Depression Retreat with the Hoffman Process

Scientific Research has shown the Hoffman Process is highly effective in the treatment of Depression

Feeling sad at times is a normal human experience. Usually, if we are able to fully experience our sadness and make meaning of it, these feelings subside in time. This is different to the sorrow of grief from loss or death, which takes a long time to regulate and integrate. However, if sorrow persists and starts to overwhelm us, we might have entered into a state of depression.

Depression is not so much the experience of ‘sadness’ but a toxic belief that we hold about ourselves. In the Hoffman Process (Depression Retreat) we call it the belief of ‘unlovability’. ( Read the essay by Bob Hoffman)

This self-belief that we are not ‘ok’ the way we are, can make it hard to cope with our day to day life. Many people suffer from lack of enjoyment, constant tiredness, difficulties sleeping, inertia, indifference and meaninglessness. Some people may experience a greater sense of irritability and a lack of resilience dealing with stress.

In the Hoffman Process, we deal with the underlying issues that cause depression. Furthermore, the HP offers a corrective experience in regards to a lack of ‘lovability’ and helps participants to be able to find self-understanding, self-acceptance, self-forgiveness, self-love and joy.
(Have a free consultation with a HP trained mental health expert, to help you identify what are the specific causes of your depression)

Independent Scientific Research shows that The Hoffman Process is the Most Effective Therapy for Depression

The HP not only produces significant lasting reductions in negative affect i.e. depression, anxiety, hostility, interpersonal over-sensitivity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms but also engenders significant, lasting, increases in positive affect i.e. emotional intelligence, spirituality, mindfulness, forgiveness and empathy, along with increases in physical energy and vitality.

These changes were demonstrated in a University of California’s Study (Levenson et al., 2006). This rigorous study, with a one-year follow-up, showed that most of the gains that participants made during the Process were sustained over the next year, in comparison with the control group. Depression practically disappeared a week after the HP and remained low after a year, with only a 17% relapse rate, while, for example, CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) has shown a relapse rate of 30.8% and antidepressant medication alone 76.2% after one year (Hollon et al., 2005). These outstanding effects on depression were mediated by increases in forgiveness and spirituality. Learn more about the Science underpinning the Hoffman Process.

This is the only personal development retreat in the world to be independently backed by research. Learn what the Hoffman Process is, who takes it, how it works and how it can help people becomes their best selves regardless of their history.

Benefits of Retreats for Depression

Whether you’ve gone on a retreat for depression before or this is your first time considering this type of event, there are countless benefits of committing yourself to actively participating in this kind of getaway. Some examples include:

We could go on and on about the advantages of attending one of our retreats. The best way to understand the positive impact that a getaway like this could have on your life is by committing to attend one.

What Our Graduates Say

Over the past 50+ years, thousands of people from all walks of life have benefited from the Hoffman Process. We receive ongoing referrals from therapists, counsellors, and other healthcare professionals.

What's Provided in Depression Retreat?

Over the course of 7 days, participants engage in a variety of scientifically-backed modalities including experiential psychotherapy, family constellation, bioenergetics, Gestalt, and more, resulting in accelerated personal growth and fulfillment.

People come with a strong desire to make lasting positive changes and to accelerate their personal growth and development. 90% of participants are between the ages of 30 and 60. Many are executives or professionals, their spouses and other adult family members and friends. Since 1967, more than 150,000 people worldwide have used the Process to achieve greater balance, inner peace, vitality and overall well-being.

Over the years, hundreds of psychotherapists have participated in the Hoffman Process and experienced the Process as a safe place to do their own work and to create lasting changes. Subsequently, they have referred many of their clients as a powerful addition to individual therapy.

People come to the Hoffman Process to improve the quality of their lives and to create lasting positive change.

There are many reasons why people choose to do the Process. These include, but are not limited to issues with intimacy, relationship, family, career, creativity, and personal power; enthusiasm, energy and depression; spirituality, the meaning of life, connection and belonging;, compulsive or addictive behaviours, and unwanted personal limitations including stress and anxiety.

We see people who have achieved material success but cannot freely give and receive love. They feel something is missing. Others are in a life transition, perhaps feeling a loss of meaning in their relationships or careers, a sense of being uninspired with their world

We also work with adults who grew up in difficult or even abusive families, Some, needing a breakthrough, are referred by therapists. We see religious and spiritual practitioners as well as students of the human potential movement who know that something is still missing. And we work with parents who see themselves passing their pain onto their children.

Here is a list of statements that you can review to see if the Hoffman Process is for you.

  • I feel that something is holding me back and want to take the limits off.
  • I experience too much stress, and I’m not having enough fun.
  • I know what I should do, but often can’t generate the will to do it.
  • I often feel angry, resentful, embarrassed or depressed.
  • I flip flop between dominating and intimidating people below me and avoid being dominated by people above me.
  • I feel intimidated, coerced, and manipulated and can’t stand up for myself.
  • I work compulsively, often to the detriment of other aspects of my life.
  • Meaning is going out of my marriage, my career, or life in general. I often feel I’m just going through the motions.
  • There’s a lack of intimacy in my life — I’ve been unsuccessful in creating relationships.
  • I’m in recovery from substance abuse (clean and sober for 90 days minimum) and want to deal with the original pain that led to addiction.
  • I recognize that my parents were not as loving and supportive as I wanted them to be, or that bad things happened in my childhood.
  • I see myself passing my own suffering on to my children.

 

If one or more of these statements apply to you, we recommend that you consider taking the Process. Contact us to discuss how the Process can assist you to resolve the patterns that let to these experiences.

Through the Hoffman Process, you will come to know yourself emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually as never before. The Process offers deep and rapid resolution of emotional issues and enables you to come to terms with life as it is. You can recover the love, happiness, ease of self-expression, and emotional intelligence that are your birthright, and emerge as a renewed powerful and mature adult. It induces a renewed sense of leadership in a person’s life.

The Hoffman Process is a comprehensive 3-month personal development program, the foundation of which is a 7 day intensive residential retreat. We recommend that you spend the two days following the 7 day program as time for personal reflection and integration. On that weekend the whole group reconvenes for a 2 hours tutorial about how to apply the tools of the Process in daily life. Our experience is that participants notice positive results immediately. Of course, there is also a period of adjustment in the days and weeks following the Process while you integrate insights and knowledge into your daily life. For the first 3 weeks after the Process, the facilitators track the integration process weekly via phone calls.

All our Hoffman teachers have completed very rigorous training in the methodology of the Hoffman Process. They are highly trained therapists and mature professionals grounded in various disciplines. Our teachers provide instruction and personalized individual guidance to ensure that each student progresses successfully through the Process and learns tools for ongoing development.

Typical Process size ranges from 20 to 23 participants with one certified Hoffman Process teacher for every six to eight students.

The full Process fee is AUD $6,975 inc gst. This includes accommodation (Friday to Thursday night inclusive), meals, tuition, workbooks, tools and support. Accommodation is on a shared basis for participants of the same gender. Private rooms can be arranged subject to availability. Please contact our administration team for availability.

To secure a place, a $500 non-refundable deposit is required, with the balance due 2 weeks prior to Process commencement. Whether paid in full or a deposit paid, we offer a $400 Early Bird Discount if full Process payment is received no later than 4 weeks prior to the commencement date. The Process cost after the Early Bird discount is AUD $6,575 incl. gst.

We accept payment via Credit Card (no surcharges apply): Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Paypal or Direct Deposit.

Cancellation, Deferral and Refund Policy: The $500 non-refundable deposit is valid for twelve months and applies to a specific course date. If you change or cancel your Process within 2 weeks of commencement, a $3500 Process fee is applicable. If you change or cancel your Process within 1 week of Course commencement, the entire fee is forfeited. Exemptions are considered on medical grounds if a Medical Certificate is provided. All other date changes made outside of these specified periods, incur a $110 administration fee. For any questions, please call +61 3 9826 2133 or contact us by email.

You may enrol in the Hoffman Process on our secure registration page, by phone (61 3) 9826 2133, email: admin@hoffmanprocess.com.au, fax (61 2) 6678 0328 or mail (PO Box 1225, Byron Bay, NSW 2481) A $500 non-refundable deposit secures your place in a scheduled Process. Upon registering you will be sent detailed enrollment information, pre-Process documents, and directions to the Process site.

Sangurya Retreat Centre in Byron Bay

Accommodation for Depression Retreat

The Hoffman Process runs from 9am Saturday morning and concludes at 1:30pm on Friday afternoon. There is a tutorial the day after the Process ends on Saturday from 10am – 12:30pm in Byron Bay town centre.

Depression Retreat Dates in Australia

Mar 29
- Apr 5, 2024
Byron Bay NSW
May 10
- May 17, 2024
Byron Bay NSW
4 Available
Jun 21
- Jun 28, 2024
Byron Bay NSW
18 Available
Jul 26
- Aug 2, 2024
Byron Bay NSW
24 Available
Aug 23
- Aug 30, 2024
Byron Bay NSW
24 Available
Sep 27
- Oct 4, 2024
Byron Bay NSW
19 Available
Oct 25
- Nov 1, 2024
Byron Bay NSW
23 Available
Nov 22
- Nov 29, 2024
Byron Bay NSW
24 Available

Tuition Support Available

What You Can Expect from The Hoffman Process Regarding an Depression Retreat in Australia

As a trusted name for wellness retreats for depression, you can count on our team to provide you with an experience you will not soon forget. When you attend a depression therapies retreat, you can expect the following from our team:

If you still have more questions regarding what you can expect when you attend one of our depression retreats in Australia, just let us know. Our goal is to help you feel comfortable throughout the time that you’re at an event.

Yoga Retreat. Peaceful Young Woman Sitting in Lotus Position and Meditating by the Lake
Positive Energy Meditation Practice at Home

Tips for Getting More Value Out of Depression Retreats

Taking the step to attend a retreat to address your anxiety is potentially life changing. Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind to ensure you make the most out of your time:

Related Services We Provide to Depression Retreats

Did you know that we offer our clients more than just options for retreats for anxiety and depression? Some related services include:

Meditation
Caucasian sad woman sitting at the sofa with depression

What are the Symptoms of Depression?

Every human being on planet earth is faced with the same fundamental existential dilemmas: Birth and Death, Freedom, Isolation vs Belonging and Meaninglessness. If we never take the time to indwell these questions and to find personal resolution with them, they will inevitably impact upon our sense of self and our primary relationships, because we are unable to bring the ‘presence’ of our being to another human if we have not truly encountered our own being.

This commonly leads to deterioration in our relationships, as we do not know how to get our own needs met or to be able to meet the needs of our partner or intimates and many people seek help in this instance. If we still manage to avoid ourselves, this lack of ‘presence’ will impact further in our ability to form meaningful connectedness with our extended family and friends.

We will lack resilience to meet the interpersonal demands at work, compensating our lack of inner resolve and control with maybe bullying others or becoming a target of bullying, aggravating unnecessary levels of stress which further destabilizes and jeopardizes us.

Such vicious cycles can lead to a sense that our job is at risk and stimulates survival anxiety. The amount of stress hormones that are released if such situations persist over an extended period of time, will lead to the repression of our immune system and make us more prone to ill health further acerbating the cycle of depression. Our weakened organism cannot produce enough serotonin and we can move into clinical depression.

Often people seek medication to alleviate these unbearable feelings but medication without personal intervention does not lead to resolution. Medication without conversation can just lead to further repression of the underlying causes.

We Are Here to Help You

To break this cycle in the treatment of depression, it is essential is to address the underlying existential and emotional issues, as well as to build a sense of inner understanding and awareness that can enable us to respond to external stressors. Depression also occurs when we have learnt to habitually repress certain emotional states like ‘anger’ and ‘grief or sadness’. Depending upon how these emotions were socialized within our families and communities they usually camouflage the internal toxic shame beliefs that we hold about our selves, like un-lovability, inadequacy, self-invalidation and self-criticism.

According to the DSM-5, a manual used to diagnose mental disorders, depression occurs when you have at least 5 of the following symptoms at the same time:

If you still have more questions regarding what you can expect when you attend one of our depression retreats in Australia, just let us know. Our goal is to help you feel comfortable throughout the time that you’re at an event.

Free your mind text on gray sidewalk with woman legs, top view

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Free Self Assessment

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