Serenity Program

Many professions in healthcare are physically, emotionally and mentally demanding. Very often professionals are faced with difficult, even traumatic circumstances. They regularly have to communicate about emotionally difficult subjects in situations with heightened emotions. They very often need an extra dose of resilience.

We deliver one day, two day or retreats focused on professional personal development. Our programme uses evidence-based wellbeing and psychological techniques which participants practice and can use in their daily lives. Participants leave with tools to support their own serenity.

What is the toll of repeated exposure to death and dying on those healthcare professionals who witness it daily? Mireille Herbert Hayden writes about Life, Death and Serenity for BACP. Working with palliative care teams and carers, Mireille shares how she supports this workforce.

This article first appeared in the January 2025 issue of BACP Workplace, published by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. https://www.bacp.co.uk/bacp-journals/bacp-workplace/ ©BACP 2025.

  • BC520 Workplace January 2025 AW01 Hayden Images 0
  • BC520 Workplace January 2025 AW01 Hayden Images 1
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To book a Serenity Program for your team get in touch.

Mireille Hayden
“There needs to be a wider organisational approach, an upstream intervention to teach staff to learn to use tools and develop practices that will help them to process the continued challenges they face in their roles and enable them to develop their own resilience and positive mental health approaches. Ultimately, this will result in healthier staff and better care for those who need it”
Mireille Herbert Hayden, BACP workplace Jan 2025

Case Study

Gentle Dusk delivered a Serenity day for a hospital palliative care team including doctors, nurses, care assistants, psychologist and physiotherapists.

I enjoyed learning new tools to better understand my/our emotions

I enjoyed having a day away from the ward so that we could talk in complete confidence and get everyone’s views and feelings.

The different tools proposed for our well-being and being able to put them into practice was great

Pathway to Serenity Retreat

The Pathway to Serenity retreat was created by Health Psychologist Mireille Herbert Hayden, using tools and insights that draw on 20 years of clinical experience. Originally designed to support palliative care professionals facing emotionally demanding roles, these tools have been integrated into a retreat format to benefit anyone—professionals and individuals alike—seeking greater clarity, calm and confidence in their personal or working lives.

At the heart of the retreat is a gentle invitation: to slow down, reconnect with yourself, and rediscover your natural state of ease. Guided by evidence-based tools and compassionate facilitators, you’ll learn simple, powerful practices to meet life’s challenges with resilience and inner steadiness.

Come just as you are. Leave feeling grounded, refreshed, and with practical ways to stay connected to a deeper peace.

What we offer:

Transformation

Focus on personal growth and life changes, meditation and wellness practices to help individuals achieve significant life transformations.

Meditation and Emotional Wellbeing.

Immersion in meditation and emotional processing practices for enduring peace and personal growth.

Connection

Connection with other like-minded people, connection to ourselves, connection to something greater.

Let Nature be a healer

Walking in nature to promote mental clarity. Being in Nature to reduce any stress, anxiety or low moods.

Digital Detox

With the increasing dependence on technology, creating a break from digital devices. Our retreats encourage mindfulness and self-reflection by providing a space free from digital distractions… Leave the laptop at home and set a phone-use boundary (ideally airplane mode throughout the retreat!). Your brain deserves a break.