Day 1: September 4th 2025
Day 2: September 25th 2025
As a spiritual retreat facilitator, you design and lead retreats that nurture faith, contemplation, and personal transformation. To do this, you will create sacred spaces for reflection, and prayer, guide participants with structures and processes, manage group dynamics and foster a welcoming, inclusive environment. Balancing structure with the movement of the Spirit, you will also be mindful of your own self-care to maintain a deep listening stance.
In this workshop, you will learn some foundations of spiritual retreat facilitation through the understanding of the purpose and impact of spiritual retreats, the role of a facilitator as a guide, not a teacher and achieving positive outcomes through working with the core spiritual themes of contemplation, discernment, and inner transformation.
You will learn hands-on practices by guiding discussions, leading workshops and sessions, soliciting feedback and providing mentorship to participants. There will also be space for personal reflection on your vocation and calling as a facilitator. These learnings will build upon and strengthen your existing unique talent and skills.
To reinforce the theoretical learnings, you will design, plan and lead your own retreat and implement it before session 2. By the end of both workshops, you will have developed practical skills in facilitation and nurturing communities in their formation and growth.
About the facilitator
Therese Carroll is a Sister of Saint Joseph and lives in Sydney. Her current ministries include spiritual direction and leading retreats, facilitation of religious congregational chapters and various groups, pastoral supervision, leadership development and formation for religious life. Therese has many years of experience in Aged Care/Health management and governance including Chair of Catholic Health Australia and is involved with Discerning Leadership (Rome) and continuing to develop international connections in Ignatian Spirituality. Her qualifications include RN, CM, Dip Teach Nursing (SCAE), BHSc (Sturt Uni Bathurst), MEd (ACU), MMgtCmty (Uni Technology, Sydney), MA Theology (CIS, Sydney), MAICD, ANSD, Pastoral Supervision, Spiritual Direction, Benedictine Abbey, Colorado, Member ANSD, AAOS, AICD.