Dick Rice Joins Retreat as Director of Spiritual Development
Under the direction of Fr. Dick Rice, The Retreat will launch its new Center for Spiritual Development at the end of June.   The Center will offer weekend retreats and individual and group spiritual direction for those seeking to deepen their commitment to renewal and recovery.
>>READ MORE

Dick Rice Joins Retreat as Director of Spiritual Development
Under the direction of Fr. Dick Rice, The Retreat will launch its new Center for Spiritual Development at the end of June.   The Center will offer weekend retreats and individual and group spiritual direction for those seeking to deepen their commitment to renewal and recovery.

The new Center will focus on spiritual development as an essential element of   long-term sobriety and contentment.   "The spirituality of the 12 Steps is central to the Retreat," says Rice. "People realize sooner or later that recovery has to be spiritual or it is too fragile."  

Housed in a renovated wing of The Retreat's Wayzata facility, the Center will accommodate up to 20 people in weekend retreats offered the 2 nd and 4 th weekends of each month beginning in June. The Center will also offer hospitality to Twelve Step groups and others seeking a safe place in which to conduct their own retreats. Dick will be available to assist groups with planning and execution.

Dick Rice is familiar to many in the Twin Cities for his work as a spiritual director spanning the past 30 years. He joined the Jesuits in 1959 and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1972.   He has graduate degrees in spirituality and in literature and has been an active practitioner of the Twelve Steps for over 25 years.   An early supporter of the vision that established The Retreat in the 1990s, Rice is happy to be returning to the Twin Cities, to join the Retreat's staff.

"I look on spirituality as the response people have to each situation they face, how they conduct themselves with others and deal with the challenges and joys of every day life," Rice says, adding that his definition of spirituality is not removed from daily life but woven through it.    "Spirituality has as much to do with driving an automobile as saying one's prayers, as much to do with fixing a meal as kneeling before your higher power."

>>BACK TO TOP

New Staff to Support Program Growth
As The Retreat's residential program grows dramatically, a new staff position will now help coordinate services for Retreat guests.   Mike Jamison joined The Retreat staff in May as Retreat Coordinator and will work directly with Diane Poole in the residential retreat program.

Jamison has worked in the field of recovery for almost 28 years and is known as a student of the Big Book.   He's enthusiastic about his new job because he shares The Retreat's philosophy of emphasizing the spirituality of A.A. and the Big Book.  

>>BACK TO TOP

Family Services Expanded in Retreat's New McIver Center
In a continuing commitment to help the families impacted by addiction, The Retreat will open the McIver Family Center June 30, under the direction of new staff member, Ellie Hyatt.   Ellie originally helped The Retreat develop its "Family Day," a popular program offered to help families better understand the disease of alcoholism and its impact on the family. Hyatt will join The Retreat's staff as Family Program Coordinator  and will lead two extended weekend family retreats each month, from Thursday night through Sunday.   She will also be available to individuals and groups for spiritual direction.

"Alcoholism is a disease that affects the whole family," says Hyatt.   "If somebody in the family is addicted, the people who live with that person and the extended family are all affected by that behavior, and if someone seeks recovery, family relationships often suffer if the family doesn't get involved in the recovery, too."   

The new extended weekend retreats will help family members and loved ones begin their own healing by better understanding the disease of alcoholism and drug dependency, family dynamics and the process of recovery embodied in the Twelve Steps of Al-Anon.   Not only does this help the family members; it also supports the long-term sobriety of the person struggling with addiction.

"The initial goal is to help the family members understand what it is that they've been affected by and then to help them seek a solution for themselves.   We try to let them know that there is help available and what that help is."   However, Hyatt points out, that recovery involves more than information and awareness.   Recovery requires personal change through a spiritual process and that is one of the key strengths of The Retreat's approach.

"What makes us unique is that we really are committed to the spiritual model of recovery," says Hyatt, while being careful to point out this is not the same as promoting religion.   "So many people have had religious experiences that have not been helpful . . . but a spiritual approach is based on living your life by spiritual principles.   We don't tell you what to believe.   We give you a model for living based on the spiritual principles found in the Twelve Steps."

>>BACK TO TOP