Healing Trauma Retreats for Women
Over 1,200 women have taken part in these carefully held residential retreats over the past fifteen years, offering the time, steadiness, and professional support needed to begin working with trauma in a quiet mountain setting.
Maximum 5 women
Led by trauma psychotherapist Tess Hunneybell
20+ years clinical experience
As featured in
What This Retreat Is
This is a carefully held therapeutic retreat for women who feel ready to spend some time with what has been carried for a long while — experiences of loss, strain, trauma, or patterns that no longer feel supportive.
The retreat is designed and led by Tess Hunneybell and takes place at San Flaviano, her restored 15th-century monastery home in the Umbrian hills of Italy.
The structure has developed over more than fifteen years of retreat work and through supporting over 1,200 women in this small-group format. The week unfolds gradually — individual therapeutic work woven throughout, gentle shared learning, somatic work, time outdoors, and the natural rhythm of daily life together.
"For many, life continues on the surface while something underneath is asking for time and attention."
Who This Retreat Is For
This retreat is for women who are functioning in their lives but carrying more than they would like to manage alone. Many who attend are professionally capable and responsible — yet internally tired, overwhelmed, or aware that certain experiences have not been fully processed.
Some come following a period of strain, loss, or transition. Others arrive simply knowing they need time and thoughtful therapeutic support.
You do not need to be in crisis to attend. You do need to be willing to engage with a week of focused work within a contained and supportive environment.
How the Retreat Is Held
The retreat is held as a continuous therapeutic environment — not a series of separate appointments, but a full week where the work unfolds through relationship, presence, and careful attention.
The week includes:
- Individual therapeutic work with Tess, woven throughout the week
- Small group teaching, workshops, and guided practices
- Somatic therapy with Eszter — nervous-system awareness, breath-led movement
- Yoga with Viktoria — gentle, grounding, invitational
- Guided meditation and regulation practices
- Time outdoors in the surrounding Umbrian landscape
- An afternoon at Triponzo Thermal Spa (included for direct bookings)
- Three nourishing Italian meals a day, prepared fresh
The group never exceeds five women. Tess is onsite throughout the week — available across the day, not only in scheduled sessions.
Led by Tess Hunneybell
Tess Hunneybell is a British trauma psychotherapist with more than two decades of clinical practice. For the past fifteen years she has led small-group residential retreats at San Flaviano in Umbria, supporting women seeking depth, steadiness, and meaningful psychological integration.
Her approach is relational, steady, and grounded — integrating contemporary psychological understanding with body-based practice in a setting she knows intimately.
Women travel from around the world to attend Healing Trauma Retreats in this format.
Further information about Tess’s clinical background and professional work can be found at
Private, Discreet, Individually Held
There is no expectation to share personal history within the group. Therapeutic work takes place individually, allowing experiences to be explored with privacy, care, and appropriate pacing.
Shared time is used for learning, orientation, and reflection — so participants can be alongside one another without pressure to disclose or explain themselves.
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.
“Whatever the magic formula is, it works. This retreat is one of the
best things I’ve ever done.
Sally, UK.“
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.
From €3,150 · early booking · all-inclusive
🔒 Pay secure card deposit
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.
From €2,780 per person · early booking · all-inclusive
🔒 Pay secure card deposit
A Gift for Booking Direct
Triponzo Thermal Spa — included with every direct booking
Triponzo Thermal Baths sit in the Valnerina valley, built over ancient Roman foundations where river water meets natural sulphur springs. Warm mineral pools, woodland, mountain air, and complete stillness.
During the retreat there is time to spend a half day here — resting in the warm pools, unwinding in the sun, and stepping briefly outside the rhythm of the week. For many women it becomes one of the most remembered afternoons of their stay.
Complimentary spa pass included · €52 value · Direct bookings only
Optional treatments (smaller text beneath, or as a separate text module):
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 felt so gently held throughout the week. The balance of support, space,
and time to rest was exactly what I needed.“
Mirelle, Switzerland
Ready When You Are
There are two ways to begin.
Secure your place now.
A 25% deposit reserves your dates. Balance due four weeks before the retreat. Places are limited to five women and fill on a first-come basis.
Prefer to talk first?
A short, informal call with Tess — no pressure, no commitment. Just a conversation to ask questions and sense whether this feels right for you.
The view from the dining table overlooking the ever-changing hues of the Sibillini Mountain Range.