will be a maximum of sixteen retreat participants
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Limited use of personal cell phones/technology in order to foster mindful awareness
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Secular teaching and practices to honor people of all faith backgrounds
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Content geared towards public school educators and professionals working with youth
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A collegial, casual atmosphere - Wear comfortable clothes, no prior experience necessary
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This is a retreat, not professional development or a workshop
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As much as we love animals, no pets are allowed at the retreat center
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If you are currently struggling with significant physical and/or mental health issues, this retreat would not be appropriate for you.
Retreat Facilitators
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Superpowers:
🛠️ Opportunities manifester
🪄 Facilitation maestro
🥰 Love generator
🌍 Peace ambassador
To create a deep sense of connection and belonging, we need to acknowledge our interdependence and cultivate communities of care. That’s why Jelena has dedicated her career to mindfulness group facilitation and leadership, peace education and is
committed to justice and service. Jelena Popovic is a veteran school psychologist who is experienced in creating communities of care for educators and supporting them in cultivating their mindfulness practice and teaching.
With Todd Scholl she co-created and co-facilitated the inaugural South Carolina Mindfulness for Educators Retreat at Newberry College in June 2016. Since then, Jelena has guided numerous in-person and virtual retreats for educators including Greenville County School District, Buncombe County Schools, Mindful Schools, Copper Beech Institute and international At Home In the World family retreats.
She currently serves as a WholeSchool Mindfulness Director at an early childhood education center in Greenville, South Carolina, is on the advisory board for the Peace of Mind, works as a Program Facilitator for Mindful Schools, is an Awakening Joy for Educators teacher, and serves as Practicing Peace in Schools Leadership Council lead for the Peace Alliance. She is also a co-founder of Design to Connect, LLC, an educational consulting organization, that assists schools in their efforts in skillful, integrated, and sustainable communities of care practices and wholeschool mindfulness implementation.
Superpowers:
💡 Idea Generator
🎤 Communication Wizard
👁️ Vision to Reality Actualizer
🤓 Star Wars Nerd
Todd Scholl is the Lead Learner at The SCEA's Center for Educator Wellness & Learning. He is the former Coordinator of Communications & Program Development at South Carolina's Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention & Advancement
(CERRA). He also spent over fifteen years in the classroom in Horry County. Todd is the founder of Teachers Aligned, a non-profit organization designed to empower educators with tools and information related to mindfulness, trauma-informed practices, restorative practices, social-emotional learning, yoga, self-care, neuroscience, psychology, and teacher wellness. Todd stumbled upon mindfulness practice while searching for solutions to manage his stress as an educator. For over a decade, Todd has facilitated hundreds of sessions on mindfulness and other SEL practices for educators.