The Serenity on the Sound Retreat began 30 years ago. This will be the 31st annual retreat. It was birthed from an idea by members of both SAA and COSA. This group of addicts, co-addicts, and codependents thought about getting together and working our recovery in a safe retreat location and setting. As the years have progressed, the retreat has grown and evolved. We are also unique in that we promote cooperation in the fellowships to further everyone’s personal recovery.

The biggest change in the retreat this year is that we are going virtual. Using Zoom as a platform for workshops and meetings seems to work quite well. It is not the same as being able to be next to one another; however, we can still connect via chat and video. If you are not familiar with Zoom, ask one of your friends in the fellowship to review it with you. Phone calls and texts can be a very appropriate means for talking, learning, and growing.

As with all of our retreats, we are an adults only retreat hence 18 and over. This allows us to provide better safety for all. As with any addiction(s), safety and mutual healthy support are keys to our personal recovery. We will strive to offer a safe and spiritually rewarding retreat for all.

I invite anyone to make comments on past retreats or even this retreat. We welcome your ideas. Our goal is to bring us together, have a fun time, learn a lot, and grow in our own personal recovery program. Stay tuned as I will discuss some of the retreat workshops you can look forward to enjoying in an upcoming blog entry. Thank you for reading.

As everyone knows, the past few months have changed our normal routines to new routines. Obviously this is due to the novel corona virus dubbed Covid-19. For most of us these new routines have come at a negative social and economic cost. These costs are real; however, each of us have the chance to mitigate these costs.

You are likely here and reading this site since you are either an addict, co-addict, or codependent of some sort. In the past challenges and changes to our routines could and would spiral us out of control. For myself personally, I have in the past let situations like this Covid pandemic lead me into either my addictive or codependent habits and traits. This year is different for me as I have worked to nurture myself in other positive ways.

But enough about me. This year our committee, the Puget Sound Retreat Committee (PSRC), is also adapting and doing things differently. For all of us as well as our previous attendees, the annual Serenity on the Sound Retreat has been an oasis for our own personal recoveries. Since we are not able to meet personally in groups for the foreseeable future, we have to adapt and do things differently. So this year we are going to be doing Serenity on the Sound differently, virtually. We are creating and developing it as I type these notes. What is exciting to me is that we have a great group of people who will help to create this virtual retreat, turning it into something very special. I think you will find in some ways, there are ways that this type of virtual may even be able to provide stronger recovery for each of us.

The theme of this year’s retreat is “Bringing Us Together.” With the help of technology, we will be able to provide a helpful and healing retreat experience for even more souls. Without a doubt, HP is leading us on a path to creating new healing, serenity, and joy within our lives.

In conclusion, this retreat belongs to all of us. We welcome your thoughts, questions, and feedback. We already have at least 4 or 5 workshops being setup. This is sure to be a fun and healthy event again. I look forward to seeing many of you virtually this year. Register on the Registration Page and join us as we focus on Bringing Us Together.

by Dale E – PSRC Member (SAA/COSA)