Rio Retreat Center: An Overview

Rio Retreat Center at The Meadows is unlike our other facilities, which are largely inpatient treatment programs. Our focus is still on healing, but in the format of short workshops that take a deep dive into a certain topic.

You don’t need to be in recovery to attend a workshop at Rio Retreat. While many attendees are in recovery, anyone in need of personal growth or healing can register. Our workshops have many benefits, and we have seen firsthand the power of getting away to spend dedicated time on yourself. We believe everyone who walks through our doors will walk back out of them transformed.

Our Workshops

We offer intensive, five-day workshops that each focus on a specific aspect of healing. Our workshops fall into four categories: emotional trauma, relationships, personal growth, and professional development.

• Emotional healing workshops address unresolved childhood trauma to get to the root of self-defeating behavior, heal wounds, find closure, and break free from unhealthy relationships.
• Relationship workshops strengthen relationships like marriage, family, and friendships by uncovering and healing hidden emotional pain and teaching new skills for communicating with and relating to others.
• Personal growth workshops help you make lasting changes and find acceptance through techniques such as mindfulness, Somatic Experiencing, and psychodrama. These address everything from negative patterns and disordered eating to unhealthy sexual behaviors, addiction, and shame.
• Professional development workshops are for mental health and addiction professionals looking to gain additional skills and insights for effectively treating their clients.

In addition to our scheduled workshops, we offer private intensives for those who need greater anonymity and find it difficult to get away from everyday life to focus on their emotional health. Our team of experts works with clients to customize individual time dedicated to their specific needs. While anyone can choose a private intensive, they are particularly beneficial for professional athletes, politicians and corporate leaders, and other high-profile individuals.

Our workshops are different from an addiction treatment program, but workshops can address issues that impact or are impacted by addiction and mental health issues. Whether a workshop is the beginning of the recovery journey or a supplement to an ongoing recovery process, the opportunity to spend concentrated time on a specific aspect of healing can be transformative.

“People in recovery, after they address the presenting issue, find other ‘masked’ or less obvious issues beginning to emerge,” says Rio Retreat Center Clinical Director Georgia Fourlas. “Someone may be in recovery from alcohol for two years and realize they are struggling with relationships and familial issues. They can come to a workshop to work on the specific type of relationship or family issue that may have become an obstacle or challenge in their recovery. Once they get healing in that area, they are able to take their recovery to the next level.”

Our Facilities

Our retreat center is located on the northern edge of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, a place hallowed for its legacy of healing. We’ve transformed a historic 1920s dude ranch into the perfect environment for contemplative work and self-examination.

We share our land with a variety of local wildlife, including mule deer, foxes, roadrunner, and great horned owls. And of course, like any good dude ranch, we have horses. But these aren’t just any horses; they are used as therapeutic tools in some of our workshops.

Other amenities that enhance healing and recovery include nutritious meals, yoga, tai chi, acupuncture, a brain spa, pool, live music, trail rides, challenge courses, expressive arts, 12-Step meetings, and movement therapy. 

Our Model

Our workshops are client-focused, run by highly-trained professionals who specialize not only in the specific issues addressed in each workshop, but also in the workshop format itself. No matter what workshop you attend, we will help you understand who you are at your core, what’s holding you back, and how to move forward in a healthy way.

This fall, offerings include our signature emotional trauma workshop Survivors I and its follow-up Survivors II. Both Survivors workshops have been described as life-changing and perfect for anyone feeling stuck in life. We also offer Mending Heartwounds (our grief workshop), Couples Repair & Reset, Spirit Quest, and Thrive, among others. Take a look at our full schedule to learn more.

If you have questions or would like to find out more about a specific workshop, whether for yourself or a loved one, don’t hesitate to contact our admissions team. One of our trained admissions specialists will guide you through the process of finding the right workshop and get you started on your journey to a healthier, happier life.