Event Registration

Resident & Family Member Alumni are cordially invited to attend the annual

Sierra Tucson Alumni Retreat S.T.A.R. 37

Celebrating 37 Years of Reconnecting & Renewing Our Recovery!

Alumni Retreat Schedule

Thursday, October 17
10:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.	Registration & Bookstore Open
10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.	Time to relax, schedule a spa service, pool time, hiking, connect with others, etc.
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.	Yoga Stretch
5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.	Dinner
6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.	Getting Connected & Retreat Kickoff
Friday, October 18
6:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.	Hiking in the Catalinas
7:15 a.m. - 8:15 a.m.	Support Group Meeting & Meditation
7:45 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.	Breakfast
8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.	Registration & Bookstore Open
9:15 a.m. - Noon	Morning Presentations
Noon	Lunch
1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.	Afternoon Presentation
4:00 p.m.	Buses depart to Sierra Tucson for campus visit and alumni support group meetings.
6:00 p.m.	Buses Depart Sierra Tucson
6:30 p.m.	Dinner at Westward Look
Saturday, October 19
6:45 a.m. -  8:00 a.m.	Nature Walk at Westward Look
7:15 a.m. - 8:15 a.m.	Support Group Meeting & Meditation
8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.	Bookstore Open
7:45 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.	Breakfast
9:15 a.m. - Noon	Morning Presentations
11:30 a.m.	Lunch
1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.	Afternoon Presentation
3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.	Time to Relax
5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.	Dinner & a Night of Improv
Sunday, October 20
7:15 a.m. - 8:15 a.m.	Support Group Meeting & Meditation
8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.	Group Activity & Closing
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.	Brunch

Cost

The Retreat cost is $250 per person. This includes workshops, presentations, entertainment, meals from Thursday reception through Sunday brunch, transportation Friday to and from Sierra Tucson, and gift bags to take home. To attend, scroll down to register online.

Hotel Accommodations

All Retreat activities, with the exception of Friday afternoon's activities, will be held at the Westward Look Wyndham Grand Resort and Spa, which has extended discounted rates ($159 single/double occupancy and $169 for triple/quad occupancy plus tax & resort fee) until September 25, 2024 or once room block has filled. Reservations received after September 25, 2024, are subject to availability at the resort’s prevailing rate.

To make a reservation, you can either do so online or call by contacting Westward Look Resort's group reservation specialist Hilary Lietz at (520) 917-2465, and be sure to let them know you are with the Sierra Tucson Annual Retreat. Westward Look has sold out in the past, so it is a good idea to reserve your room as soon as possible! When making reservations, ask about the cancellation policy so as not to be charged a night's stay if you need to cancel.

Sierra Tucson Annual Retreat Menu

Wyndham Grand Westward Look Resort & Spa > Property Map

A 10% discount is available on spa services at the Westward Look Sonoran Spa (520) 917-2467. It is highly recommended that you book your spa services as soon as possible to ensure availability. Be sure to mention that you are with the Sierra Tucson Annual Retreat to receive the discounted rate.

Please note that there will NOT be shuttle/bus service between other hotels and Westward Look; you will need to provide your own transportation.

Presentations 

Mattering for the Sake of Mattering (and, for no other reason)

George Daranyi, J.D.

If you mattered, for the sake of mattering and for no other reason, how would you live your life? Before answering that question we are faced with this one:

Do we matter? Do you? In the face of our histories, challenges, limitations, wounds, “diagnoses”, victories and failures, do we? And, importantly, who or what decides the answer(s) to these questions for us? It may seem that an inquiry into this subject should be left to philosophers and sages; but, maybe, this inquiry goes to the heart of how we relate to ourselves, both consciously and unconsciously.  And, maybe, we should have that conversation with a group of committed travelers, our peers, who continue their paths to recovery. George Daranyi will present the topic and the context in which it arises and then engage in a lively facilitation of the conversation. Join him in discovering the answers for yourself.

George celebrated 36 years of recovery this year. He has worked with thousands of men and women in and out of the mental health and recovery worlds for more than 30 years. He combines elements from his own recovery, his legal practice, his work with The ManKind Project and his work in the mental health field together with poetry, literature, and facilitation to create memorable transformational experiences. He devotes some of his time to the continuing development and delivery of the “Desert Wisdom” experience for men. The current focus is to help men integrate the deep masculine with the sacred feminine.

The Gut Brain Connection

Maureen Schwehr, NMD

This presentation will explore the science and research behind the complex gut/brain relationship.  Studies have shown that digestion and our gut microbiome play a critical role in regulating brain function, mood and behaviors associated with addiction.  Topics will include the impact of nutrient absorption on neurotransmitter creation, the enteric nervous system, and the relationship between the microbiome in our digestive track and our physical and mental health.

Maureen Schwehr, NMD, serves as Sierra Tucson’s director of integrative services. Her department provides a unique combination of physical and mental health support for residents. Dr. Schwehr oversees a team of experienced and talented staff whose services include naturopathic medical consults, acupuncture, physical therapy, chiropractic services, massage therapy, shiatsu, zero balancing, somato-emotional release, and craniosacral therapy. In addition to supervising staff, she works one-on-one with residents to help them determine the root cause of their problems. Focus is given to nutritional status and hormonal balance, supporting biochemical pathways that help the body function more effectively. Dr. Schwehr holds a doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University in Seattle, WA. Past experience includes a position as the medical director at Mirasol, a residential eating disorder facility. As part of the Sierra Tucson staff, she has the opportunity to be part of a truly integrative team that provides a unique, empowering perspective for residents.

Unraveled or Unrivaled: The Role of Resilience in Recovery

Jerry Lerner, MD

Resilience is the capacity to bounce back from difficulties. This presentation explores the relationship of resilience to recovery. We will delve into what constitutes resilience, how we lose it, and how we regain and sustain it for a lifetime.

Jerry Lerner, MD is a double-boarded physician in Rehabilitation Medicine and Addiction Medicine, as well as a Certified Executive Coach. His expertise extends to the role resilience plays in wellness, integrative medicine, addiction, pain recovery, trauma, and executive effectiveness.

Following a long career in clinical care and administrative leadership, Dr. Lerner currently provides executive and life coaching, as well as resilience trainings (LernerForLife.com). He previously served at Sierra Tucson as Chief Medical Officer along with fulfilling roles as Director of the Licensed Professionals and Executives Program and Director of the Pain Recovery Program. He also served as consultant and trainer for The Meadows in the areas of Pain Informed Care and Resilience Recovery. Dr. Lerner has lectured extensively and has led workshops and trainings throughout the country on topics of resilience, pain, trauma and addiction.

Dr. Lerner enjoys thinking outside of the box, exploring leading edge approaches to wellness, resilience and recovery. He has a lifelong love of the arts; his first major in college was music and he remains an avid pianist and composer. He is married to his wonderful wife, Stephanie, is father to three delightful children - Arielle, Geneva and Gabe (d) and grandfather to Calvin and Maddie.

His new book, Unraveled to Unrivaled, is the culmination of four decades exploring resilience.

Healing Loneliness through Attachment

Alexander Danvers, PhD

Loneliness is on the rise in the U.S. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, we have a “loneliness epidemic.” Decades of research have shown that loneliness is related to problems with both mental health and physical health. As the Director of Treatment Outcomes at Sierra Tucson, I’ve found that patients are often struggling with loneliness. At the same time, research I conducted with the University of Arizona found that feeling lonely is not strongly related to spending time alone. In other words, loneliness is about how you perceive your close relationships, not just about being around other people. One way to help relationships become deeper and more meaningful is to address our attachment: the patterns of connection we have learned from childhood and partners throughout our life. This talk examines the connection between loneliness, mental health, and attachment, and suggests ways to decrease loneliness by addressing deeper patterns in how we relate to others.

Alexander Danvers, Ph.D., is a psychologist with expertise in mobile sensing, machine learning, and psychophysiology. Dr. Danvers joined Sierra Tucson in 2022 from the U.S. Army Research Labs, where he was a civilian research scientist working on mobile sensing and artificial intelligence projects. Before that, he served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Arizona. He has taught courses in social psychology at the graduate and undergraduate levels at Oklahoma State University and Arizona State University.

At Sierra Tucson, Dr. Danvers oversees the Measurement-Based Care and Applied Neuroscience programs. His work on Measurement-Based Care involves providing customized reports on patient functioning to residents and treatment providers at Sierra Tucson, evaluating outcomes across Sierra Tucson’s various programs, and developing algorithms for predicting key treatment outcomes. His work on Applied Neuroscience involves managing a team that provides EEG brain maps, neurostimulation treatments such as TMS and tDCS, and HRV biofeedback training. In collaboration with partners in academia, he conducts research into the effectiveness of these neuroscience treatments, and into who might benefit most from specific treatment modalities. He is also responsible, in conjunction with the clinical and medical teams, for building new programming using emerging devices and technologies to treat the brain and nervous system.

Dr. Danvers received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Arizona State University in 2017. His areas of emphasis were applying dynamic systems theory to psychology, understanding the role of emotions in everyday life, and evolutionary approaches to human behavior. He has published over 25 scientific articles and book chapters, which have been collectively cited over 750 times. He has collaborated frequently across disciplines, including with law professors, anthropologists, philosophers, and medical doctors.

As someone who was inspired to enter science by reading popular press books, Dr. Danvers is also passionate about effective science communication. He has maintained an active blog at Psychology Today since 2018 titled “How Do You Know?” It explores details of the methods psychologists use to draw scientific conclusions, and has reached over half a million views.

What Does Trauma Healing Look Like, and How Do We Resource It?

Sean Battle, LAC, NCC & Paul Greco, MA

We'll be talking about SE, EMDR, and group therapy as it pertains to the healing process, sharing some examples of what healing can look like and distributing a handout from our very own Dr. Seymour, his Trauma Recovery Roadmap, from which we derived many of the concepts in the presentation.

Paul has served in the position of Primary Therapist at Sierra Tucson since August 2021, but has served as a Specialty Therapist starting in 2024.  His mental health field experience started in 2018 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he treated trauma, mood, and other mental health disorders as a licensed therapist at Child Focus, Inc. until July 2021.  He was also part of the Clermont County Crisis Response Team, a collaborative group of mental health professionals serving in the immediate aftermath of tragedy, disaster, and other traumatic events.  Although born in Ohio, Paul grew up in the White Mountains, and from Arizona went to the United States Military Academy, obtaining a Bachelor’s of Science in international history in 2008.  Before earning a graduate degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of Cincinnati in 2018, he served eight years in the military.  In Tucson, he enjoys echoes of the remote beauty of Alaska’s mountains and the sunbaked sands of Iraq.  He and his wife have three children who joyfully spread chaos wherever they go.

Dissociation: Unraveling the Mystery, Myths and Stigma

Kelli Parks MS, LPC, EMDR-C

Kelli will be reviewing what dissociation is and isn't, providing an evolutionary perspective on why we (all) do it, and discuss the spectrum of dissociative experiences to normalize and destigmatize even pathological levels of dissociation. 

Kelli Parks is a specialty trauma therapist at Sierra Tucson who provides EMDR, trauma-focused CBT, and other integrated modalities to promote healing and traumatic growth.  Kelli has worked in outpatient, inpatient, and residential settings since 2002. Kelli has worked with children and families connected with the child welfare system and worked with system partners to help those families heal. Kelli has worked extensively in the past with women experiencing postpartum mood disorders, as well. Kelli believes in a strengths-based, holistic approach to recovery. She has a passion for maternal mental health as well as veteran and first responder mental health.  Kelli received her BA in Psychology from the University of AZ and her Masters in Professional Counseling from Grand Canyon University,

In her free time, Kelli enjoys raising her two spirited girls with her husband, reading, weightlifting, and caring for their four rescue animals (two dogs and two cats).  When she has the time, Kelli likes to volunteer with local animal shelters.

S.T.A.R. 37 Hosts

Tim McLeod, Director of Alumni Relations & Connect365 at (913) 269-1323 or Tim.McLeod@SierraTucson.com

Robert Lachapelle, Alumni Coordinator & Connect365 Manager at (520) 624-4000 ext. 672 or Robert.Lachapelle@SierraTucson.com.