Trauma Retreat for Women
Led by trauma psychotherapist Tess Hunneybell — 20+ years’ clinical experience
Over 1,200 women have attended this carefully held residential trauma retreat in the Umbrian hills — offering the time, steadiness, and professional support needed to work with trauma safely. This trauma retreat is designed for depth, privacy, and real clinical progress, not group exposure.
Maximum five women per retreat
“I got more from this retreat in six days than I had from years of previous therapy.”
Lauren, New Zealand
As featured in
Led by Tess Hunneybell
I am a British trauma psychotherapist with over twenty years of clinical practice, and a distinctly considered approach to this work.
I trained rigorously and take the clinical side of this seriously. I also believe that this work does not need to feel like a punishment — or to be painful. Warmth, humour, and simplicity are not extras. They are part of what allows something to shift. In my experience, the moment something complex becomes genuinely understood — not only intellectually, but in the body — is the moment change begins.
I have spent my career doing this work in two very different settings.
At San Flaviano, I work with women who have travelled from across the world to spend a week turning towards what they have been carrying. In Senegal, I work from a simple house in a village with young boys — many of them forced to beg from childhood — as part of Every Kid Counts, the humanitarian organisation I founded. The same principles apply in both places. Trauma is trauma, and human beings are human beings.
What this has taught me is that the most complex psychological processes can be made simple. The work does not need to be heavy. And you — your body, your responses, your survival strategies — are not wrong. They have been adaptive. Something was interrupted. With the right conditions, it can complete.
I have been running these retreats at San Flaviano for fifteen years. More than 1,200 women have come through this place. I live here — this is my home — and I am present throughout the week.
Or email tess@healingtraumaretreat.com if you’d prefer to write first.
Tess Hunneybell is brilliant — highly professional, deeply kind, and exceptionally experienced. I arrived expecting to work on childhood trauma, but I could never have anticipated the profound positive shift I experienced in just one week.— Anita, Switzerland
The Team
Tess Hunneybell — Trauma psychotherapist, retreat founder, and your primary guide throughout the week. Twenty years of clinical practice. Lives at San Flaviano. Onsite from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave.
Eszter — Somatic therapist and yoga teacher. Eszter brings a quiet, steady presence to the body-based work — nervous system awareness, breath-led movement, and the kind of grounded practice that helps things settle without force.
Viktoria — Senior yoga teacher. Viktoria’s sessions are gentle, invitational, and beautifully held. You will never feel pushed. You will always feel supported.
What This Retreat Is
You arrive and you exhale. That’s usually the first thing that happens.
This is a week at San Flaviano — my home, a restored 15th-century monastery in the Umbrian hills — where real therapeutic work sits alongside exceptional food, time outdoors, movement, and the sort of conversations women don’t usually get to have. Five women at a time. Never more. There is a reason for that number.
More than 1,200 women have arrived here carrying things they have been managing for too long. Most leave saying the same two things: I didn’t expect to feel this much lighter. And: I didn’t expect to laugh this much.
Both matter.
The work is clinically serious and carefully paced. But it does not feel heavy. Your body isn’t broken — it has been protecting you from something that is over. My role is to help your system recognise that, and to support the part of you that is still braced for impact to finally stand down.
"For many, life continues on the surface while something underneath is asking for time and attention."
Who This Retreat Is For
Who This Retreat Is For
From the outside, you are likely managing well. Capable, responsible — often the person others rely on. But internally, there is a sense of tiredness. Of carrying more than you would choose. Of something not yet resolved, even if it is not easy to name.
Some women come after a period of loss, strain, or upheaval. Others arrive because they have known for some time that something needs attention, and have finally stopped putting it off. A few book because something in them recognises this immediately — before the more cautious part has time to intervene.
You do not need to be in crisis. You do not need to have the right words for what you are carrying. You do need to be willing to spend a week turning towards yourself — with proper support, in a contained setting, alongside a small group of women.
If you are wondering whether this is for you, it is worth paying attention to that.
As someone who was reluctant to go on a 'trauma' retreat due to no obvious single traumatic incident, I can confidently recommend this experience to anyone who has experienced a shaky sense of self, anxiety or depression.— Daisy, Australia
How the Retreat Is Held
This is not a schedule of sessions you attend and then step away from. It is a continuous therapeutic environment — a full week in which the work unfolds through relationship, presence, and careful attention to what is actually needed, rather than what is planned in advance.
I am onsite throughout the entire week. Not only in one-to-one sessions, but across the day — available, in conversation, and attentive to what is emerging. That continuity is part of what allows the work to go further than it otherwise could.
The week includes:
— One-to-one therapeutic sessions with me, woven through the week
— Small group teaching and workshops, where things often become clear in a different way
— Somatic therapy with Eszter — nervous system awareness, breath-led movement, body-based work
— Yoga with Viktoria — gentle, grounding, and never performative
— Guided meditation and regulation practices
— Time outdoors in the Umbrian landscape — space, air, and the particular quiet of these hills
— An afternoon at Triponzo Thermal Spa, included for direct bookings
— Three freshly prepared Italian meals each day
— Massage and reflexology — available to book during the week (additional cost)
The group never exceeds five women. That is not a selling point. It is a clinical decision.
Tess and the yoga teacher were wonderfully supportive and challenging. P.S. I called off my wedding. Best decision I ever made.— Sarah B, UK
The one-to-one work Tess did with me was like nothing I had ever experienced. I was able to reach into my heart and pull out difficulties that I thought I would never be rid of. Everything happened in a safe space.— Mary, Ireland
Private, Discreet, Individually Held
You will not be asked to share your story with the group. There are no sharing circles, no expectation to explain yourself, and no pressure to disclose anything before you are ready.
Your therapeutic work takes place with me, individually — private, carefully paced, and held with complete discretion. Time spent with the group is for learning, orientation, and the particular ease of being alongside women who understand, without needing to say very much at all.
For many women, this is one of the most unexpected aspects of the week — and one of the most relieving.
Tess made me feel like I could completely bare my soul without feeling exposed — she made me feel secure and protected.— Daiva, Lithuania
On Travelling Right Now
“Several women have written to ask whether now is a good time to travel. My honest answer: for many of them, the distance from the news has been part of the medicine.”
— Tess Hunneybell
San Flaviano sits in one of the quietest corners of central Italy — mountain air, birdsong, and a pace genuinely different from the world outside. The monastery has been a place of sanctuary for centuries. That quality doesn’t change with the news cycle.
If you’re uncertain about travelling right now, please reach out. I’m happy to talk it through.
Morning at San Flaviano in the Umbrian hills.
A quiet place where small groups of women come for deep therapeutic work, rest, and careful support.
“Whatever the magic formula is, it works. This retreat is one of the best things I’ve ever done.” Sally, UK
Prefer to speak before booking? You can talk it through with Tess.
2026 Retreat Dates
- 20–26 May 2026
- 3–9 June 2026
- 17–23 June 2026
- 8–14 July 2026
- 22–28 July 2026
- 5–11 August 2026
- 26 Aug – 1 Sept 2026
- 9–15 September 2026
Wed arrival · Tue departure · Max 5 guests
Private Room in the Monastery
A quiet, private bedroom within the monastery walls with ensuite bathroom — a calm personal space to rest, withdraw, and return to yourself between sessions.
€2,695 €2,995 Early booking rate — save €300 ·
Ends 30 April 2026 · All-inclusive
🔒 Pay secure card deposit
By booking you agree to our Terms & Conditions.
Shared Room — Church Mezzanine
A spacious 90m² room within the restored 15th-century church mezzanine, shared with one other woman only — carefully matched by Tess. Exposed stonework, beamed ceilings, access to two bathrooms.
€2,495 €2,795 Early booking rate — save €300 ·
Ends 30 April 2026 · All-inclusive
🔒 Pay secure card deposit
By booking you agree to our Terms & Conditions.
Triponzo Thermal Spa — included with every direct booking
Day two. Before the deeper work begins, there is this.
A half day in the Valnerina valley, in warm mineral pools built over ancient Roman foundations, with mountains above you and nothing required of you. No history to explain. No story to tell. Just five women getting to know each other outside of all of that — in the water, in the sun, in conversation.
By the time you return to San Flaviano, you know each other. Not your stories — each other. It changes what becomes possible over the days that follow.
Complimentary spa pass included · €52 value · Direct bookings only
Optional treatments
Additional bodywork is available to book during the week:
Full body massage · 75 min · €90 · Aerial Thai Massage · 75 min · €90 · Reflexology · 60 min · €70
Sessions are bookable on arrival.
“I left the retreat feeling energised, confident, and filled with a renewed sense of hope.” Sue T, UK
The view from the dining table overlooking the ever-changing hues of the Sibillini Mountain Range.