The retreat will be located at St. Louis Play Therapy Institute
1123 Locust Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63101

​Need a self-care break? Then the first annual STLPTI Mindfulness Retreat is for you! This two-day event will feature new and old techniques to help healthcare professionals care for themselves both mentally and spiritually. The event will include an array of experts on topics such as using holistic approaches to manage anxiety, ways to use music to help unblock your chakras, and more!

Itinerary

June 14th, 2019

9:00-10:30am    Finding your Inner Voice

• Facilitator: Cheryl Shea

10:45-11:45 am    Yoga for the Working Professional

• Facilitator: Ronya Williams

12:00-12:45pm   Lunch
1:00-2:30pm      The Art of Altered Journals

• Facilitator: Ali Gabel

2:45-4:00pm      Healing through Aromatherapy

• Facilitator: Sarah Lehman

​June 15th, 2019

9:00-10:30am      Exploring Dream Work

• Facilitator: Margaret Howard

10:45-11:00am      Creating a Soul Playlist to Unblock Your Chakras

• Facilitator: Aza Njeri

12:00- 12:45pm     Lunch
1:00-3:30pm        Mindfulness in Sand Tray

• Facilitator: April Duncan

3:30-4:00pm        Reflections/closing remarks

Registration

Registration includes lunch on both days and take-home gifts including a chakra bracelet, zen sand tray, essential oil rollerball, and journal.

Meet Our Facilitators

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April Duncan, MSW, LCSW, RPT

​April is the co-founder of The St. Louis Play Therapy Institute, and provides play therapy training to mental health professionals. Her expertise covers a wide range of therapeutic and play therapy topics, with her current research focusing on deconstructing the preschool to prison pipeline through early therapeutic intervention. As an enthusiastic speaker and educator, April always provides an informative, fun, and engaging environment to training attendees.

In addition to trainings, April provides therapeutic services to young children with significant social, emotional, and behavioral concerns, as well as to their families. She also collaborates with local agencies and preschools to facilitate group play therapy for children and adults, employing music, art, and sand tray play therapy techniques. April provides consultation for local agencies, school districts, & preschools, and may be contacted to help organizations address the implementation of better clinical practices and management strategies. 

Ali Gabel, MA, PLPC

Ali Gabel currently maintains a private practice serving adolescent and adult survivors of domestic violence and is contracted to complete emergency psychiatric assessments for hospitals employing TeleHealth. She has been practicing for 6 years and specializes in domestic violence and crisis counseling, using art-making to help clients process the complex trauma they often struggle to verbalize. As a passionate and spirited educator, Ali will inform trainees while eagerly answering questions and pushing trainees to think beyond the norm.

Margaret Howard, MFA, LCSW

Margaret's practice orientation works within the intersections of earth and ecological psychology, body/somatic psychology, Jungian-influenced depth and dream work as modernized and influenced by Toko-pa Turner, Sharon Blackie, Daniel Foor, and others, with EMDR resourcing and processing as appropriate, focusing clinically on trauma and anxiety in women.  This work is in relationship with the how trauma and anxiety express in the body, the personal unconscious, the collective unconscious, intergenerationally and within the community.

​Margaret's work and perspective includes the effects of colonization, slavery, capitalism, and other abusive systems as they impacted our ancestors and ourselves in the present time. This work engages deep archetype and family inheritance of traumas and patterns (in adoptees as well as those raised by biological parents), and recognized the importance of all life to our wellbeing, including animals, plants, and the very land we live upon. Theoretical influences include Van der Kolk, Ogden, Porjes, Levine, Estes, and other doing research and work in the triune brain model, the autonomic nervous system, and the mind/body. At the center of this is a mindfulness orientation. 

Sarah Lehman, MSW, LCSW, RPT-S

Sarah is the co-founder of St. Louis Play Therapy Institute, and both trains and provides supervision to participants of the STLPTI certificate program. For over 12 years, Sarah has been offering professional training and is well versed in play therapy topics (from beginner to advanced), as well as trauma-informed care and mindfulness. She is a dynamic speaker, and brings a high level of energy into the classroom while delivering relevant information and interventions. 

Sarah also works full-time for the Early Childhood Department of the Special School District of St. Louis County. She has over 18 years of experience supporting children of all ages, and uses a variety of play therapy techniques to aid and empower students with acute social, emotional, and behavioral concerns, as well as their families. To promote the continual development of ethical and knowledgeable clinicians, Sarah also provides supervision for those pursuing their LCSW and RPT. She has been a clinical supervisor since 2011.

Aza Njeri

Aza Njeri is a St. Louis based mental health professional, griot, author, award winning- filmmaker, educator, and second-generation Hip hop recording artist who uses Hip Hop to inspire and heal the masses. She earned a B.S. in psychology from the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, where she studied under African scholars that groomed her to appreciate self knowledge and enlightenment. Aza is the author of Hip Hop, You Saved my Life, a workbook to aid self-discovery and a companion memoir, Hip Hop, You Saved My Life: Black Girl Narrative. Her writing style is raw, hip, poignant and compassionate.  Aza believes we all have a story but lack the courage to share. She is dedicated to healing arts, and her independent research in complex trauma and expressive art therapy has lead her to facilitate healing circles, professional training workshops and lectures around the country.

Cheryl Shea, DC

Cheryl Shea is a chiropractic physician in Kirkwood, MO. Her educational background is extensive, but more importantly she was led to alternative healthcare at the age of 44 and began studies in chiropractic, acupuncture, nutrition and homeopathy. She is certified in Clinical Kinesiology and Zero Balance. In addition, her practice, called Complete Wellness Center offers meditation, grief support and intuitive healing.
http://www.drsheawellness.com

Ronya Williams, MSW, LCSW

I am a licensed therapist and yoga instructor who lives to help others. I began my yoga journey as a means to heal myself from anxiety and depression that had developed from various life circumstances. In 2016, I experienced a traumatic loss that exacerbated my anxiety and depression symptoms. I wanted a treatment different then medicine- an approach that could treat the root of my condition- and not just the symptoms. My pain led me to become a yoga instructor and therapist with the goal to help others learn to live in the present, learn to love themselves and life again after hardship.

​My hope is together we can unlock our inner truths, talents and strengths to achieve contentment and happiness in all that life brings. I, like all my fellow yogis, am a constant work in progress, eager to continue my own healing and help others begin theirs.