Work-Life Balance Retreats for Women

By Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

It’s an unfortunate fact that there are certain things in life that must be re-taught after years of plugging away at work, giving all of ourselves to our employers and families, and going months without a serious break of any kind.

Sometimes we must re-learn how to take care of ourselves, how to make time for ourselves, how to become rested, centered, and refocused. Providing women with the platform and tools necessary to make these things happen has recently become a top priority for Martha Simpson and Jo Adams, whose UK-based LadyLeader Retreats are currently making a big splash in their native Scotland.

Both Simpson and Adams are life coaches who, after meeting over a cup of coffee at a networking event, decided to move forward with Simpson’s plan of creating a personal and professional development program specifically geared towards women.

Just this past July, the women saw months of their hard work and planning come to fruition. Their first LadyLeader retreat took place over two days at an upscale hotel in Scotland and though there were only three participants, the women have recognized a need for these types of events and plan on having more attend their November and December retreats.

A recent study found that four out of five employees feel that work-life balance considerations play a major role in deciding whether or not they will leave their current employer. Truth be told, however, very few leave their employers despite less than stellar working conditions. That’s especially true in this economy, where many working parents simply feel lucky to be working at all. People – women especially – just learn to take on more work, work longer hours, and devote their remaining time to their children and other family members.

An Opportunity for Pure “Me Time”

This is exactly why work-life balance retreats will prove to be so critical to many busy working women; it gives them pure “me time” without the distractions of work, family, and other commitments. It also enables them to go back to their places of business refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to work and be productive. Essentially, it’s like getting your batteries re-charged.

“I’ve been a woman CEO and have worked in senior roles for over 20 years. I have first-hand experience juggling a busy job, young children, and a busy home life,” Simpson said. “But there comes a time when it’s too much. Healthy levels of stress can bring optimum performance, but a growing body of evidence shows that our stress response was not designed to be switched on over long periods of time; it ultimately results in either the body or mind breaking down.”

She continued, “Some of the biggest obstacles facing women are their ability to balance legitimate demands on their time and energy and the high standards they set for themselves.”

According to Simpson, LadyLeader Retreats attempts to help participants realize that they can thrive across the various areas of their lives if they are clear about their choices and determined to look after their mind and body. “I hope each guest learns that it’s okay to take time out for themselves; that balance is not a fixed state of utopia, and that maintaining good health is the key to sustainability,” Simpson said.

Lauren Webster, an employment director from Aberdeen, Scotland, decided to attend LadyLeader’s first retreat after receiving a pamphlet from the organization at her office. “Attending the retreat provided me with the opportunity to escape from the everyday insanity and its pressures,” Webster said. “In today’s society, women in roles of responsibility are often also balancing a family life. We reach a point where we’re operating on artificial energy and find it difficult to step off the ‘wheel’ and actually share our experiences with others.”

Obviously, Scotland isn’t the only country with over-worked women struggling to maintain a work-life balance, but surprisingly there are very few companies offering similar services, especially in the U.S. Sure, we have our share of life coaches, but it seems as if offering retreats to remedy these work-life issues is a new phenomena.

Get Your Groove Back

Felicha Potts runs Soul of a Woman Retreats from Nashville, Tennessee with the promise of offering working women retreats, vacation travel, and weekend getaway packages that will help them “get their groove back.” The retreats began in the summer of 2006 as an offshoot of Potts’ already-popular Empowerment Spa, which facilitated leadership and corporate retreats for various companies in the Nashville area.

“I began to notice that many evaluation comments and live questions were about how to achieve more work-life balance and a lot of the recognition sessions of my corporate retreats focused on the same topic, which always evoked a lot of emotional and heartfelt responses. These are real issues for people, but demands of life often take precedent until the need for balance screams at them through fatigue, exhaustion, lack of concentration, relationship conflicts, stress and anxiety, feelings of unfulfillment or depression,” Potts said.

Though Potts’ retreats are specifically focused on rest, relaxation, and having fun, women often walk away with more than fond memories and photos to show their friends.

“Previous participants have commented that the retreat helped them with their self-esteem and also helped them deal more effectively with their family, career, marriage, and parenting situations because they’ve gained new perspective,” Potts said.

Getting to the Root Cause of the Work-Life Imbalance

As more of these retreats begin to spring up, it’s important to note that they can’t fix the initial problem, which stems from an employer’s lack of understanding and consideration for the average working parent. Until this happens, very little can be done to alleviate the everyday stress and anxiety experienced by many working women today.

The lack of work-life balance will also continue to hinder women from reaching high-ranking positions. “I believe that supporting women with work-life balance is one of the ways to help greater numbers of women achieve their professional goals without self-sacrifice,” Simpson said.

“Organizations don’t always recognize the differences in the career paths of women. A good organization will recognize the importance of offering flexibility to help women meet their career aspirations.”