It all started with a question: “Why is there a men’s retreat, but no women’s retreat?” From there it took me a year and a half (and several misfires) to build the right team, the right format, and the right interest to pull off Dickinson College’s first ever women’s retreat.

On April 20-21, 2013, with the incredible support of my co-planner Heather Livingston and the immense assistance of Joyce Bylander and Jenn Halpin, we had our first retreat at the College Farm. Our theme was “The Whole Woman’s Retreat: Finding and Empowering the Superwoman in You,” and our facilitators were a small group of faculty and students who led our group of roughly 30 people over the course of those two days. Our hope for the retreat was that it would become an annual gathering of students, faculty, staff, and even alumni (eventually) to provide a safe space for all women-identified Dickinsonians — inclusive of transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary members — to come together for dialogues and workshops on identity, health, self care, barriers, national and global trends, and other topics related to our shared and diverse identities, as we worked towards our larger goals of increasing holistic support and strengthening our community. We also wanted to ensure that all voices were heard, that our community’s diversity was represented, and that no person felt excluded. We wanted to be sure we were reaching out each year to every corner of campus and that anyone who felt that they wanted to participate felt welcome.

The retreat consisted of a steady stream of dialogue, activities, down time together on the Farm, workshops, debriefing periods, and of course lots of yummy food. The retreat each year spans two days, and has followed a basic pattern: On the morning of Day One, everyone boards into school vans and participants’ cars and rides over to the farm where we settle in, have introductions, and participate in a Step in Step Out activity. The day continues with several more discussions and then dinner and a bonfire. Day two begins with exploring the Farm and cooking breakfast together, followed by several dialogues, a workshop, more conversations over snacks, and debriefing individually and then together. Dialogue topics range from life at Dickinson, to women in the media, to self-care, to empowerment, and more. Past workshops and activities have included: scarf dancing, soap making, writing spoken word poetry, and farming–to name a few.

Using the Farm has always been an important aspect of the retreat, as it provides some distance from campus as well as a beautiful place in nature to ground ourselves, not to mention how supportive and involved Jenn has been every year. It also must be mentioned that without the joy and support of Joyce Bylander, we wouldn’t be able to have some of our best discussions or delicious breakfasts every year.

This year will be the fifth year hosting the retreat. It is amazing that it is still part of campus life, and I am overjoyed that the retreat can continue to be a service for our community. A noteworthy change this year is the incorporation of Donna Bickford and the Women’s and Gender Resource Center in the planning process and support of this retreat. The sustainability and shared vision of this partnership gives me hope that this retreat will continue on at Dickinson long after I am thoroughly forgotten there. I cannot recommend highly enough that you participate in this retreat, which will be held March 3-4, 2017, as part of Gender Week/Women’s History Month. Keep an eye out for updates and posters throughout the year. I hope that anyone reading this decides to join the fifth annual Whole Women’s Retreat; it’s going to be a great one!

Written by Jessica Libowitz ’15, Women’s Retreat Creator