Who holds the helper?
A two-day retreat for professionals to recharge and renew.
June 13th and 14th, 2026
Rest. Reflect. Reconnect.
A two-day immersive retreat to reconnect with why you came to this work and a space for you to be held.
Working closely with people is rewarding, yet demanding. You hold steady for others through distress, rupture and repair; you carry what they cannot yet carry themselves. Even with good support and trusted colleagues, the work can feel lonely; sometimes another person's story quietly echoes one of your own.
This retreat is an invitation to step onto an island of safety for two days. A space made with horses as quiet companions to the process, where you can settle, soften and re-centre.
It is not training. It is not performance.
It is a place to exhale.
Who this is for
This retreat is for anyone whose work means holding space for others. Therapists, coaches and counsellors; doctors, nurses and carers; teachers, social workers, lawyers, and the many people whose role is to sit with another's difficulty and help them carry it.
If your work involves absorbing other people's weight, this retreat is built for you.
You do not need previous experience with horses, and you do not need to be trained in Internal Family Systems.
What we'll explore
Drawing on Internal Family Systems (IFS), embodied practice and the relational intelligence of horses, the two days move through four threads:
How our own parts and burdens are activated by the people we work with, and what to do when that happens.
How self-energy is restored, rather than performed.
How horses respond to what is underneath the surface, and what that reveals.
How a community can hold what supervision sometimes cannot
What you'll leave with
Renewed clarity about the work you do and why you began it; a lighter internal load, with tools to keep it that way; deeper trust in your own internal system; and a felt sense of belonging in work that can otherwise be isolating.
What’s included
Guided experiential sessions with the LEAP herd; reflective circles with peers who speak the same language; gentle body-based practices to restore regulation; quiet time, a fire pit, and unhurried conversation. Refreshments are provided on both days.
Wellness add-ons available on the day
Equipilates, individually or in a group; reflexology for grounding and recovery. Reiki with the herd. These are bookable separately at the retreat, with details circulated nearer the time.
Your facilitators
Jo-Anne Karlsson is a Marriage and Family Therapist, US-trained, a psychotherapist and equine facilitator, and the director of LEAP Equine. She holds Internal Family Systems training to Level 2 and is trained to Level 3 in Brainspotting. She works systemically with complex trauma, dissociation, and compulsive and addictive behaviours in private practice as well as runs an online programme for young people aged 15-23 years. Over more than a decade of relational work with horses and clients, she rewrote both the Level 4 and Level 5 Crossfields Institute diplomas in equine-facilitated practice; the first Ofqual-regulated qualifications of their kind. Her approach is unhurried and relational; she works at the pace the person and the horse set, not the pace of a curriculum.
Philip King brings an integrative therapeutic approach to the retreat, drawing on his training in IFS, CBT and EMDR and his work in nature. He is accredited as both an individual and team coach by the International Coaching Federation and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, is trained in Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy (EFP/EAP) with LEAP Equine. Philip has a Masters degree in Mental Health Studies with a specialism in CBT from the United Medical and Dental Schools of the Guys and St. Thomas’s, University of London. Before moving into therapeutic work, Philip practised as a barrister and taught law for over a decade at Birkbeck, University of London; he understands, from the inside, the particular weight carried by those in high-responsibility professions.
Have Questions?
Tell us a little about your work and what's drawing you to this retreat
The retreat and price
£497 + VAT
LEAP members and previous attendees: £447 + VAT
Your place includes
Peer-led reflection and facilitation sessions; real-time review of client-style session plans; niche exploration worksheets and reflection tools; LEAP symbology and CARE card decks for integration; quiet space, a fire pit, and community-led dialogue; lunch and refreshments on both days; and optional wellness add-ons.
Attendees arrange their own lunch and accommodation; a list of local options is given on booking. Places are limited, and preparation begins once a place is confirmed; for this reason, all bookings are non-refundable. By booking, you confirm your place and accept the full terms and conditions.
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£497 + VAT.
Not sure if it's the right fit? Send your enquiry above, or email help@leapequine.com about your work, and we'll come back to you.