Medicine and healthcare are demanding professions. Ongoing exposure to responsibility, emotional load, time pressure, and system constraints places even highly capable professionals at risk of burnout, moral distress, vicarious trauma and cumulative stress. Over time, this affects not only personal wellbeing, but decision-making, relationships, and capacity to care for others.

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Resilience in Practice is built on a simple premise: caring for yourself is not a luxury—it is a professional responsibility. Sustainable practice requires skills that support psychological flexibility, emotional regulation, and values-based decision-making, particularly under pressure.  It steps away from "just practice meditation" or "just have a bath" towards clarifying what meaningful change looks like to you; and short, sharp practices that you can use whilst washing your hands or changing wards.

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This is not a wellness escape - it is structured professional development designed to strengthen psychological flexibility, clarify values, and build the internal capacity required to practise well long term.

At Starling HC, we believe that Clinicians deserve a break first - and we intend to show you a good time! Our Escapes combine Alice and Joel's love of travel, passion for good food and wine (Joel was a chef for 10 years and has worked in luxury food experiences for 20 years), and Alice's dedication to improve mental health knowledge and wellbeing for all health professionals to improve quality patient care.

Resilience in Practice is led by a clinical psychologist with expertise in mental health, trauma, and systems-based care.  Alice has worked within medical teams for 20 years, has a Master of Public Health and a Doctorate of Clinical Psychology and understands the system pressures, hierarchies/power plays, moral injury and tough conversations that come with practicing within medical and community mental health teams. 

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Unlike many retreats that focus on wellbeing without clinical depth, this program is grounded in:

• Extensive experience in mental health and psychological practice

• A strong public health and systems perspective

• Experience as both a clinician and a healthcare leader (Alice was Director of Psychology and Head of Clinical Psychology at Royal Children's Hospital)

• A clear understanding of the realities of healthcare work, including risk, accountability, and complexity.

• Lived experience of the healthcare system as a patient with multiple chronic conditions

• Conversations that can lead to change

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The Escape is intentionally designed to bridge evidence-based psychological knowledge with the lived experience of healthcare professionals... And then it gives you what you desperately need - a break. 

A break from clinical decisions, food decisions and logistical trip planning - sit back and let us take care of you!  

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We have curated a balanced program of rest, rejuvenation and incredible experiences to wrap around the professional development.  Drawing on extensive in-house expertise in food, wine, and luxury hospitality, the retreat environment is curated with the same care as the educational content so that the conversation flows as easily as the wine!  Meals and experiences are designed to support restoration, enjoyment, and connection - all wrapped up in beautiful locations (think beaches, wineries, and farmhouses).  We recognise that how people are cared for matters.

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The program combines evidence-based psychological approaches, experiential learning, and structured reflective practice.  Participants will:

• Examine the neuroscience of burnout, vicarious traumatisation and moral injury as lived professional experience (not just theory)

• Participate in small-group (silent) EMDR sessions, designed to reduce the impact of vicarious trauma and occupational stress

  Learn practical emotion regulation and stress management tools for high-acuity clinical environments

• Apply ACT, CFT and positive psychology-informed strategies to address burnout, moral distress, and enhance psychological flexibility

• Work with ACT-based values clarification, defusion and psychological flexibility applied to your own clinical identity;

  Reflect on professional boundaries, responsibility, and ethical decision-making and their role in your wellbeing

• Examine the personal and systemic factors that affect sustainability - including how cultural background, upbringing and values interact with professional identity, and why self-care strategies alone are never quite enough when the system is part of the problem, and

• Walk in the bush and on the beach — guided mindfulness experiences in nature that function as both clinical practice and sensory reset

• Engage in peer discussion and expert dialogue to translate learning into clinical practice

• Have the real reflective conversations that don't happen always in supervision — over long lunches or a slow beach walk, and always in a small peer group where vulnerability feels less effortful

• Build a self-care plan you'll actually use, paired with an accountability buddy who'll check in with you well after you've gone home.

Do the retreats count as CPD?

Yes. Our educational programs are designed to meet CPD requirements for medical and allied health professionals, with structured learning outcomes and documented hours.

Accreditation with Registered Training Bodies

We are working to have our programs accreditation by multiple Accreditation bodies. If you need a particular organisation's accreditation, please contact us and let us know. We are currently accredited by:

• CPD Home - Approved Training Provider

• RACP - Approved Training Provider

• Australian Psychology Society - Approved for advertising on their website.

Total Training Hours: 20 hours of formal, workshop-based training; 10 hours integrative/reflective practice.

Documentation of CPD hours and activity types is provided to support professional CPD logging.

 CME/CPD Alignment to professional standards

Resilience in Practice has been designed to align with the CPD frameworks used by Psychology bodies (PBA, AHPRA, APS etc.) and the Australian Medical Colleges requirements, including

• Knowledge and Skills Development:  Evidence-based workshops introducing ACT-informed resilience strategies, emotional regulation tools and trauma-informed approaches to occupational stress. Up to 15 hours.

• Reviewing Performance: A focus on reflective practice spaces creates insight into your own practice and areas of challenge. Examine how your own background/culture, values and beliefs systems interact with your ability to work sustainably.  Skills will be taught formally and then 'released to the wild' to experiment with in real-life settings, with peers helping to review performance in areas including communication, holding boundaries and self-care plans.  Supervision groups will allow for ongoing review of performance with your peers, alongside problem solving of difficulties, discussions of challenging cases, ethics and professional practice.

• Reflective Practice:  Facilitated discussion, structured reflection and guided journaling on professional decision-making and workplace challenges.

• Peer Consultation/supervision:  Small-group discussions around systems stressors, and optional post-retreat supervision support collaborative learning and professional reflection.

• Measuring Outcomes:  Application of evidence-based measures to your own clinical practice (self-compassion, burnout, team cohesion etc); with consideration as to how these may be applied to your own teams and your own practice.  Participants develop an implementation plan for sustaining reflective capacity in their work and care for their own needs. Indicators will be monitored (e.g., emotional reactivity, supervision needs, or client engagement) and measured throughout the following six months as part of the supervision program.  Participants also evaluate the impact of the program on their professional wellbeing and clinical functioning through structured pre- and post-retreat measures and guided outcome reflection. This allows clinicians to assess changes in burnout, compassion fatigue, and their capacity to sustain reflective and regulated trauma-informed practice.

• Application to Practice:  Participants develop a personalised professional self-care sustainability plan and identify strategies for implementing learning within their clinical environments.

• Cultural safety and ethical practice: Discussions, workshops on cultural considerations for self-care and application to clinical environments; ethical practice in professional boundaries. 

Australian Psychological Society (APS) Requirements

Content is aligned with APS ethical principles and Codes of Conduct, including reflective practice, professional competence, and self-care as an ethical responsibility.

• Provides education on the impact of vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress on clinical functioning.

• Utilises evidence based frameworks from ACT, EMDR, CFT, positive psychology and the neurobiology of trauma.

• Develops strategies for maintaining therapeutic presence and reflective capacity during high-intensity clinical work.

• Enhances clinicians’ capacity to regulate emotional responses, reducing risk of impaired judgement in complex clinical situations.

• Supports practitioners to maintain psychological wellbeing necessary for safe and effective client care, and encourages awareness of how stress, fatigue, or emotional dysregulation may influence therapeutic interactions.

• Strengthens clinicians’ ability to maintain clear boundaries and ethical decision-making.

• Promotes reflective awareness of power dynamics and relational processes in therapy.

• Encourages psychologists to monitor their own professional functioning and recognise early signs of fatigue or burnout.

Informal Learning and Reflection Sessions

Participants engage in facilitated informal conversations throughout the retreat – during meals, activities, and designated reflection periods. These allow participants to:

• Consolidate workshop learning and explore applications in clinical environments

• Encourage reflection on professional values, boundaries and ethical dilemmas

• Foster experiential learning and peer-supported problem solving

Starling Health Collective offers a 6-month program of clinical and peer group supervision as part of its regular package of care.  Once a month for 60-90min, reconnect online with retreat friends and colleagues to consolidate your learning, discuss relevant practice issues and clinical examples that have challenged your boundaries or ability to regulate, and work through these issues in real time. 

Evidence demonstrates that as little as 7% of workshop content is retained per day without a follow up session.  This supervision and integration package will solidify your investment and allow you to have a true collective of knowledgeable peers to come back to who feel like old friends.    ​​​

These sessions will provide:

• Accountability for your self-care plan

• Problem-solving of barriers to self-care on your return home

• Refinement of your understanding of mental health discussions

• Experiential exercises to continue to clarify your purpose, values and clinical meaning

• Ongoing discussions of systemic barriers, managing complex colleagues and self-protection in your role

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We offer an "Early Starling" Discount for participants who pay for this package at the time of booking your Escape- save $200 by booking in advance of the Escape.  

Accommodation, food and experiences are curated to allow for genuine nurturing and restoration. To avoid cognitive overload, the program alternates mornings of structured learning with afternoons of recovery, integration and exploration within the beautiful surrounds of the Margaret River Wine Region.

Once formal workshops are complete (usually by lunch time), you have the chance to join us to explore the region. We're offering wine tastings at Vasse Felix and Blind Corner; brewery lunches at Eagle Bay and Shelter (both with amazing views!); grazing tables overlooking Meelup Farm; cheese tastings and breakfasts on the beach! All experiences are included in our price, and we will make sure you'll want for nothing - experience the region through it's local food and wine; reconnect to nature through our morning walks and/or swims, and through outdoor experiential learning; puase for coffee and chats with your peers and wind down at night whilst discussing the day's topics over a wine at the resort.

For more information about the incredible locations we have chosen to host our Educational Escapes from, click here

SUNDAY 

• 9am: Start your adventure in Busselton! Pick up from Busselton airport (Melb flight) or meet us at Shelter Brewing on Busselton Pier for a light breakfast or wander along the beach.  

• 10.50am: Depart Busselton for early lunch at Eagle Bay Brewing Co. Orientation. 

• 2pm: Check in at Eight Willows Retreat.

• 3-4.30pm: Training.  

• 4.30-6pm: Chill out time. 

• 6pm: Relaxed family dinner at Eight Willows 

MONDAY 

• 7.15am: Breakfast baskets delivered to your chalet door. 

• 8-8.45am: Optional mindful walk on property. 

• 9am - 12.45pm: Training (inc morning tea break) 

• 1pm: Transfer to Meelup Farmhouse for lunch. 

• 3.15pm: Depart for Margaret River township for individual exploration 

• 6pm-8.30pm: Meet us for dinner at the famous Settler's Tavern.  

TUESDAY 

• 7.30am: Depart Eight Willows for Gnarabup 

• 8am - 10.30am: breakfast at White Elephant Cafe + beach (optional mindfulness session) 

• 11am - 12.45pm: Training 

• 12.45pm - 1.30pm: Lunch onsite 

• 1.30pm - 2.30pm: Training 

• 2.30pm - 4pm: Group 1 - G-TEP EMDR; Group 2 - Cheese Tasting with Hospitality Host 

• 4pm - 5.30pm: Group 1 Cheese tasting; Group 2 - G-TEP EMDR

• 6pm - 7pm: Optional activities - Yoga or Drinks on the Patio 

• 7.30pm: Dinner at Eight Willows by Lagoon 

WEDNESDAY 

• 7am: Depart for Yallingup 

• 7.30am - 9.30am: Breakfast at Lagoon + beach walk/swim/mindfulness 

• 10am - 1pm: Training (including morning tea break) 

• 1.15 - 3.30pm: Depart for Vasse Felix Winery for lunch + wine tasting 

• 4pm - 5.30pm: - Blind Corner Winery (tasting) 

• 6pm - 8pm: Amelia Park Lodge (dinner) 

THURSDAY 

• 7am - 7.45am: Breakfast hampers with (optional) mindfulness sessions (bring your breakfast!) 

• 8am - 8.30am: Pack up and check out. Depart Eight Willows 

• 9am - 11.30: Training at Shelter.  

• 11.30am - 12.45pm: Lunch  

• 12.45pm: Depart for Busselton and Perth Domestic Airport (or stay in Margaret River for the weekend!) 

• 20 hours of formal workshop training + up to 10 hours of reflective practice and peer discussion

• 4-star chalet accommodation at Eight Willow Retreat 

• A welcome pack and information about the region 

• All curated meals and wine experiences (where listed - additional to be self-purchased) 

• Onsite coffee cart and fresh juices (when breakfast is onsite)

• Cheese flight 

• All planned activities and integration sessions 

• Transfers from Busselton Airport on Day 1; Return Transfer to Perth Day 5

• Transport throughout the retreat

• Optional yoga (one) and mindfulness sessions

The two-bedroom queen bad chalets are set within natural bushland, and have 2 queen beds, and 2 bathrooms, so you are assured of your own space and comfort within this shared option.   See Two Bedroom Queen Chalets - Eight Willows Retreat Margaret River Region for more information.

***Please let us know if you are travelling with a friend and would like to share a chalet with them. Room allocations will be made in May 2026.

Have your own private sanctuary to retreat to.  The 1-bedroom King Chalets have a separate living room and bedroom with comfortable spaces to relax. Enjoy the soothing sounds of the bushland from the comfort of the king-size bed or unwind in the indulgent spa bath. Step out onto your private deck, perfect for enjoying a sundowner while taking in the tranquil surroundings.  See One Bedroom King Spa Chalet - Eight Willows Retreat Margaret River Region for more information.

• Flights to and from Busselton or Perth WA (check Jetstar for specials straight to Busselton!)

• Transfers to/from the Retreat (except for pick up from Busselton airport on Day 1 of the Retreat and Busselton to Perth on Day 5). 

• Individual Travel Insurance (strongly recommended) 

• Supervision and Integration package - after the Escapes

From Melbourne:

There are direct Jetstar flights from Melbourne to Busselton (where our retreats start) on the Sunday morning (departing Melbourne at 8.15am). These are usually the most economical flights.

Busselton to Melbourne flights don't fly on Thursdays, so stay in the region a few more days (next flight out is Friday 10am), or jump on our coach to Perth and fly Perth to Melbourne on Thursday night to arrive home in time for work the next day.

Flights also operate regularly between Melbourne and Perth, with regular coaches to Margaret River and Busselton.

From Sydney:

***Flights from Sydney to Busselton are currently suspended***

Direct flights from Sydney direct to Busselton arrive on Saturday (1.50pm arrival). Stay overnight in Busselton (not included) and meet us Sunday morning for breakfast to start the retreat. There are no direct flights from Sydney to Busselton on Sunday morning, however flights operate regularly between Sydney and Perth.

Direct flights are available between Busselton and Sydney (transport available) leaving at 2.35pm on Thursday and arriving 9.45pm in Sydney. Alternatively, stay a few more days, or jump on our coach to Perth.

Other centres: Please see airline carriers for flight options.

Whilst we've tried to balance affordability with a true luxurious feel, we're aware that cost of living is tight. Our payment schedule aims to make it as easy as possible to join us on our Escapes. 

Payment 1: Retreat Deposit (non-refundable - unless transfer of ticket is arranged).  

• Early bird deposit: $250 inc. GST (pay before 30/6/26) 

• Standard deposit: $500 inc. GST (after 30/30/26) 

Payment 2: Accommodation (paid direct to Eight Willows Retreat) 

Due by 30/7/26

• Shared 2-bedroom chalet (individual room): $835 inc. GST 

• Private chalet: $ 1300 inc. GST

Payment 3: Retreat Balance (paid direct to Starling Health Collective) 

Due 1/9/26  

• Shared 2-bed chalet (individual room) $ 4110 inc. GST

• Private chalet: $4,134.50 inc. GST

**Please contact us to discuss payment plans or options for payment if your workplace financing does not align with this schedule. We are happy to provide invoices etc. for ease of payment.

Please ensure that you read our terms and conditions in the below document.  Paying a deposit implies consent for our Terms and Conditions

Terms and Conditions

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