Holding Healers
Reflective practice retreat for therapists & practitioners
Ubud, Bali · 2027 Waitlist Open
Holding Healers is a six-day reflective practice retreat for therapists, psychologists, and wellness practitioners who spend their lives holding space for others.
Set in Ubud, Bali, the retreat offers a structured pause from clinical work to reconnect with your body, boundaries, and professional centre. It’s designed to support regulation, integration, and renewal — not productivity or performance.
Facilitated by trauma-informed therapist Sam Forbes, Holding Healers brings together reflective practice, peer process, embodied regulation, and traditional Balinese healing. The focus is on tending to secondary trauma and emotional load in a way that is grounded, ethical, and restorative.
This is professional development and reflective practice — not formal supervision.
Who It’s For
Holding Healers is suited to:
therapists, psychologists, counsellors, bodyworkers, and wellness practitioners
those noticing emotional fatigue, secondary trauma, or early burnout
practitioners seeking embodied ways to process what their work carries
clinicians who value both evidence-based and culturally respectful approaches
Open to qualified and emerging practitioners.
The Work
The retreat creates space to:
process secondary and vicarious trauma
reflect on ethics, boundaries, and countertransference
restore nervous system capacity through embodied practice
reconnect with your professional purpose without over-identifying with the role
Days are intentionally paced, balancing reflective sessions, body-based restoration, quiet integration, and ceremony.
The program includes facilitated reflective sessions and peer consultation that may be logged as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) reflective practice hours, in line with the requirements of most professional associations. A Certificate of Attendance is provided.
Days are intentionally paced, balancing reflective work, body-based restoration, quiet integration, and ceremony.
What’s Included
Six days / five nights accommodation in Ubud
Small, practitioner-only group
Facilitated reflective practice with Sam Forbes
Peer consultation and group process
Embodied regulation practices (yoga, movement, rest)
Traditional Balinese healing, including:
Melukat water purification
Private Mangku blessing
Tri Desna healing experience
All meals, transport, laundry, and logistics
Sauna and cold plunge
Optional digital detox
Certificate of Attendance for CPD / Reflective Practice hours
Everything is handled so you can step out of managing and into receiving.
Retreat Therapist
With more than 32 years of counselling experience, Sam Forbes brings depth, clarity, and fierce compassion to her work. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Social Work, but credits her greatest learnings to the thousands of people she has supported through some of life’s hardest chapters.
Sam’s career has taken her into the rawest human realities. She has worked with survivors of child sexual abuse and family violence, with people navigating complex PTSD and substance use, and most recently, with women living through the devastation of war in Gaza. Her commitment is not only global — Sam is also a long-time advocate for Aboriginal communities in Australia, deeply engaged with the impact of systemic injustice and intergenerational trauma.
Her practice is trauma-focused, rooted in social justice, and deeply affirming of all identities and life choices. She is queer, sex-positive, and inclusive of LGBTQIA+, polyamorous, swinger, BDSM, and sex worker communities. Across her decades of work, she has also supported people living with racism, disability, hormonal transitions, and the challenges of mental health, always with a commitment to safety and non-judgement.
Soft-spoken yet unwavering, Sam specialises in trauma therapy and relationship counselling — often at the intersection of personal history, structural injustice, and interpersonal pain. She draws on EMDR, Narrative Therapy, Family Systems, Gottman, and attachment-based approaches, always with a trauma-informed lens.
Sam believes there is nothing we cannot work through with the right care, time, and support. Her presence at Healing Holidays retreats brings not just professional expertise, but profound humanity — a steady hand and a rare strength that holds space for both clinical recovery and cultural renewal.
Pricing
This is a fully inclusive six-day retreat.
Early bird pricing from $4,900 AUD
Flexible payment plans available.
Participants receive a Certificate of Attendance outlining structured reflective practice hours. Eligible practitioners may be able to claim costs as CPD — please confirm with your accountant or association.
Location
The retreat is held at Solana Wellness, a private riverside venue deeply committed to sustainability, in Ubud. The setting supports quiet, containment, and integration, with shared or private room options.
