WP 6 | Retreat and Rethink Your Practice
Where have you felt the most inspired by God?
I would love to know what it's like for y'all when you recharge, renew, and get your best energy on your best thoughts.
When have you felt the closest to God?
When have you experienced the clearest direction in your life?
What are the times you look back on and see a moment that changed your business and your life?
Think for a moment, where were you? What was the setup? When have you felt the most inspired by God? What were you doing that brought those ideas for change? Where were you?
When I think back on times in my own business, or even times in my life, honestly, where life has changed, it's been when I retreat from the everyday.
What does it mean to retreat?
Retreat is a military term.
It was when people pulled back from fighting. They needed supplies. Maybe they needed to create a different plan for fighting. They would literally pull back from the battle. That is the word retreat. I really love bringing this concept of military retreat because in our lives, in our business, doesn't it sometimes just seem like everything's coming at us at once? We need to create a new game plan.
Signs you might need a retreat
When I feel really overwhelmed with all the things in my business, that's when I need a retreat. All of a sudden you start to feel anxious. You start to struggle maybe with your sleep, you're not eating as well, you're not spending time with friends. Those are my little clues. In fact, for me it's about anxiety. So when I start to become a little like obsessive about things, I let things ruminate in my mind, or I do simple like little compulsive things, that’s a red flag.
Something is making you anxious, but it’s usually not really about those things. There's something deeper going. This is how I know that I need to do something different in my practice.
A lot of times I see this with people who have a group practice as they grow different phases, require different things. So oftentimes we see that when someone gets to four or five clinicians, that's when they're like, oh, I got to make some changes. And they get to 10, and they realize the stuff they were doing for five, is it working for 10? And then you're overwhelmed with the paperwork and the billing, and so you've got to make some changes in your business. When you find yourself in these places, it's a time for you to make some changes.
What does a retreat do for you?
When I think back on my moments of retreating, that was when I gained clarity and direction in my life and my practice. First, there is rest. For me, when I am at home, I am doing all the things right and you may or may not know this about me, but I have two children and one is a special needs child and I'll love her to death. She's the sweetest little thing, but it's a lot like she has all these appointments she has to get to helping her at home. She can't communicate very well, and so figuring out what it is that she's trying to communicate. And then I have a nine-year-old who thinks that she's a 13-year-old. Along with my children there are plenty of other responsibilities at home such as all the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, and all the mommy coordinating my mind does all at once.
When I get away, it's about rest, like physical rest, but it's also about mental rest for me. I can let go of the responsibilities that are around me, which really frees up my mental space for a lot more. Getting away is a place of rest in renewal, getting away.
Another benefit is it clears our mind. It clears the clutter of all the responsibilities that we have been thinking about. It gives us space so we don't have to think about all our demands for a few minutes. A retreat allows us to focus on something else. We get clarity of mind where it's not so jumbled, not so many things going on. It gives you permission to be able to step away and that it's healthy to step away from your responsibilities.
The next one I want to point out as a benefit is the ability to listen. So, when I rest and clear my mind, I can hear the Holy Spirit in a clearer way. When I am busy, I don't really hear very much. I heard a podcast the other day where someone said their job as a minister was to help people pay attention to God. Our lives are so full of things. Our practices are so full of tasks that we don't slow down and think about what God might be doing, or at least I don't. It's hard to do that, and it has to be intentional. When you get away, it is a time to listen to the Holy Spirit in your life, and I truly believe that the desires of God are the desires in our hearts. Many times, when we are following him and longing for God's best in our lives, a lot of times our desires and his desires align. When we retreat and we clear our minds, that is when we get greater discernment on what we actually want in our lives. I think sometimes I'm so busy chasing so many things that sometimes I don't even realize they're not even the things I really want in my life. When I slow down, I'm like, “Aaahhh,” this is what I really want.
Retreat and Rethink Information
Announcing the Retreat and Rethink your Practice Retreat.
Who is this retreat for?
Those burned out by their business
Those looking for direction
Those wanting community and support
Those wanting to get away
Details
April 19-23 Wednesday through Sunday
The spots are limited. This will create a more intimate experience.
The retreat is led by Aaron and Whitney who will lead participants with:
1:1 consultation
Group consulting
Enneagram work
Discernment for next steps
Though private practice business retreat are wonderful, deep within me I am longing to make God a part of the process.
How to apply?
Visit this page for more information and the application form
Complete the application
$300 off the month of December
Connect with Whitney
Links From this Episode
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Retreat and Rethink Your Practice | WP 6
Whitney Owens:
Hello friends, and welcome back to The Wise Practice Podcast. This is Whitney Owens and you're listening to episode six Retreat and rethink Your Practice. Before we get going, just wanna remind you if you have a moment, stop the podcast now go and rate and review the show if you haven't done so already.
This helps me get the word out to other faith-based practice. Y'all people need to hear the podcast and so please share it with your friends. Please write and review the show. It would be a gift to me if you would do so. I go personally on there and read the reviews, so I really appreciate all the help.
So I actually get my best inspiration when I'm running. And this morning on my run, boy, I started thinking about this idea of retreating and rethinking your. And then I was like frantically writing notes as soon as I was done with my run. So I'm actually curious for my listeners, like, how are you inspired?
Um, I do wanna hear things from you, so you can always email me@whitneywhitneyowens.com and just let me know like your thoughts about the podcast and questions I throw out there. But I would love to know what it's like for y'all when you recharge, renew, and get your best energy on your best thoughts, cuz that's really what this podcast episode is about.
I'm just wondering, as you sit here or you're running, or maybe you're in the car and you're listening to this podcast, I want to ask you a few questions here before we dive into it. When have you felt the most inspired by God? Like, where were you? What was the setup? Maybe there's multiple times in your life that you're looking back and you're like, wow, that was really great when that happened.
Like when in your practice did you make big changes and what were you doing that brought those ideas for change? Where were you? What was the setup?
When I think back on times in my own business, or even times in my life, honestly, where life has changed, it's been really moments most of the. When I retreat from the everyday life, so I wanna talk for a minute about this word retreat. I'm just gonna be honest with you. I am not one for words. In fact, this is always something funny in my household cause my husband loves words and I use words wrong all the time.
And I often don't think about the origin of the word. And I'll just make joke of myself here. Netflix, like, I think it took me five years before I realized, oh, it's called Netflix because it's flex over the internet. Haha. You know, I don't really think about that kinda stuff. I just say the words. So when I was thinking about this word retreat, I was like, okay, I'm gonna do my thing and I'm gonna go online and actually learn what this word means to retreat from something was used in the military.
It was when we pulled, when people pulled back from fighting because for whatever reason, low on supplies, low on people to fight. Maybe they needed to create a different plan for fighting. So they would literally pull back from what they were. That is the word retreat. Now, today, when we talk about that word retreat, you know, we're, we're actually more talking about kinda getting away, resting, renewing ourselves so that we can move forward in our business.
I feel like this is often what's kind of going on, and I'm seeing it more, especially as we get out of covid, is more business retreats happening, more conferences, and that is awesome. I love it. And so it's an idea of stopping what we're doing. Calming down, slowing down, rethinking. But I really love bringing this concept of military retreat because in our lives, in our business, doesn't it sometimes just seem like everything's coming at us at once and.
We need to create a new game plan. Like usually when I feel really overwhelmed with all the things in my business, that's when I know things aren't going right. And you could have something that's going right for a really long time and then all of a sudden it's not, and you start to feel anxious. You start to struggle maybe with your sleep, you're not eating as well, you're not spending time with friends.
I know this stuff cuz I've been there. Those are my little clues. In fact, for me it's about anxiety. So when I start to become a little like obsessive about things, I let things ruminate in my mind, or I do simple like little compulsive things, like I gotta arrange the pillows a certain way on the sofa.
Or I start agonizing over a conversation I had. That's when I'm like, red flag, red flag. Like something is making you anxious, right? And so usually it's not really about those things. There's something deeper going. And so this is how I know that I need to do something different in my practice. So you might right now be feeling similar to me.
A lot of times I see this with people who have a group practice as they grow different phases, require different things. So oftentimes we see that when someone gets to four or five clinicians, that's when they're like, oh, I gotta make some changes. And they get to 10, 12 and and they realize the stuff they were doing for five, is it working for 10?
And then so on as you grow. And then even like solo practice owners, you might be doing something, you know, you're taking insurance in your practice maybe, and then you're overwhelmed with the paperwork and the billing, and so you've gotta make some changes in your business. So when you find yourself in these places, it's a time for you to make some changes.
Right. And I have personally found that when I retreat from my business and from my life, that is when God shows. Okay, we are making space for God in our lives. In fact, it's a little bit what I love about this idea, it's a little bit of the opposite of what the world would tell us, right? So, so the world is saying hustle more, work harder, cuz that's when you're gonna get a lot of stuff done.
But it's, I think in the spiritual, like when we choose to not give into that hustle culture. It's an active way that we trust God. And when we step back and slow down, that is actually when we get more innovation, more ideas, and we can actually move faster in the long run. Right. Silly little analogy, but it makes big of the tortoise in the hair, you know?
And the, the hair is running, running, running. And so cocky and, and feels like he's gonna win, and then the tortoise is slow and steady and makes his way to the finish line. I think that's a really great thing for us to think about in our business, that it doesn't have to always be so fast paced, but we put that pressure on ourselves, or at least I know I do to do that, and it really doesn't have to be that way.
So when I think back on my moments of retreating, that was when I gained clarity and direction in my life and my practice. So let's talk about some of the benefits of retreating. Okay. First of all, the idea of rest. For me, when I am at home, I am doing all the things right and, and you may or may not know this about me, but I have two children and one is a special needs child and I'll love her to death.
She's the sweetest little thing, but it's a lot, a lot like she has all these appointments she has to get to helping her at home. She can't communicate very well, and so figuring out what it is that she's trying to communicate. And then I have a nine year old who thinks that she's a 13 year old, right? So not only helping with the children, working on my marriage and taking care of the house, all the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, all the things, honestly, all the mommy coordinating my mind can be occupied with so many different things at once.
And so when I get away, it's about rest, like physical rest, but it's also really about mental rest for me because I can let go of the responsibilities that are around me, which really frees up my mental space for a lot more. So getting away is a place of rest in renewal, getting away. Another benefit is it clears our.
Right. So all the responsibilities that we have been thinking about, we don't have to think about for a few minutes, right? Or maybe a few days, fortunately. And that allows us to focus on something else. So that clarity of mind where it's not so jumbled, not so many things going on, and it kinda gives you.
What kind of permission is the word I'm looking for here? It gives you permission to be able to step away and that it's actually healthy to step away from your responsibilities. The next one I wanna point out as a benefit is the ability to listen. So when I rest and clear my mind, I can hear the Holy Spirit in a more clear way.
In my. When I am busy, I don't really hear very much. I heard a podcast the other day where someone said their job as a minister was to help people pay attention to God. Our lives are so full of things. Our practices are so full of tasks that we don't slow down and think about what God might be doing, or at least I don't.
It's, it's hard to do that, and it has to be intentional, and so when you get away, It is a time to listen to the Holy Spirit in your life, and I truly believe that the desires of God are the desires in our hearts. Many times when we are following him and longing for God's best in our lives, a lot of times our desires and his desires align, which is fantastic.
I heard a story once where it's a medical thing actually, where if you put two hearts on a table beside each other, Over time, their beats will become the same. So they might be off beat at first, but beside each other, they become the. And I think it's a great analogy for our lives and the Holy Spirit and how when we follow God, our heart becomes the same as his heartbeat.
The more that we spend time with him. So when we retreat and we clear our minds, that is when we get greater discernment on what we actually want in our lives. I think sometimes I'm so busy chasing so many things that sometimes I don't even realize they're not even the things I really want in my. And then when I slow down, I'm like, ah, this is what I really want.
This is what I'm excited about. So I wanna share with you a few moments in my life where I retreated and found direction in calling. So the first one that I'm thinking about was in 2005. This was a little bit, a few years after I graduated college. And I was uncertain what to do with my life. I thought I was gonna go into ministry.
I'd visited several seminaries, thought I'd be a youth pastor actually, which ironically my husband is now. Um, and I wasn't really sure what I was gonna do. And I went on a retreat. It was a weekend away and. I don't even remember who the speaker was, but God really used those words to speak to my heart.
And through some amazing experiences, I walked away with some very clear direction in my life. And those
were
Whitney Owens: that I wanted to marry a pastor, which I had never thought I wanted that before. And then on this retreat, I decided I wanted to, which ironically, I started dating my husband about a month or two.
I knew that I wanted to be a mother of many. I thought of Sarah Abraham's wife, who was a mother of many, and I just felt inspired that, that God wanted to use me to really pour into the lives of others. And then the last thing, which was amazing was. I realized I wanted to be a therapist. I had been considering it, wasn't really sure about it.
I had a mentor at the time who was a counselor, and she was also a Christian, and she had really made a big difference in my own life. And as a child, I had wanted counseling and never had counseling. And so I wanted the opportunity to be a therapist. And so I walked away from this retreat with three very direct, um, callings really for me.
Now, who's to say if I wouldn't have gotten those without that? But I did, and I remember feeling so much support and love from the people around me and, and that has been really important for me over my journey as I discern God's calling, that it's not just about me thinking I know what it is, but excuse me, talking to other people and hearing from them about what they see in my life and how they feel God calling me in different directions.
So another time. I look back and it was a real turning moment is about my business. I'm gonna share some of those here cause I think that's kind of where we're at right now. I went on a retreat years ago, and at the time I had just started my group practice. I had hired two clinicians. They, one of 'em had been with me for three months and the other for a month, and I, again, overwhelmed.
I was taking all the calls, scheduling for three therapists. I always had a to-do list running. My systems were so disorganized. I wasn't tracking calls. I wasn't really keeping up with anything. I was living in crisis mode at my practice, honestly. Like get 'em in, get 'em treated. I didn't really know what was going on as a business owner.
And so when I went on a retreat, that was when. I realized I needed an assistant and then hired one very soon after that, and that has been game changer for my business, but also me personally, that extra support, those extra set of eyes and helping me see my own flaws and helping me see things that need to come for the business.
But it was also at that time that I created systems for tracking calls, which is the same system I still use and teach therapists today. And so it really changed my direction as far as me growing as a boss and a business owner and being able to implement systems in my practice. And then it was just a few years ago, I had been doing a little bit of a Jonah and running away from the calling that I felt like I was putting on me to be a consultant for faith-based practice owners because there was no one at the time that was specifically doing that work.
And I knew when I went on this retreat that I went on, I remember saying, oh wait, if I go on
that,
Whitney Owens: I just know God's gonna confirm this calling to be a faith-based consultant. And I was scared. I was worried about extra workload. I didn't know how I was gonna handle it with everything going on in my life.
But the truth is, and you know this is that God, Gives us the ability to handle the things that he wants us to be able to handle, right? And so I went on that retreat and felt very strongly that God was calling me to be a faith-based consultant. And I was one right after that. So that was when this all started.
And so as I share these stories with you, you can probably think of stories in your own life where you felt that direction, right where you were treated. And when we retreat, We rethink, right? All these stories I'm sharing with you, my mind was clear. I figured out what I wanted. I had discernment and I changed directions, right?
Or I implemented something new that was game changer. And so when I retreat from things, I rethink things and life is better, right? God does big things when we get away and we pay attention to him when we retreat. It's a gift from God to us. It's an opportunity for us to get support guidance. And bounce ideas off of others.
I particularly enjoy retreating with other people. Now, some people might not like that. I'm an extrovert. I need to process verbally things, and so as I'm having my experience and finding God, I wanna be able to talk to people about what the Lord is sharing with me, hear what God's doing in their lives and support each other along the.
It was actually on a retreat where I made one of my best friends, and to this day I still call her when I have problems in my business. I still depend on her for prayer. Our families got together recently and we had a fantastic time. We got to meet each other's children, even though she lives on the other side of the country.
So it was through a retreat that I actually made one of my closest friends, and you can't beat that. When you get people together that have a similar mindset, a similar passion, amazing things happen and amazing relationships occur. So I was on a retreat a few months ago and while I was there I was thinking, yeah, this business retreat is really good.
Like I'm definitely. Learning from other people and making some changes in my business. But what if God was a part of this? And it wasn't that God wasn't necessarily a part of it, but it wasn't something that we talked about. And I thought, what if we got faith-based practice owners together and talked about not only our business, but invited God to be a part of it.
So some examples of what that could look like would be going on a hike. And inviting God to hike with us and to talk with us on the hike, right? It would be praying for one another. It would be talking to one another about how can we listen to God? What is it like to listen to God? How does he speak to us?
Right? That would be so amazing. And then I thought, what am I doing? Well, why am I not doing that? That is a really cool idea. So, you know, God gave me another idea while I was away on a retreat to do retreats for faith-based practice. Now this is different than a conference because a conference is more large scale in speakers and you know, speaking to you and that kind of a thing.
This retreat and retreating in general is a time for more intimate group, one on one relationships to be able to not only help our lives but our practice. So I want to personally invite. To the first retreat that I will be doing with another amazing faith-based therapist and consultant that we are gonna be leading a retreat called Retreat and Rethink your private practice.
So let me first talk about who this retreat is for before I jump into the details. This retreat is for people who are feeling burned out and overwhelmed in their. People who need direction and they're not certain about their next steps. Or maybe you have an idea that you want to invest in. Maybe it's a podcast or you wanna do your own retreats, or maybe you wanna consult, or maybe you have a course you wanna create and you're just not really sure how to technically do that.
How to fit the time into your schedule, right? And you need some direction. And the other group this is for is simply just people to rest, right? That on this retreat we not only are physically gonna provide some space for rest and mental rest, but we are gonna teach you tools and ideas for creating rhythms of rest in your own life, right?
So we're gonna do rest. And we're gonna teach rest. Because when you go back to your practice, what we don't want is for you to get overwhelmed again, right? And we want you to be able to find kind of these rhythms in your own lives that you can prevent burnout in the future. So let me tell you the exciting details.
So I will be leading this retreat. I'm a co-leader with Aaron Pores, who's also a business consultant and helps private practices. He is on the Shrink Think podcast. If you've heard that podcast before. If you haven't, go check it out. Um, and he is fantastic. So we're gonna be doing this together. It's gonna be April 19th through the 23rd of 2023, so that's a Wednesday through a Sunday.
Now I love about retreats is flexibility. So we will start on Wednesday the 19th and the afternoon evening, more evening time, and we're actually gonna end on Saturday the 22nd. So if people do need to get home for Sunday's worship or whatever they wanna do, they are welcome to leave on Saturday and they're not gonna miss out on any of the.
But if you are the kind of person that wants to stick around, do some time in Asheville, relax in Asheville. We will give you an extra night at the house. We will be there and we'll be checking out Sunday morning. So the retreat is basically in Asheville. It's gonna be at Black Mountain, which is about 28 minutes from the Asheville Airport.
Black Mountain, like it sounds, is more in the mountains and a little town there. And we're gonna be in a beautiful, large home with multi bedrooms. Um, some bedrooms are on your own, some are shared. And obviously with the pricing, it will be based on what kind of room you are and what it is that you want.
We're gonna provide almost all the food for you while you're there so that you're not thinking about that, where you can relax while you're there. We will do a couple of meals out on our own, because if you're gonna go to Asheville, you gotta go enjoy the food. Right? Totally. So let's talk about what's actually gonna happen at the retreat.
So first of all, it's gonna be a small, intimate group because we wanna be able to have time with you and you don't, we don't wanna be overwhelmed with too many people. Okay? We're gonna have time for rest, and there is gonna be that space. If you just need to go to your room and chill out, you totally can.
We're also gonna have, um, activities planned. So we're gonna talk about concepts such as the Enneagram and how your Enneagram impacts the way that you rest and the way that you run your. We're gonna talk about those scheduling things, things you can implement in your practice and in your life so that you can learn how to rest and slow down.
There'll also be time for conversations and journaling, and then Erin and I will be able to do one-on-one consulting with you if it's something that you're wanting while you're there. We'll also break you into small groups based on what it is you wanna work on at the retreats that you can get to know other people in a similar phase of practice and with similar.
So when we talk about consulting, I usually do consulting packages with people three, six months. Okay? And so the cost of this retreat, what you're getting in three or four days is more consulting than you would get in a three month package, and it's for an extremely good deal when you think about the amount of consulting you're gonna get.
So if it's something that you're wanting some extra consulting in your practice, this would be a really great retreat for you to be a part of, for what you're getting, for what you put. So this private practice retreat is gonna be a wonderful time for you to go deep and for you to process your experience, process your practice, and find God along the way.
So how can you be a part of it? First of all, Erin and I want to make sure that every single person is gonna benefit as much as possible from this retreat. So we want you to apply online and we will do calls with every person to make sure that they're a good fit. Cuz what we don't want is for someone to spend all their time and energy and it not be the best thing for their practice.
And we're gonna honestly let you know that on your call. So you can head to whitney owens.com/retreat and you can get the information for the retreat. And then you also can apply and fill out an application. It'll probably take you five minutes or. And then myself or Erin will be in touch with you. Now, here is your bonus, so listen up.
We are gonna offer a special deal only for the month of December for $300 off the total cost. Okay? So you can't beat that. Now, the cost of this retreat, like I said, it varies based on if you're sharing rooms or not sharing rooms. But $300 is significant amount off the cost of the retreat. So to get all that information, you can see pictures of the rooms.
Place we're gonna be at. You can go to, like I said, Whitney owens.com/retreat to gather all that information. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to me, whitney whitney owens.com. We will have the openings available until we fill them up and I expect that we are gonna fill 'em up quickly cuz I think this is gonna be fantastic and I really feel inspired and excited about working with each and every one of.
Honestly, I do things in my business because I wanna do them. I'm passionate about it. And like I said, I feel like my heart aligns with God's heart as I follow home. And so I'm believing in God to do some great things, and I want you to get to be a part of that. So head on over to Whitney owens.com, baxley slash retreat.
Feel free to share this with your friends. Um, maybe you wanna take somebody with you to the retreat, that would be awesome. And then if you have questions, reach out to me. I can't wait to hear from you. And thank you so much for being a part of the Wise Practice community and a part of this podcast, and I look forward to hanging out with you again next week.
Take care.
Show Notes Prepared by James Marland
