Retreat & Workshop Facilitation

Is your group looking for a unique and refreshing take on spirituality? Choose from one of the following topics, and let's talk and make it work for your group! Any of these experiences can be condensed into a 3-4 hour workshop or into an extended weekend retreat. I can host workshops for groups of 10 people or less in my space in south Minneapolis. If the group is more than 10 people, we will find an alternative meeting place. 

Testimonials

"Chelsea is a powerful facilitator, and a wise, compassionate presence. I loved watching her versatility in action all weekend. The ways she is so expressed and trusting as a facilitator and participant gave everyone permission to be playful, active, artistic, vulnerable and authentic. I am trying to remember the last time I was at a retreat where ONE person offered so many DIVERSE and EFFECTIVE forms of leadership in action. It is so healing to watch her be BOTH sincerely vulnerable/honest and confident/in her power."
~Lynn O.
                                                                                                                                             
"Chelsea Forbrook brings a joyous, purposeful presence to facilitation. Her organization, preparedness and intentionality allow for trust and make meaningful interactions easy. She really cares about people and her enthusiasm and is contagious."
~Benjamin L.
                                                                                                                                             
"Chelsea is a fierce and loving spirit. In the midst of a retreat that Chelsea co-hosted, she lead a movement/dance exercise that I was both nervous and excited for. Throughout that exercise and the whole weekend Chelsea created a safe, energized, and well structured environment that inspired me to show up as my authentic self, even if I felt raw or insecure. The result of the experience was a deepened connection with the whole group and more importantly a deeper connection and understanding of myself."
~Josh A.
                                                                                                                                                

​Healing Images of God

In this retreat we will explore our images of God given to us from family, media, and religion. Our “image of God” has more to do with how we feel and relate to God, much more than our intellectual concept of God. We will unpack the way these ingrained images might be interfering with a trusting relationship with a God of Love. God wants to love us without restraint, and to have us surrender our lives to this Love. But we often cannot accept this gift because our understanding of God has been distorted. (e.g. Many of us feel that God is wrathful, jealous, keeping a list of who is “naughty” and “nice,” even though our intellectual concept of God is loving and forgiving). In this retreat, we will use group discussion, contemplative and imaginative prayer, journaling, and art to find a new and healthy image of God that opens the way to deeper healing.
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Contemplative or Alternative Prayer Retreats

Is your prayer life stagnant and lifeless? Is the way you used to pray just not working anymore? Then hear the good news! This is actually quite normal at several points along the spiritual journey, and signals a call from God to go deeper into your next stage of faith and relationship. Learn and practice different forms of prayer and meditation in an all-silent or semi-silent guided retreat. These prayer forms include Centering Prayer, Daily Examen, LovingKindness meditation, walking the labyrinth, body movement prayer, singing/chanting, visual art prayers, journaling, and more. Prayers will be facilitated for ease of experience. Let’s shake things up, try something new, and have some fun!

​Self Care for the Family and Friends of Alcoholics/Addicts

Loving someone who is an addict can be one of the most difficult things faced in one’s lifetime, whether that person is your significant other, best friend, parent, sibling, or child. If you have been affected by the family disease of alcoholism or addiction, the good news is, things can get better! You can still live a happy and meaningful life, whether the alcoholic is drinking or not. It is not selfish to take care of yourself. In fact, you are the only one who can, and you deserve to be cared for! When you are acting from a more calm and centered place, all those around you will benefit as well.
In this retreat experience, you will learn about addiction as a disease and how it affects the family, as well as many tools of self care that will help reduce stress and anxiety. This includes an introduction to the concepts and tools of the 12 steps, practicing simple prayer and meditation, group discussion, and gentle exercise. 

​Discovering the Holy Spirit Mother

The early Christian church beliefs and early writings are all clear: The Holy Spirit was understood to be female, balancing the Trinity (Father, Son, and Mother). This understanding was lost for many reasons: language translation, persecution from Constantine’s Church of Empire, and continued church censorship throughout the centuries. But the Mother cannot and will not be silenced. She wants to be known in all her beauty, compassion, power, creativity, and life! Join me for a powerful retreat based around Ally Kateusz’s short, moving, and powerful book “Finding Holy Spirit Mother.” We will have teachings and discussions around short readings, time for rejoicing and lament, worship services which include singing traditional church hymns with all the God-language changed to be female, processing and prayer through art, dance, writing, and time spent with nature. This retreat experience will conclude with a “releasing ritual” around a campfire (letting go of negative thoughts, beliefs, and patterns of behavior.) This retreat will be useful and healing for people of all genders. It can also be powerful for groups of people who identify as women.
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​Enneagram Education

The Enneagram is a psychological- spiritual personality typing tool which serves as a map for transformation and growth. Unlike other personality typing systems, the wisdom of the Enneagram does not put you in a box with a label and leave you there. Instead, it shows you the particular box you've been trapped in (aka. your personality) so that you can get out and discover the freedom of your True Self. The Enneagram is dynamic, and points to each type's unique skills and virtues as well as each type's shadow side and habits that continuously get them into trouble. It is a fast-track to self awareness, self compassion, and transformation. I have found no other tool that can so elegantly helps people see their patterns and get "un-stuck." Not only is it a tool for greater mental, spiritual, and emotional health, it also leads to greater compassion for others and shines a light on the root of difficulties in our relationships.
The quickest way to learn about the Enneagram is through an interactive introductory workshop. In our time together, your group will learn the basics of the Enneagram system and get an understanding of what motivates each of the nine types. When you understand all the types (not just your own), you then have the capability to choose new and healthy ways of Being by learning to draw upon the other types for support and insight. You will leave this experience with deeper understanding and compassion for self and others. This would be a wonderful team building experience for a group of friends, students, or a staff team. And, it's FUN!
Follow-up workshops are available on how to use the Enneagram as a tool for individual, couple, and group transformation. These trainings are custom-designed for groups of all sizes.

Unpacking Spirituality and Sexuality

The words “sex” and “sexuality” are not often, if ever, heard within the walls of the church. It is often what is not said by church leaders and parents that form our ideas around sexuality. And it is almost impossible to not feel confused and ashamed about sexuality in this modern culture which is simultaneously hyper-sexualized in the media and “hush-hush” about sex in religion, schools, and family life! Much of my own spiritual journey has been related to learning to accept my whole self, all of who God created me to be. This includes my sexual and sensual self. This includes my body! Wow!
Psalm 139:13-14 says,
“For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made!
Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well!”
In this workshop, we will explore our early messages about bodies and sexuality through storytelling in small groups, journaling, and art. We will identify sources of shame and confusion, and begin to “re-wire” our reaction to and beliefs about our bodies, pleasure, and our sexuality. When we accept these things as the gifts they were meant to be, we open ourselves up to a fuller joy, a fuller life.
Note: The vast majority of us are sexual human beings, whether we are sexually active or not. It is part of the core of our identity. This workshop will NOT require a certain stance on abstinence or sex before marriage. Everyone is free to explore their own values here, related to their own life experience. Due to the sensitive and vulnerable nature of this topic, we will carefully create ground rules around respect, communication, and self care throughout this experience. It will be my joy to make this a safe and liberating experience for people of all genders and sexual orientations. I would be happy to host this workshop and tailor it for a mixed gender group, a group of all women, a group of teenagers, or a LGBTQ group.