SMACT Fall Retreat 2024
11th Annual Southern Maine ACT (SMACT) Fall Retreat
Sept 20– 22, 2024 (Friday night to Sunday afternoon)
Cushing Island, Portland, Maine
8 CEs (will be submitted to relevant boards and pending approval)
2024 Registration Costs
Registration is Full!
Standard Price: $225
Early Bird (register by 8/23/24) $195
Scholarships Available! Up to two (2) half-price registrations available to “scholanteers” who help with set-up.
Cancellations/Refunds:
30 days or more before retreat = 100% refund
29-15 days before retreat = 50% refund
14 days or fewer = no refund
Members of the Southern Maine ACT community (SMACT, i.e., current or recent past participants in the ACT Peer Consultation Group or ACT Study Groups) are invited to join an experiential ACT weekend on Cushing Island sponsored and facilitated by our membership. The weekend has multiple purposes: Learn about ACT and have a first-person experience of ACT, share our collective wisdom, gain experience leading a discussion or workshop, connect with one another, build our community, and engage in self-care. We will do this on two levels – as clinicians and as participants – so you are invited to take both intellectual and personal perspectives. There will be a variety of topics, and all will weave into the development of 6 major processes of psychological flexibility.
About the Retreat
OFFERINGS
Participants are encouraged to bring ACT metaphors, activities and resources to share throughout the weekend. We will gather to harvest and share our experience and wisdom. Participants are also invited (totally optional!) to share an “offering,” i.e., a workshop or experiential exercise. Themes should be relevant to ACT, of course, but you have great leeway to make that connection. Format: 2 hours (including up to 30 minutes of processing time). If you are new to this, we encourage you to pair with someone who has attended in the past and knows how this works. You are urged to contact Teresa Valliere and Nick Sweeney for guidance on this. If you are at all tempted to do this–do it!
Note: If you are contemplating an offering but are not ready with title and summary, just go ahead and register and get us that info when it is ready.
COST
There is a “flat fee” of $225, and an early bird rate of $195 until August 23, to be paid via electronic registration. This covers accommodations, transportation to the island, and dinner on Saturday night as well as access to all programming, CEs (if approved), and some incidental costs.
SCHOLARSHIPS
SMACT Board offers two (2) reduced-fee scholarships for the fall retreat each year (50% discount). We’ll ask the scholarship folks to come out on the early boat and help the coordinators set up. These are need-based scholarships. Please note that the cost of the event has been kept to a minimum–so if you can afford it, we appreciate your leaving the funds for others. However, if the cost puts you in stress or might even dissuade you from attending, we urge you to apply for one of the scholarships. We want you to attend and your presence and participation will be a plentiful contribution! And we are eager to use these funds for such a good purpose. If interested, please email Teresa.
GENERAL
SCHEDULE
FRIDAY
4 pm Water taxis depart from Bug Light Park in South Portland
~5-7 pm Arrival, check-in, dinner (on your own), opening of the circle
~7-9 pm First Offering
Go to bed/hike to cliffs and enjoy the stars/Candle Hour
SATURDAY
Morning run/hike around the island (probable) and/or sleep-in, do yoga
Saturday morning: Second Offering
Time to relax, connect, self-care, informal activities
Saturday afternoon: Third Offering
Time to relax, connect, self-care, informal activities
Community Dinner — we provide the food!
Evening activity for the community
SUNDAY
Hike around the island and/or sleep-in, do yoga
Time to relax, connect, self-care, informal activities
Sunday morning: Fourth Offering
Lunch
Closing of the circle
Clean up and depart
~ 3 pm Water taxis depart the island
CUSHING ISLAND
Cushing is a beautiful small private island in Casco Bay, a 20 minute ferry ride from the Old Port in Portland. The island has lots of walking trails, 3 public clay tennis courts, multiple beaches, beautiful cliffs and easy access to Portland by small ferry. There are old fort ruins to explore. More than half of the island is conservation land, with great places to walk and explore.
SLEEPING & ACCOMMODATIONS
The house was the hospital for the soldiers when this was a fort in WWII. It is a huge 3 story building that sleeps 17 people with lots of room to be alone. Rooms are simple, cheerful and comfortable; all linens are provided. We’ll figure out room assignments when we get the list of attendees. There is a washer and dryer and plenty of beach towels available. There are 3 full baths (one on each floor), all linens and towels provided, large kitchen and large dining room, wrap-around porches, huge game room with a pool table (used to be the ward in the hospital), kids’ play room, two refrigerators, coffee pot, toaster oven, microwave, gas grill. There is wireless internet and local phone service. No television ‘cause Andy Griffith didn’t need no TV to have a good time.
FOOD
Please bring your own food for dinner on Friday and breakfast and lunch Saturday and Sunday. There is a full kitchen with 2 refrigerators available, so cooking your food is easy. We will provide dinner Saturday night – burgers, chicken, veggies, salad, dessert. Please note that there is no store on the island. Bring snacks to share!
CLOTHING
Be casual. This is a rustic place, so shorts, tee shirts, good walking shoes and jeans are best. The water might be cold—but bring your bathing suit anyway! And fleece is always a good idea. The weather on the island is often chilly. Other smart items to bring include: a yoga mat (if possible) and a flashlight/headlamp.
WATER TAXI
OR FERRY
Group transport on Friday evening 4:00 PM and Sunday afternoon 3:00PM is provided in the cost of the retreat. We will leave from South Portland Bug Light boat launch and the parking is free.
If you are arranging your own transportation, water taxis are also available. Call Sea Taxi at (207) 879-2562. The rates are usually $60-65 per trip.
OFFERINGS
Presenters need to move quickly to get the SMACT Fall Retreat Planning Committee a simple summary of the workshop including title, objective, and needed materials. Everything must be submitted by end of August so we can submit applications for CEs. Please do not stress about this! Just get us a rough draft and we can help massage it into its necessary form. You can review the workshop checklist and an example in the document below.
offering checklist and sample (Clicking link will probably download the file into the Downloads folder on your computer.)
sample schedule from 2015. (Please note that this sample schedule from 2015 included numerous offerings and about 12-13 CEs. 2024 will include four offerings and approximately 8 CEs, so it is a substantially lighter schedule.)
Leads for offerings: please send your resume to Nick Sweeney nsweeney1016@yahoo.com.
QUESTIONS?
Please contact Teresa Valliere for more details at tvallier@maine.rr.com.