Back to What Matters
Reclaim Your Energy. Renew Your Perspective. Start the School Year Strong.
An Educator Well-Being Immersion
Tuesday, August 11, 2026
9:00 AM-4:00 PM
The Shawnee Institute
at the Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort
Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania
FIND OUT MORE
A FULL DAY IMMERSION
HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL EXPERIENCE:
Back to Yourself
Rediscover your strengths.
Regulate your nervous system.
Preserve your energy.
Explore evidence-based practices from Positive Psychology and well-being science.
Back to Each Other
Strengthen communication.
Build psychological safety.
Share ideas.
Learn from educators, school leaders, counselors, and helping professionals who understand exactly what this work asks of us.
Back to What Matters
Reconnect to the purpose, humanity, and hope that brought you into education in the first place.
Explore practical ways to build thriving schools by supporting the humans inside them.
How do you go back without losing yourself?
Every August we spend countless hours preparing for back to school.
We prepare lesson plans.
We prepare schedules.
We prepare technology.
We prepare buildings.
We prepare students.
But how often do we create space for the humans who carry all of it?
Educators don't need another initiative, checklist or inspirational keynote...
They need a chance to breathe, evidence-based tools that actually work, meaningful conversations with people who understand, and a chance to step away long enough to remember what matters before the school year asks everything from them.
Because the most important thing educators bring into a classroom isn't another strategy.
It's themselves.
Imagine walking into your school this fall...
...feeling grounded instead of overwhelmed, curious instead of depleted, connected instead of isolated and hopeful instead of just surviving.
Not because your job suddenly became easier, because you became more resourced.
That's what this day is designed to do.
This isn't another sit-and-get workshop.
It's an immersive experience.
We'll spend the day learning, laughing, reflecting, collaborating, walking, breathing, creating, and reconnecting alongside educators from across the region in one of the most beautiful settings in Pennsylvania.
You'll leave with practical tools you can use immediately...and something even more valuable: Perspective.
What is included in the retreat?
I've never been to a retreat before, is this good for beginners?
Will there be free time or is everything completely structured?
Are the rooms shared?
What is the agenda?
Meet Patty
Patty McLain loves to empower people to move toward their goals and dreams by showing them how to leverage their unique interests and abilities to foster more creativity, confidence, and compassion in their lives.
She's a mom to a high-energy middle schooler and she is married to her high school sweetheart. They live in Northeastern PA with their three rescue pets.
Professionally, Patty started her journey as a teacher and retired to follow her passion for holistic wellness and education. She currently teaches about healthy relationships and
Patty is also the author of two books, a Minister Practitioner, a trauma-informed SEL consultant, an AromaFreedom Technique Practitioner, a mindfulness teacher, a certified Energy Healer (with multiple modalities) and an Empowerment Coach.
In addition to her degrees and certifications, Patty is a radiant exemplar of post- traumatic growth and, more than anything, she is a Hope Dealer.
