I hope that many other women veterans will be able to experience the Regaining Balance retreat. I went there with no expectations, and came out with a new focus and feeling more grounded. I know that others can feel this as well, but only if this amazing place continues its work with women veterans.
—Karissa T., Regaining Balance retreat participant
Regaining Balance Retreats
Regaining Balance Retreats is a nonsectarian outreach program to help women veterans with PTSD and women partners of veterans with PTSD. The goal is to teach women the methods and tools found to help relieve stress and stay centered. This program has two facets—Regaining Balance for Women Veterans with PTSD and Women Partners of Veterans with PTSD. Generally the retreats for woment veterans are four full days. Regaining Balance Weekends for Women Partners of Veterans with PTSD begin Friday evening and end Sunday evening. Both programs are staffed by volunteers and are free to the women they serve. The retreats are supported wholly by tax-deductible contributions.
Our Mission is to help women veterans diagnosed with PTSD and women partnered with veterans with PTSD learn and practice skills they can use to help themselves to reduce post-traumatic stress. These skills include meditation, sharing with others who understand their experiences, and learning to use the natural world, art and physical exercise as mediators of emotional challenges.
Regaining Balance is a non-sectarian outreach program of Mountain Gate, a Zen Buddhist community in northern New Mexico. The program is free to both women veterans diagnosed with PTSD and women partnered with veterans with PTSD. Retreats are small, and staffed by women volunteers whose training and professions make them especially qualified to be of service in these healing retreats.
Retreats in 2024
Regretfully, due to a need to change insurance carriers, a process in which we are engaged at this time, and it is only a short time before the first scheduled Regaining Balance retreat, we must delay the program until 2025. Hence this year's retreats, unfortunately, must be cancelled.
What Happens during retreats?
During each retreat, participants learn meditation practices specifically shown to help calm the nervous system, take part in quiet, grounding day hikes in the nearby wilderness, have a chance to practice art as healing therapy, and have the opportunity to be with other women vets and women partnered with vets diagnosed with PTSD.
Mountain Gate is located in a beautiful valley in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico, immediately adjacent to the Carson National Forest. Hiking takes place on nearby trails and also in Bandelier National Monument and the Valles Caldera National Preserve in the Jemez Mountains.
Who Is Eligible?
If you are a veteran diagnosed with PTSD, you are eligible for a Regaining Balance Retreat for Veterans with PTSD. If you are the spouse or partner of a veteran diagnosed with PTSD, you are eligible for a Regaining Balance Retreat for Partners of Veterans with PTSD.
How Much Do They Cost?
Regaining Balance retreats are offered free to all who are eligible. This program is supported solely through donations.
How Do I Apply?
✔ Download and print the application form
✔ Read the introductory page
✔ Fill out all pages of the application form
✔ Sign the Authorization for Release of Information forms—one for each of your healthcare providers, including mental healthcare providers (three forms are included; if you need more, please print additional forms)
✔ Have each of your care providers sign their parts of the forms
✔ Return all forms to the address listed at the bottom of the last form and in the introductory page. If you have questions about the forms, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.
