Rise to Resilience Retreat

March 2, 2024

Our Rise to Resilience Retreat is JIT’s annual event focused around health, well-being, and healing from the effects of toxic stress. During this empowering event, JIT participants, volunteers, supporters, and members of our extended community gain insights and inspiration about building a healing community. The retreat focuses on topics such as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), mindfulness, healthy relationships, fitness, nutrition, and mental wellness, with powerful success stories shared, professionals providing expertise on various health-related topics, and youth participating in resilience-building activities.

The 2022 retreat was titled “The Journey of Becoming”, which provided a space for health, wellness, and healing by having a one-day, self-care, in-person event, where JIT participants could pause, reflect, restore, rejuvenate, and leave feeling empowered.

The Rise to Resilience Difference

Did you know that health experts have referred to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as “the single greatest unaddressed public health threat facing our nation today”? The elevated levels of stress hormones associated with ACEs and toxic stress lead to negative health consequences that can last a lifetime. In fact, research has verified that ACEs predict a higher likelihood of lifelong disorders including heart disease, cancer, unintended pregnancies, and major mental health afflictions such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and suicide.

A survey of JIT participants revealed that every respondent scored 8 or higher on the 10-point ACEs scale, exposing the critical need to address their well-being in a direct and focused way. With no ACEs-focused resource available to transition-age foster youth in San Diego, we decided to launch our own!

Our first annual Rise to Resilience Retreat in 2020 kicked off our resilience-focused initiatives, with nearly 100 youth in attendance. What we found is that just learning about ACEs and the effects toxic stress can have on development led to critical insights and empowerment.