Announcing Un-M-Othered Revolution 2.0: A Healing Retreat for Adoptees in December (with Dr. Liz)
Aug 06, 2026
Important Links:
Hear directly from the pilot participants here
Register for Un-M-Othered: A Revolution in Adoptee Healing retreat here
Red Poppy Website
Catch Julie and Liz in person at the Making of Me event in September
Join The Refuge Membership Community here
The retreat is back. In this special announcement episode, Julie is joined by her co-facilitator, colleague, and friend Dr. Liz DeBetta to share that Un-M-Othered: A Revolution in Adoptee Healing returns December 4–6, 2026 - this time at the Red Poppy Center for Renewal in Highland, Michigan, with everything under one roof.
Dr. Liz DeBetta is a narrative healing practitioner, creator of the Migrating Toward Wholeness process, and the writer and performer behind Un-M-Othered - the work this entire retreat is built around. Together, Julie and Liz look back at what happened in that first sacred room in Idaho, what they learned, and how the second iteration is genuinely a different animal.
In this episode:
Content note: This conversation includes discussion of adoption trauma, grief, and relinquishment. Please listen with care and tend to your nervous system as needed.
- What actually happened at the pilot retreat in May - five adoptees, many of them in a room with other adopted people for the very first time
- The biggest lessons carried forward: keeping everything in one place, protecting integration time, and the power of small
- Inside the Red Poppy Center for Renewal - a woman-owned sacred healing space with gardens, a lake, a fire pit, and a heated indoor pool and hot tub (December in Michigan, y'all)
- Why the film screens Friday night, so nervous systems can sleep on it before the deep work begins
- Two intimate circles of seven, with both groups experiencing Liz's narrative writing track and Julie's Belonging Blueprint somatic track
- Brand new: private one-on-one sessions - every participant chooses narrative coaching, somatic work, or bodywork and reiki - and why choice matters at a retreat built on bodily autonomy
- How Liz's four N's (Notice, Name, Nurture, Next Step) and Julie's five C's move together: feeling it in the body, then finding language for it
- Who this retreat is for - whether you're just beginning or you've been stuck in the same therapy chair for a decade
- Why December: solstice stillness, and a pause between the holidays that can be so hard for adopted people
- A hint about what's coming in June…
The details:
Un-M-Othered: A Revolution in Adoptee Healing
Friday, December 4 – Sunday, December 6, 2026
Red Poppy Center for Renewal - Highland, Michigan
14 spots total. One all-in price covers your room, every meal, all programming, and your private one-on-one session. No hotel bill, no dinners out, no surprises.
Connect with Dr. Liz DeBetta here
Questions about whether this retreat is right for where you are? DM Julie or Liz on the socials, or schedule a conversation with Julie here.
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