A New Christian Healing Retreat for Betrayal Trauma: What to Expect During 3 Transformative Days

Three women celebrating together outdoors at sunset, symbolizing connection and healing after betrayal trauma

There’s a kind of heartbreak that doesn’t just weigh on your mind. It settles deep into your body and spirit. When trust is shattered by infidelity, secrecy, or deception, the pain that follows can be all-consuming. This is betrayal trauma: a deep emotional and spiritual wound that can shake your sense of identity, security, and even your connection with God.         

But here’s what’s also true:

  • Betrayal does not define you.
  • You are not alone.
  • And healing is absolutely possible.

A trauma retreat for women, called Ariséa, is built for a small group of four women and grounded in EMDR therapy and Brainspotting. Ariséa means “she who rises” and is a three-day, faith-integrated Christian therapeutic healing retreat for betrayal trauma that addresses what your nervous system needs.

What you’re feeling makes sense. Even if it feels heavy right now, there is a way forward, a path that honors both your pain and your hope. For many women, real healing can genuinely begin to shift within three days, even after years of carrying this.

A One-of-a-Kind Christian Healing Retreat for Betrayal Trauma

Healing from betrayal trauma doesn’t have to take years to begin, and it doesn’t have to take years to ease the pain.

In the right setting, one that is safe, faith-anchored, trauma-informed, and grounded in neuroscience, meaningful healing can begin in just a few days.

Ariséa™ is created for women carrying the deep wounds of relational betrayal. Set in a peaceful, restorative environment, Ariséa is led by an experienced, trauma-informed professional who is deeply attuned to both the emotional and spiritual impact of betrayal. Together, we hold space with compassion, clinical skill, and reverence for your healing.

You’ll receive personalized support within the group, alongside women who understand the unique grief, confusion, and isolation betrayal brings. Through evidence-based approaches such as EMDR therapy and Brainspotting, your experience is guided in a way that honors your nervous system, your faith, and your readiness.

Many women don’t realize how much their body has been bracing until, for the first time in a long time, it finally gets to rest.

When your nervous system has been in survival mode for a long time, it’s easy to forget what peace feels like. Ariséa is not only about emotional healing. It is about nervous system restoration and creating space for deep, embodied rest.

This trauma-focused, Christ-centered retreat offers:

  • A holistic space for mind, body and spirit
  • Calming techniques and gentle healing
  • Bilateral music for nervous system regulation
  • Gentle movement and somatic awareness
  • Room for your body to breathe, settle, and reset

Throughout the experience, you’ll be given choices, because healing begins with agency. Your boundaries are respected. Your voice is welcomed. Your presence is enough.

You don’t have to share your story unless you want to. There’s no pressure to perform. Just permission to be where you are.

Many women find that faith becomes part of everything here, and it changes how they experience their healing.

Betrayal trauma reaches far beyond the relationship itself. It can leave you spiritually disoriented, angry, numb, or quietly wondering if God has forgotten you. Sometimes, even well-meaning spiritual advice or disciplines can feel insufficient, offering brief comfort without reaching the deeper places where pain is held.

This retreat offers something different.

Here, we honor the depth of your experience. We don’t bypass your grief and trauma or try to rush you toward resolution. You are invited to bring your grief, your doubts, your weariness, and your questions, just as they are all while asking Jesus to be the very center of the process.

And in that vulnerability, many women encounter something unexpected: a Jesus who is not distant, but right there in the middle of it all. He is gentle. He is present. He grieves with you and is tender with your wounds. And He lovingly leads you toward healing.

Christian healing retreat. Three women laughing together.

There’s laughter here too, not just grief, and women often leave surprised by how much they carried each other through.

It’s normal to feel hesitant about a group setting. Betrayal often carries shame and isolation, along with fear of judgment or being misunderstood.

That’s what helps make the Ariséa group experience so healing:

  • There’s no pressure to explain or relive painful moments
  • You’re free to share as much or as little as you want.
  • You’re surrounded by women who get it.
  • You begin to realize something powerful: you are not alone.

This is a trauma-informed, faith-sensitive space where you are respected and your story is held with care. And the sense of connection you build here often becomes a lasting source of strength.

Every part of it is thoughtfully led.

Three days may not sound like much. The therapeutic work is deep and can be tiring. But the pace is intentional, the environment is safe and the support constant. Each element, from the therapeutic modalities to the rhythm of rest, is designed to honor your boundaries and your healing.

Whether you’re engaging in EMDR, Brainspotting, experiential workshops, or gently guided group conversations, we remain attuned to your needs throughout the process.

This isn’t about pushing you to “move on.” It’s about walking with you as you reclaim your voice, your faith, and your sense of safety.

Every detail here has been thought through, so you feel seen before you’ve said a single word.

When you’ve been in survival mode, being nurtured can feel unfamiliar. Sometimes even uncomfortable.

The thoughtful details of Ariséa are part of the healing itself:

🌸 Cozy, peaceful spaces that invite rest
🌸 Nourishing food and beverages throughout the day
🌸 Thoughtfully curated goodie bags with tools for during and after the retreat
🌸 Subtle, steady reminders that you matter, exactly as you are

These simple offerings aren’t extras. They are intentional expressions of care, communicating truth your soul may have forgotten: you don’t have to earn love. You are already loved.

The work doesn’t end in three days. What changes is that you stop carrying it alone.

As you prepare to return home, you won’t leave empty-handed. You’ll leave with:

  • Practical tools to support continued healing
  • A deepened connection to your faith and identity
  • Ongoing support from women who truly understand
  • A renewed sense of self, rooted in strength rather than betrayal

The work you begin at Ariséa is supported by thoughtful post-retreat follow-up care, ensuring you are not left to navigate the next steps alone.

Healing does not end when the retreat concludes. It continues with clarity, support, and hope.

Is Ariséa Right for You?

If you are carrying the pain of betrayal trauma, whether the wound is recent or long buried, this may be the pause your heart has been longing for. You do not need to have all the answers. You do not need to feel ready.

You simply need a space where your pain is met with compassion and your healing is taken seriously.

Ariséa is not a magic fix. But it is a focused, immersive path forward, offering:

  • A Christ-centered approach to betrayal trauma
  • EMDR therapy and Brainspotting
  • Personalized care in a small, private group setting
  • Pre-retreat consultation to ensure the right fit
  • Post-retreat follow-up for continued support

You are my priority. I walk with you every step of the way.

A Gentle Invitation to Begin Healing

If something inside you is whispering maybe, know this: You are not too broken. You are not too much. And it’s not too late.

Your healing matters. Your story matters. And you are welcome here.

If you’d like to explore whether Ariséa is right for you, I’m here to listen. No pressure. No expectations. Just support, compassion, and real conversation.

Click here to schedule a free discovery call. Or send a message. We’re ready when you are.

Frequently Asked Questions

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based therapy that helps the brain process traumatic memories so they stop feeling as raw and present. Learn more from EMDRIA, the EMDR International Association. It’s one of the two core approaches used throughout Ariséa.

Brainspotting is a body-based helping approach that uses eye position to access and release trauma held in the nervous system, often reaching places that talk therapy alone can’t. It’s used alongside EMDR throughout the retreat.

No. Faith is woven gently through the experience, never required or pushed. It is offered as an invitation and resource for any woman who wants to draw on it, wherever she is in her faith.

No. You can participate at whatever level feels safe, including choosing not to share at all.

At my suite in Gettysburg, PA, 18 Carlisle St, Suite 214, a space designed specifically for the retreat experience. Women travel from across the country to attend, and I share local accommodation suggestions once you’ve signed up.

Every woman leaves with tools and resources to support her continued healing, along with a scheduled check-in to see how she’s doing.

Woman resting peacefully in a hammock outdoors, representing nervous system rest after betrayal trauma
Healing includes learning what peace actually feels like again.

Written by Michele Montenegro, MSW, LCSW

Michele is a faith-integrated therapist and the founder of The arKardia Method™, an approach that treats the mind, body, relationships, faith, and history as connected parts of the same story. She’s an EMDRIA Certified EMDR Therapist and Brainspotting Practitioner with a background spanning Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, Catholic Charities, and Gettysburg College. Her clients range from executives and ministry leaders to anyone quietly carrying more than they let on, and she works from the belief that lasting change starts when the head and the heart move in the same direction.

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