Join us for this transformational day retreat. 

November 15, 2025

10am - 3pm (Rain or Shine)

Naval Life Oak Bayside

1801 Gulf Breeze Parkway, Gulf Breeze, FL 

Join us for one of our Nature Retreat Days as we seek to experience what St. Bernard of Clairvaux expressed hundreds of years ago. We will have a morning and afternoon contemplative session, with lunch in between. One session will feature the practice of Terra Divina, which is much the same as Lectio Divina, except that we will be "reading" the landscape. The other session will involve a reflection on Job 12: 7-10, where we will ask what the created order might have to teach us.

The author says this about her program:

Houses of Healing offers an in-depth program in emotional habilitation and personal growth as well as the consistent encouragement needed to engage successfully in this challenging and demanding process. The author draws the reader in by speaking clearly and directly to the situations and feelings that most all incarcerated men and women struggle with.

In Houses of Healing, prisoners learn how to confront issues such as childhood wounding, grieving, managing anger, facing the impact of crime, and taking ultimate responsibility for themselves and their actions. The program offers guidance in stress management techniques and healthy, practical coping strategies. It addresses, in depth, the necessity of self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others that are often overlooked and misunderstood despite the fact that they are essential to the cultivation of empathy and emotional and spiritual maturity. 

Guiding prisoners toward a restored sense of self in a context of respect, encouragement, and inspiration, Houses of Healing combines essential tools for change with a deep understanding of the challenges facing the offender population. 

While the residents at Bright Bridge Ministry in Pensacola, FL are not incarcerated, the residents have either been recently released from jail/prison, are in recovery from drug and/or alcohol addiction or homelessness. Completing this program will give the residents the tools they need to live successfully on their own.