August 12-15, 2027 • November 11-14, 2027
Amethyst Retreat Center, Duncannon, PA

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30 CMTE CREDITS

 

During this 3½-day retreat, participants will:

• Gain a foundational understanding of the grief process and its impact on music therapists.

• Explore personal experiences of grief and loss through songwriting, improvisation, music listening, storytelling, and multimedia creation.

• Create meaningful rituals, keepsakes, and musical remembrances to honor personal losses.

• Develop a deeper understanding of their own grief to better support others in honoring theirs.​​​

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OBJECTIVES

• Participants will identify at least one personal bias about grief and loss and how it could possibly affect the therapeutic process.

• Participants will identify 3 music therapy interventions that could be used to assist the grief process.

• Participants will identify 2 cultural values/spiritual/religious belief/racial and ethnic customs different from their own that would affect planning of a session.​

• Participants will identify at least 2 methods of self-care to be used when assisting clients in grief work or when dealing with their own grief and loss.

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FACILITATOR and INSTRUCTOR

​Gretchen Patti, MS, FAMI, MT-BC will lead participants in this intimate and thought provoking event. Gretchen holds a B.S. in Music Therapy from Elizabethtown College and is a board certified music therapist. She received her M.S. in Healthcare Administration with a concentration in Psychology from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA. Gretchen is a Fellow in the Association for Music and Imagery. She is a Certified Grief Educator and a Certified Grief Movement Guide. Gretchen has over 43 years of experience serving individuals and groups with cancer/life threatening illnesses, trauma, substance abuse issues, intellectual disabilities, and grief and loss challenges.  She has been facilitating self-awareness retreats for over 25 years. Gretchen currently maintains a private practice in the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music and provides individual and group music therapy. Gretchen’s passion is using music to help heal others so they may find peace, joy and meaning in their life.