SKYHope Retreat
A reflection by Jennifer Elam:
On Saturday, March 21, and Sunday, March 22, 2026, twelve of us met at Brenda Richardson’s farm in Somerset, KY, for a retreat. She calls her retreat center “Recovering Joy,” and that was the perfect theme. There were seven women from SKYHope Recovery Center, and others joined us for this amazing weekend of co-creation.
We created paintings, books, and cards—all important, but also metaphors for creating new life.
Each of us is working to create new pieces of life, new possibilities, and new spiritual connections with God (or whatever your concept of the energy that is bigger than us), our higher self, and others.
“Co-creativity” is the word I use for that.
Art, poetry, music, and dance are my spiritual languages. I practice these not as skills but as prayers, no wrong-way arts.
In these very hard times, tools for moving from the darkness to the Light are important.
I do this using co-creative media. My mentor taught me to set the judge on the shelf and let the co-creativity come through me. When we co-create together, coping mechanisms emerge, and beyond coping, joy comes, reconnecting us to the Earth, the cosmos, and one another.
I have led these workshops for about 30 years and, in 2025, published a book about it called “Dancing Through the Fires of Grief & Trauma with Co-Creativity.” In this book, I use stories (my own and others’), as well as the arts and poetry, to address the grief and trauma we are all experiencing, to one degree or another, in these difficult times.
Deep stories emerged this weekend that seemed to start moving
Trauma is a story that has forgotten how to dance.
We need to teach stories of trauma and how to move again.
Some practical issues addressed in the book include lessons from the Dark Night of the Soul, the importance of “both/and” thinking, the dangers of “one story,” opening to the trans-liminal, and healing of our life’s messes. Creating a toolbox of creative practices to address these issues is my main goal for this book.
Other books I have written, including “Dancing with God through the Storm: Mysticism and Mental Illness,” “Hillbilly Rising,” and “Breast Cancer as a Sacred Love Journey,” were also made available.
During our weekend together, participants made paintings outside on a beautiful spring day with the sheep grazing nearby, decided to frame some of the paintings, made books and cards out of others, began writing poems and stories, did a meditative dance called 5 Rhythms developed by Gabrielle Roth, and ate delicious meals.
We blend art, poetry, music, and dance and make pieces of art together by writing prayer poems.
Co-creativity was seen as the books, cards, and writings took varying forms, with each person adding their uniqueness. Deep conversations were held in which friends both affirmed and challenged one another. At the end, each person shared their creations. We sat in a circle, and each person shared what they were taking with them from the weekend in addition to their products and stated what they needed, as the others prayed for them and provided them with affirmations and statements of love for one another.
Good tears were flowing, and love felt abundant!
Deep gratitude to everyone.
Thank you to the participants for engaging deeply in all activities and bringing forth meaning that went beyond the paper and into the hearts and souls. Tired eyes became bright again, and energy was regained and flowed.
Thank you, Oliver, for the delicious food and for sharing your goats with us!
And thank you, especially to Brenda, for providing us a place for deep love to emerge, for darkness to move toward the Light!
