Return to Self: An Embodied Reset for Identity and Connection
Return to Self
An Embodied Reset for Identity and Connection
For the people who are holding everything together while quietly feeling disconnected from themselves underneath.
This therapist-led New Year weekend is designed to help you slow down, reconnect with your body, and begin the next season of your life from a place of clarity instead of survival.
You do not need another year of trying harder.
You may already be doing all the things you are “supposed” to do.
You show up. You manage your responsibilities. You care for other people. You keep going. You perform competence well.
But underneath that, something may feel off.
Disconnected. Tired. Numb. Restless. Overextended. Unsure what you actually want.
Maybe your body has been trying to get your attention. Maybe your relationships are showing you patterns you are ready to understand. Maybe your identity, sexuality, spirituality, grief, or desires have been asking for room to breathe.
Return to Self is a structured, small-group weekend for adults who are ready to stop abandoning themselves in the name of productivity, performance, caretaking, or shame.
This is not about becoming someone new. It is about returning to the parts of you that have been waiting for safety, attention, and honest connection.
A grounded reset for body, identity, and direction.
Return to Self is a clinically informed, therapist-led weekend rooted in embodiment, consent, nervous system awareness, values clarification, and integration.
This is not a vague wellness escape. It is not an unstructured psychedelic retreat. It is not a weekend of forced vulnerability or performative breakthrough.
It is a carefully held experience designed to help you slow down, listen inward, understand your patterns, and leave with a clearer relationship to yourself.
Over the weekend, you will be guided through:
- Preparation and intention setting
- Nervous system and body-based grounding practices
- Reflection on identity, values, and connection
- Consent-based boundary work
- Optional inward experience for participants using legally prescribed, self-administered medication
- Creative and somatic integration
- Small-group connection and practical next-step planning
This may be for you if...
You are high-functioning, responsible, capable, and tired.
- You are holding a lot on the outside while feeling disconnected underneath.
- You want a meaningful reset at the beginning of the year.
- You are curious about your body, identity, sexuality, spirituality, or relationships.
- You are ready to understand your patterns without shaming yourself for having them.
- You want structure, not chaos.
- You are comfortable in a space that honors sexual, relational, spiritual, and identity diversity with maturity, respect, and consent.
This is not the right fit for everyone.
Return to Self is not a crisis program, detox program, inpatient treatment, medical retreat, or substitute for ongoing mental health care.
This retreat is not appropriate if you are currently experiencing active suicidality, recent self-harm, untreated psychosis, mania, severe dissociation, current substance misuse that would interfere with safety, or a need for acute psychiatric stabilization.
All participants complete a screening process before acceptance.
If this is not the right level of care, we will be honest with you.
Structure, without shame. Depth, without chaos.
A carefully held experience from preparation through integration.
The retreat begins before you arrive and continues through a grounded integration plan you can carry home.
This flow can be adjusted based on final venue, weather, group needs, and clinical judgment. The intention is containment, spaciousness, and real-life integration.
Preparation
Application and screening, individual intake or fit conversation, review of safety expectations, one to two virtual group preparation sessions, intention-setting prompts, and guidance on what to bring.
Arrive, Ground, Orient
Welcome circle, gentle grounding, introductions, group agreements, consent and boundary expectations, psychoeducation on self-connection and stress patterns, sensory self-soothing, and reflection for Saturday preparation.
Patterns, Parts, and Intention
Explore how stress and protection patterns shape beliefs about self, the relationship between thoughts, emotions, body cues, and behavior, and how to work with internal patterns without shame.
Structured Inward Experience
For some participants, this may include legally prescribed, self-administered medication under their own prescriber’s care. For others, this may be a non-medicine inward practice using meditation, music, rest, somatic awareness, journaling, or creative reflection.
Integration, Identity, and Next Steps
Opening reflection, somatic integration, expressive arts or guided journaling, values clarification, identity and connection reflection, practical next-step planning, closing circle, and follow-up recommendations.
The medicine is optional. You are the center.
Some participants may choose to incorporate legally prescribed, ketamine as part of their personal inward experience.
Participants who choose to include medication will be reffered to retreat partners
Our role
Participation in the retreat does not require medication.
Our role is to provide preparation, structure, safety agreements, non-directive support, and integration.
The medicine is not the promise of the weekend.
The promise is reconnection, reflection, and integration within a carefully held container.
Why identity and connection?
Many people learned to disconnect from themselves in order to belong, stay safe, be accepted, avoid conflict, or avoid shame.
That disconnection may show up in the body, relationships, sexuality, spirituality, work, caretaking, perfectionism, people-pleasing, over-functioning, or emotional shutdown.
Return to Self creates space to explore identity and connection without forcing labels, disclosures, or conclusions.
This weekend is queer-affirming, kink-aware, consent-centered, and spiritually respectful.
You are welcome to bring the complexity of who you are. You are also welcome to move slowly.
What you may leave with
Every participant’s experience will be different. The weekend is designed to support:
- Greater connection with your body and inner experience
- Clearer language for your needs, limits, and desires
- A deeper understanding of protective patterns
- More compassion toward the parts of you that have been surviving
- A values-aligned intention for the new year
- A practical integration plan
- Connection without pressure to perform
January in Florida
This weekend will take place in Florida in a private, supportive setting designed for quiet, containment, reflection, and connection.
Because January weather can be unpredictable, the retreat will include both indoor and outdoor options. Nature-based practices will be offered as weather allows.
Accepted participants will receive location details, packing guidance, and preparation information before the retreat.
Held by experienced, clinically grounded providers.
Return to Self is facilitated by a team with training in psychotherapy, psychedelic-assisted frameworks, psychiatric care, embodiment, sexuality, trauma-informed support, and integration.
Julie Norman, LPC
Julie is a licensed therapist trained in trauma, nervous system regulation, compulsive behavior, sexuality, and psychedelic-assisted therapy frameworks.
Her work is grounded in structure, compassion, embodiment, and the belief that people heal best when they are met with honesty, consent, and dignity.
Julie’s clinical lens integrates ACT-informed values work, Gestalt awareness, somatic regulation, and shame-sensitive support for people navigating identity, intimacy, neurodivergence, compulsive patterns, betrayal, and relational repair.
Shveta Mittal, PhD
Dr. Shveta Mittal is a licensed psychologist in New York, Connecticut, and Florida with more than a decade of experience helping clients deepen self-understanding, coping, insight, and personal growth.
Her work is sex-positive, person-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive, with experience supporting first responders and clients holding multiple marginalized identities.
She is trained in evidence-based approaches including CBT, Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Processing Therapy, EFCT, CBCT, and DBT. She is also a Certified Psychedelic Practitioner and offers Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy in partnership with Journey Clinical and other medical providers.
Douglas Knapp, MSN, APRN
Douglas Knapp is an ANCC Board-Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner with training in nursing and psychology.
He has worked across military service, outpatient clinics, hospitals, and inpatient substance use settings, giving him experience with a wide range of psychiatric conditions and treatment needs.
Doug’s approach is integrative, evidence-based, and patient-centered. He values collaboration, open communication, medication management when appropriate, psychotherapy-informed care, and lifestyle support to help clients feel heard, understood, and empowered in their mental health journey.
Return to Self: An Embodied Reset for Identity and Connection
January 2027 | Florida | Limited to 12 participants
Investment: $1800
Final pricing will depend on lodging and meal structure. Payment plans available through Shop Pay, Affirm, and Care Credit.
Your investment includes shelter and sustenance, pre-retreat application review and screening, individual intake or fit conversation, virtual preparation, weekend facilitation, group programming, support presence during the structured inward experience, integration activities and materials, and 2 follow-up integration sessions within 30 days of the retreat.
Travel and medication are clarified separately based on final venue and participant needs.
Application Process
Because this is a small, carefully held experience, participation is application-based. The screening process helps ensure the retreat is a safe and appropriate fit for your current needs, goals, and level of support.
Step 1 — Apply
Complete the contact form and share a little about what is bringing you to this retreat, your previous ketamine experience if any, and whether you are interested in considering ketamine as part of your retreat experience.
Step 2 — Screening / Discovery Call
After submitting your form, you will receive an email with next steps and the opportunity to schedule a brief screening and discovery call.
Step 3 — Preparation
Accepted participants will receive preparation materials, group session dates, packing guidance, and support for setting intentions before arrival.
Step 4 — Return to Self
Arrive ready to slow down, reconnect with yourself, and step into the new year with greater clarity, embodiment, and direction.
Common questions
Is this therapy?
Return to Self is therapist-led and clinically informed, but it is not a substitute for ongoing therapy or acute mental health care. Some elements may feel therapeutic, but the retreat itself is a structured educational, experiential, and integration-focused weekend.
Do I have to use ketamine to attend?
No. Medication is optional. Participants may choose to engage the inward experience through non-medicine practices such as meditation, music, rest, journaling, somatic awareness, or creative reflection.
Do you provide or prescribe ketamine?
We partner with Journey Clinical and others to refer appropriate candidates when requested.
Is this only for queer or kinky people?
No. This retreat is open to adults who are aligned with the purpose and structure of the weekend. It is queer-affirming, kink-aware, and consent-centered, meaning those identities and experiences will be treated with respect and maturity.
Will there be touch-based work?
All practices are invitational. No one is required to receive touch. Any supportive contact, if included at all, will be discussed clearly and will require explicit consent. Boundaries may be changed at any time.
What if I am nervous about being in a group?
That is welcome and expected. The group is intentionally small, structured, and boundaried. You will never be required to share more than you choose.
What happens after the weekend?
You will leave with an integration plan and recommendations for continued support. Some participants may choose ongoing therapy, coaching, group support, or additional integration sessions.
You do not have to begin the year by bracing yourself.
You can begin by listening. You can begin by returning.
Return to Self is a small, structured weekend for adults ready to reconnect with their body, identity, values, and next season of life.