This Is Water

Last weekend, I lead a residential wellbeing retreat at the Dan Anderson Renewal Center on the Center City, Minn., campus of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. We examined the origin and nature of suffering, and some potential solutions.


We used David Foster Wallace’s This Is Water as our core text. Here are my PowerPoints that explore some related ideas:

Many thanks to Paul Anderson for inviting me to lead the retreat. And a huge thanks to Peg Schroeder for assistance with planning and onsite support.

Based on positive evaluations, it seems likely that we will offer the retreat again to all comers (not just health professionals). ✸

Adjust Your Own Mask

No, not *that* kind of mask! I’m thinking about the airline safety announcement. It’s a great metaphor for health professionals—it’s hard to help others when we’re struggling ourselves.

Please join me for a weekend retreat at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s aptly named Renewal Center, located on its beautiful Center City, Minn., campus. I’ll be bringing together a decade of work on burnout, resilience and wellbeing, with a big emphasis on acquiring new self-care skills.

Anyone working in healthcare welcome. And, yes, Hazelden Betty Foundation is known for addiction treatment—but you don’t need to have a personal history of addiction to attend the retreat. ✸

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Postscript. The retreat’s title—This Is Water—is a riff on a small but profound book by David Foster Wallace.