OLIVIA GRIGG: HOW TO HOST A WELLNESS RETREAT | EP 101

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MEET OLIVIA

Olivia is an RSW in London, Ontario. She has three young kids who keep her busy. Olivia supports clients 1:1 as well as hosting wellness retreats regularly throughout the year. Olivia focuses on somatic approaches as well as inner child and self compassion strategies to help clients move towards self trust.

Learn more about Olivia on her website, Psychology Today, and Instagram profiles.

In This Episode

• Why Olivia started a private practice
• Hosting retreats 
• Retreats could help you get clients
• Advertising retreats 
• Handling insurance 

Why Olivia started a private practice 

Before starting her own practice, Olivia was working at another group practice offering one-on-one counselling. It was a multidisciplinary practice, so Olivia was working alongside massage therapists, physios, and others. 

‘I loved my experience there for two years, but I just honestly wanted to expand efforts because that clinic was solely focused on the perinatal population which I love, and having three kids myself, made a lot of sense when I started. But yeah, with my ideas to expand with retreats and [desire] to expand into more personal interests that I really love.’ – Olivia Grigg

Although Olivia enjoyed her time at the group practice where she previously worked, she felt a strong pull to expand on her own desires and skills as a therapist. For her and her journey, it made sense for her at that point to continue the journey on her own. 

Olivia knew that she wanted to spend more time with clients that were going through a religious transformation or deconstruction, or had a desire to reconnect with their faith in a new way, but these weren’t the clients that she could see while working at the other group practice. 

‘Out of respect to the organization that I was with and the dreams that I had for my own practice, I was like, “Okay, it’s time to part ways” … I have found that since being true to that interest for myself, those are the clients that seem to be coming, so I’m like, “Yeah, this actually makes a lot of sense!”’. – Olivia Grigg

Retreats could help you get clients

For some of Olivia’s clients, they often come to her retreats first before signing on as an official client since it allows them to indirectly work with her and experience her counselling before making the commitment. 

‘The strategic part of [hosting retreats] … is that it’s a great onboarding for clients. So someone might not book therapy right away but a retreat might stick out to them, and then you get to know them and they’re like, “Oh, I like your vibe!” So then they book [you] after that.’ – Olivia Grigg 

Of course, not all participants are looking for a therapist, but some do, and so retreats could function like a soft-meeting. 

Advertising retreats

In terms of advertising the retreats that Olivia hosts, she usually uses: 

• Instagram as her main platform 
• Her website 
• Her network of therapists in the community to pass the information onto their clients, but often the therapists themselves join the retreats too! 

‘I feel like people are really interested in retreats right now, and I feel like I don’t have to work too hard to fill up the spots.’ – Olivia Grigg 

Since retreats are becoming more popular and people are more familiar with what they are, the need has adjusted and grown. So, Olivia often finds clients and participants relatively easy. She’s hosted retreats as small as five to as large as 20. 

However, the bigger it gets the more it feels like a conference, but Olivia prefers the intimacy of a retreat and therefore usually keeps it smaller. 

Handling insurance 

Even though insurance is not as big of an issue as you might think, it is still advised to purchase top-quality insurance, like Olivia does, for her retreats. 

For herself and her brand, she purchases high-quality liability insurance so that in case an accident does occur, her business won’t suffer for it. 

‘I am paying a lot in insurance, but also when I book with a venue, they have their own waivers and those types of things that I have to sign … Because people who come to retreats are considered clients, especially because they can bill for social work services, they have to sign a waiver or an in-take form and they check-off boxes that say they understand certain things.’ – Olivia Grigg 

For anyone who is looking to host retreats, get advice that will suit what you want to do. Contact the lawyer or someone who has done this before to see which bases you need covered to protect yourself, your business, and your clients.