November Retreat - First Responders

A Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Group (KAP) Retreat

A collaboration between The Land at Balsam Branch, a non-profit retreat center and Center for Conscious Alchemy, a heart centered mental health clinic in the Twin Cities.

This retreat will be facilitated by Center for Conscious Alchemy KAP practitioners Susan Borden | APRN, CNP, PMHNP, Carrie Stark | MSW, LICSW and Jane Oas | MA

Nov 12th, 2026 – Nov 15th, 2026

Join fellow first responders for three days of rest, connection, and renewal. You spend so much of your life showing up for others. This is time set aside for you.

Being a first responder means staying ready, making hard decisions, and showing up for people in some of their most difficult moments. The demands of that work can stay with you long after a shift ends.

This short retreat in our beautiful indoor space in St Paul offers time to step away from those demands and take care of yourself, alongside others who understand the work. There is room to rest, reflect, connect, and simply catch your breath.

You don’t have to explain every experience or have the right words. You are invited to participate at your own pace and make space for what you need.

Two days of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy	Carefully supported medicine sessions with qualified mental-health professionals and experienced facilitators
Preparation + integration	Time to reflect, make meaning, and consider what you want to carry back into your life and work
Sound healing	Restorative sound and vibration to support relaxation, grounding, and reflection
Breathwork + meditation	Practices to reconnect with the body, cultivate presence, and create space from the constant demands of daily life
Community	Shared meals, reflection, conversation, silence, and connection with leaders who understand the weight of caring for others

Why Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy?

KAP combines the ethical use of ketamine with psychotherapy, preparation, and integration. Ketamine can temporarily shift familiar patterns of thought, perception, and emotional processing, creating space to explore difficult emotions, longstanding patterns, grief, questions of meaning, or new perspectives.

There is no particular experience participants are expected to have. The invitation is simply to approach the process with curiosity and allow what arises to be met with care.

During the retreat, participants may explore questions such as:

What have I been carrying that I am ready to put down?
Where have I lost connection with myself?
What does my life need from me now?
What would it mean to lead from greater wholeness?
What do I need to receive?

A Different Kind of Retreat

The weight of being a first responder can be profoundly isolating. Here, you can be witnessed without having to stay strong, speak honestly without having to have the answer, and experience community without being responsible for everyone else.

For three days, you don't have to be the one who responds, protects, leads, or holds it together. You can simply be human.

Come As You Are

There is nothing to prove here. Only an invitation to pause, listen deeply, and begin again.

Participation requires individual clinical assessment, informed consent, and medical and psychological screening. KAP is not a guaranteed treatment for burnout and is intended to complement, not replace, appropriate ongoing medical or mental-health care.

We offer discounted, tiered payment options to support access, sustainability, and collective care. Participants are invited to choose the tier that best aligns with their current resources. Every participant receives the same level of care, preparation, and support, regardless of the fee paid.

Pay-It-Forward Rate ($1,250): Covers your retreat and helps subsidize leaders and caregivers who are in a different financial reality.
Sustaining Rate ($850): Covers the full cost of your retreat participation.
Subsidized Rate ($450): For those needing additional financial assistance at this time.

If cost is prohibitive, please reach out to Jenni Bratulich at jenni@landatbalsambranch.org.

Registration: Group size is limited to a maximum of 10 participants to ensure safety, depth, and individualized support.

Registration deadline: November 2, 2026

Each retreat will generally follow the same format. Note that this is not an overnight retreat.

Day	Activity	Approx. Time
Thursday evening	Virtual Welcome + Preparation	1 hour
*Friday evening	Low-dose session + integration at CCA	3 hours
*Saturday daytime	High-dose session + integration at CCA	5 hours
Sunday morning	Integration + Sound Bath at CCA	2 hours

* Participants cannot drive themselves on medicine days and must determine travel arrangements to and from CCA Friday and Saturday.

A Closing Invitation

This is a sacred space to be held, to metabolize what has felt heavy, and to reconnect with the parts of you that make healing and hope possible. In a season that invites light and growth, may this gathering offer space for renewal, connection, and belonging. You are welcome here exactly as you are.

Contact the host of November KAP Retreat - First Responders

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