Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: retreats

[Eris Weaver (eris]

I've had the opportunity to participate in many retreats, both with my own
community and others.

BEFORE MOVE-IN: My community, FrogSong (SF Bay area), had an annual retreat
during our five year development phase. We went to a local camp and our
agenda was FUN (AKA community building). We explicitly did NO business at
these weekend-long events. Our annual Un-Talent Show had its beginnings
here. We ate, drank, sang, did crafts, hiked, swam, ate, drank, sang, did
yoga, played games, did I mention ate & drank?

My sense is that most communities having retreats before move-in do so for
similar purposes - community building, fun, getting to know each other in a
context different than meetings.

AFTER MOVE-IN: I've seen groups approach the retreat idea in different ways.
Some have more formal goals & agendas, while some are more like the fun
retreats I mention above.

FrogSong's women have an annual retreat (just got back Monday!). We rent a
house on the coast and leave the kids behind. Our agenda: FUN. Eat, drink,
sleep, read, talk, drink, laugh, walk on the beach, sleep, eat, drink, maybe
watch a movie, eat, drink, hot tub, did I mention eat & drink?  The men had
a retreat one year, which included boy children and perhaps more of an
agenda than ours (and possibly less drinking) but never repeated it. I don't
really know details, maybe one of our guys will pipe in here.

We no longer do an off-site whole-group retreat. We do, most years, have
some kind of all-day, on-site training, which leads into the OTHER kind of
retreat many groups have: more formal community- and skill- building, and
perhaps problem-solving.

I have worked as a facilitator/trainer with several groups' retreats (and I
am hoping that the most recent one pipes in here - client confidentiality
prevents me from naming them or going into details). These can be a day or
even a whole weekend, combining fun stuff like crafts, movies, meals with
more intense work on community issues than can typically be done in a
business meeting.

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Eris Weaver, Facilitator & Group Process Consultant
eris [at] erisweaver.info
707-338-8589
http://www.erisweaver.info
http://erisweaver.blogspot.com


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