October 23–25, 2026 · Max 20 leaders

Heart of Leadership The Retreat.

You already know how to lead. You've been doing it — often brilliantly — inside systems that were not designed for you. This retreat isn't about adding more. It's about removing the noise between you and the leader you actually are — so you can lead from your values, your strengths, and your own heart. Two and a half days. Penticton in October. A small group of women who get it because they're living it — in healthcare, government, nonprofit, and education.

📍 The Balcomo, Penticton BC
📅 Thu Oct 23 (Thu evening open) — Sat Oct 25
👥 Intimate group — maximum 20 leaders
Comfortable outdoor gathering space with seating around a fire pit
✦ Early Bird is open — $947 USD · 8 spots only · closes September 15
Does any of this sound familiar?

You're a good leader.
And something still feels off.

Not broken. Not wrong. Just not quite you yet. Here's what that tends to look like in the sectors we serve — healthcare, government, nonprofit, and education.

All Four Sectors
You've adapted so well you've lost track of who you actually are as a leader
You've learned what works in the room, what the system rewards, and how to navigate the politics. Somewhere in that process you stopped asking what works for you.
What shifts: you know — precisely — how you're wired to lead at your best
Healthcare
You're absorbing the system's failures so your team doesn't have to
Staffing shortages. Restructuring. Mandates that change before the ink dries. You've become the buffer — steady, resourceful, unflappable — and it is costing you more than anyone can see.
What shifts: clarity on what you actually control — and genuine peace with the rest
Government
Measured on outputs. Leading through politics. Accountable for both.
Elected officials change. Mandates shift. Work that matters most takes years to bear fruit. And you're expected to maintain the steadiness of a lighthouse in a sea that keeps rearranging itself.
What shifts: a leadership presence that doesn't depend on external stability to function
Nonprofit
You chose mission. But mission doesn't build resilience for you.
You do the work of three departments. Grant cycles dictate strategy. Your team is committed but stretched. And you're expected to lead with energy and optimism regardless of what the funding landscape looks like this quarter.
What shifts: sustainable leadership that doesn't require sacrificing yourself to serve others
Education
You carry the weight of an entire community's future — and rarely anyone carries yours
Educators and school leaders are asked to transform systems, support students in crisis, navigate politics, and model resilience — often with fewer resources than the year before. The emotional labour is immense and largely invisible.
What shifts: the language and tools to lead your community without losing yourself
All Four Sectors
You've adapted so well you've lost track of who you actually are as a leader
You've learned what works in the room, what the system rewards, and how to navigate the politics. Somewhere in that process you stopped asking what works for you.
What shifts: you know — precisely — how you're wired to lead at your best
The Real Opportunity
When women leaders finally lead as themselves? Everything changes. For everyone.
40% increase in employee engagement. 37% reduction in turnover. 22% increase in innovation. These aren't soft numbers — they're what a decade of research says happens when leaders stop performing and start leading authentically. In healthcare, government, nonprofit, and education — the sectors where leadership matters most and is supported least — that shift changes everything. That's what we're here to build.
What shifts: the people you lead — not just you
The Heart of This Retreat

Where inner work meets
outer leadership.

Most leadership training stops at the surface — skills, frameworks, techniques. This retreat goes deeper. It brings together two complementary bodies of work to create something neither could achieve alone: the inner foundation and the outer expression.

Quinn's Work — The Inner Foundation

SOVEREIGN Leadership Wisdom

Stillness · Understanding · Nature of Presence

Leadership wisdom doesn't come from accumulating more knowledge. It emerges when the noise settles. Quinn's work helps leaders discover the inner foundation beneath every decision, conversation, and relationship where clarity, resilience, and authentic leadership naturally arise.

Stillness — Creating space beyond the busy mind, where insight and wise leadership emerge.

Understanding — Seeing how experience is created from the inside out, revealing an innate resilience that has always been there.

Nature of Presence — Leading with calm, connection, and authenticity, allowing others to feel seen, heard, and inspired.

Barb's Work — The Outer Expression

SHiNE™: Unlock Your Brilliance

S — Service, Standards & Self · Lead from your values, not a script.

H — Humility & Heart · Warmth that disarms. The courage to lead with genuine care.

i — Integrity & Inspiration · Live what you ask of others. Be the leader people choose to follow.

N — Nurture & Navigate · Develop people intentionally. Build what sustains beyond the moment.

E — Entrepreneurial Empowerment · Own your authority. Create the conditions where people innovate and deliver.

The How to Fascinate® assessment you complete before arriving maps precisely how you're wired to express all of this. The retreat is where it becomes real.

Together: SunSHiNE

This is a deeper leadership conversation — a golden thread where inner stillness and outer expression become one. Where you stop performing leadership and start living it. You leave more whole inwardly and with the tools to make it visible outwardly.

The Program

Two full days. One shift.

Thursday evening we open — a small group of women, in the same room, for the same reason. Friday and Saturday are full program days. The retreat closes Saturday night with the sound bath and closing circle. Sunday is optional — 1:1 sessions with Barb and Quinn are available as a paid add-on for those staying on.

Before you arrive: every participant completes a pre-retreat How to Fascinate® assessment with Barb and a 30-minute 1:1 intake call with Quinn — so we walk in already knowing where you're starting from.
Thursday Oct 22
Arrive & Settle

An invitation to quiet the busy mind and create space for insight.

Afternoon Arrivals — Your Own Pace
No programming. Settle in, walk the lake, decompress.
Welcome & Opening Circle
The retreat begins here. We gather, set intentions, and frame the days ahead.
Share Your Story
Each participant shares — brief, personal, real. We share ours too.
State of Mind
A guided process to quiet the busy mind and create space for insight.
Friday Oct 24
Open & Ground

A full day that begins with a morning walk and unfolds through reflection, conversation, and discovery. You'll explore what shapes the way you lead — your gifts, values, standards, and the state of mind from which you meet what matters. You'll discover how you're wired to lead, name what matters most, and explore thought and experience. As evening arrives, we gather around the fire for the questions we rarely say out loud.

Morning Walk Reflection
60 min — walking, presence, open awareness
The Inner Life of Leadership
Understanding State of Mind for Greater Clarity of Mind — with Less Effort
SHiNE™: Unlock Your Brilliance — The S Pillar
Service, Standards & Self
How to Fascinate® + High-Value Statement
Your leadership DNA · Through Noon
Values & Standards, Word Jar, Nature of Thought, Values Discovery
Nature of Thought · 60 min
Fireside Chat & Word Jar
Basket items — the things you're afraid to ask
Saturday Oct 25
Go Deeper

Presence opens the day. From there, you'll bring together what you've discovered about your state of mind, your inner wisdom, and the way you want to lead. You'll finalize your High-Value Statement, build your Leadership Charter, and re-introduce yourself with a deeper understanding of who you are. The retreat closes with a sound bath led by Dr. Shekinah, followed by the Closing Circle — where commitments are made and the community you've built carries forward. A final day of integration — bringing what you've discovered within into the way you lead outwardly.

Presence
Being fully present — grounded, open, and connected.
High-Value Statement — Finalization
From Friday's draft to a statement you own
Vision Board / Leadership Charter
Your personal north star, built over the weekend
Re-Introduce Yourself
Through the lens of who you've become
Sound Bath
Dr. Shekinah · Somatic reset to close Saturday
Closing Circle
Commitments, community, send-off — the retreat ends here
Sunday Oct 26 (Optional)
Integrate & Close

The retreat ends Saturday night. Sunday is entirely optional — for those who want to linger in Penticton before heading home. Individual 1:1 sessions with Barb and/or Quinn are available as a paid add-on — not included in your registration fee. Contact us after registering to arrange.

1:1 Sessions with Barb and/or Quinn (Paid Add-On)
Not included in registration · Additional cost · Contact us after registering to arrange
Departures
Most participants depart Sunday morning
The Balcomo gardens, Penticton BC
The Balcomo
Penticton, BC
#1 Hotel in Penticton · Okanagan Valley
The Location

The Balcomo, Penticton.
Where wellness meets the Okanagan.

The Balcomo is the #1 rated hotel in Penticton — and it was chosen deliberately. A cedar sauna. Cold plunge pool. Salt room yoga studio. Fire pits in a two-acre courtyard. The Okanagan in late October is golden: harvest season, the lake, Naramata Bench wineries minutes away. The setting does part of the retreat's work before the first session begins.

🏨
The Balcomo — #1 Hotel in Penticton
Voted #1 of 44 hotels in Penticton on TripAdvisor. Cedar sauna, cold plunge pool, salt room yoga studio, hot tub, and relaxation room — Penticton's only hotel wellness centre. On-site restaurant (Local Public Eatery), 2-acre courtyard with fire pits, seasonal pool. Hotel rooms are booked directly by participants via balcomo.com — we'll send a room block code after registration.
✈️
Getting There
Penticton Regional Airport (YYF) has connections from Vancouver. Kelowna International (YLW) is approximately 1 hour by road. Flight schedules to Penticton are limited — plan to arrive Thursday October 23 and depart Sunday October 26 or Monday. We'll send a travel planning guide after registration.
🍷
While You're Here
Evenings are yours. The Local Public Eatery is on-site. Naramata Bench wineries are minutes away. The Balcomo's cedar sauna, cold plunge, and fire pits are yours to use. Late October in Penticton is unhurried, golden, and genuinely beautiful.
Your Facilitators

Two practitioners.
One shared conviction.

Leaders who lead as themselves don't just perform better. They make the people around them better. That's what we're here to help you build — and it's how both of us lead, every day.

Barb Wasilewski
Barb Wasilewski
Founder, Spirenza Consulting · Creator, SHiNE™: Unlock Your Brilliance
Barb Wasilewski is a registered nurse, healthcare executive, and educator with over two decades of experience in healthcare, government, and nonprofit — including serving as an Assistant Deputy Minister, where she designed and implemented province-wide strategies in mental health, primary care, and long-term care. She brings a rare combination of systems thinking, people-centred leadership, and hard-won frontline experience to every room she enters. A certified How to Fascinate® practitioner, sought-after speaker, and creator of the SHiNE™: Unlock Your Brilliance framework, Barb has spent more than a decade helping new and emerging leaders step confidently into who they already are. In sessions with Barb, people don't just learn about leadership — they remember why they chose it.
RN MBA PMP Healthcare Executive Speaker How to Fascinate® Certified Harvard TDS Practitioner Change Management
Quinn Cashion
Quinn Cashion
Quinn & Associates, Creator, Inner Aesthetics®: The Art of Living From Within
Quinn Cashion is a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor, Educator, Personal Mentor, Author, and International Speaker with an MEdL (Master of Education in Leadership) and three decades of experience in human development. Her work sits at the intersection of leadership, resilience, and the principles behind thought, emotion, and well-being — helping people understand the inner foundation from which they lead, relate, and live. Quinn has worked with leaders, educators, career-focused women and mothers, and individuals navigating significant life transitions. Her work in developing resilient classrooms has been published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior, and her forthcoming book explores the Sovereign as a powerful dimension of a woman's life. Known for her calm presence and ability to create space for honest reflection, Quinn brings a grounded perspective to leadership — one that looks beneath behaviour and performance to the human experience when they lead from within.
RTC MEdL Personal Mentor & Therapist Author International Speaker

The work behind this retreat.

With more than 30 years of combined experience, Quinn and Barb bring together wisdom from leadership, wellness, and personal transformation — creating a retreat where women in leadership can build an inner foundation and outer leadership come together. Hear from past participants as they share how working with Quinn and Barb has changed the way they see themselves, their leadership, their lives, and what is possible.

Working with Barb
As a new leader, I felt the pressure to have all the answers and carry the weight of the team on my own. The SHiNE™ course helped me overcome those limiting beliefs by giving me practical tools. It promotes a psychologically safe environment that's sustainable — not just a one-time fix.
T.O. · New Leader
A leader's mettle is tested not in times of peace but in the fires of conflict and strife. You've led your team through the eye of a storm, and shown us your compassion, sincerity, and heart. Thank you for being the kind of leader I hope to become.
A.T.
Once Barb talked me through my How to Fascinate® report, it was enlightening and inspiring. I've taken many personality tests and had many years of coaching. This one impressed me so much I've had my son do the same and referred 6 others. Barb is the partner you want.
M.E.
Working with Quinn
The idea that innate wisdom is within all of us and our thoughts are connected to how we feel, act and respond has given us a common language and understanding. It helped when involved in disputes to be reminded of what is really important.
Teacher · SD42
It was great — I'm really happy that I learnt how to share these principles with a new audience. Both the course depth and breadth was excellent and it was also eye opening and immensely enjoyable. Your attention to detail and personal intuition was very helpful. Thank you so much Quinn.
Mental Health Practitioner · London, UK
It has really helped me deal with the stress of added job responsibility. The difference in the past 6 weeks has been amazing. This has helped put things in perspective both at home and work — reduced my impulse to over react. Great learning experience.
City of Vancouver Employee
Why This Retreat Exists

We built this because
we needed it too.

We built this because we needed it too. Both of us have spent years inside the systems this retreat is designed for — healthcare, government, nonprofit, education — and we know what it costs to lead in them without a foundation that actually holds. Barb as a nurse, an executive, an Assistant Deputy Minister navigating province-wide transformation. Quinn as a counsellor, mentor, and speaker working with leaders and caregivers across Canada and internationally. We came at leadership from different directions and arrived at the same conviction: the missing piece isn't another skill. It's the inner work that makes every skill sustainable.

This retreat is what we wished had existed when we were in the thick of it. Two and a half days in Penticton, with a small group of women who are living the same thing, is that space. We have wanted to build this together for a long time. This is Retreat One.

Cancellation Policy

Your registration is protected.

31+ days before the retreat
Full refund, less a $200 non-refundable deposit that secures your spot.
8–30 days before the retreat
Your payment converts to a credit toward a future Heart of Leadership retreat, valid for 12 months. No cash refund in this window.
0–7 days before the retreat
No refund or credit. Your registration may be transferred to another participant if you find a replacement.
If we cancel the retreat
Full refund of all payments made, no questions asked.
Questions?
Email info@heartofleadershipretreat.com — we'll take care of you.
Referral Reward

Know someone who should be in the room?

Refer a colleague and when they register, you receive a $150 credit toward a future Heart of Leadership service. Simply ask your referral to mention your name when they register. We'll take care of the rest.

Your Investment

The registration fee covers the essentials.

Your retreat experience from arrival through closing — including facilitation, personalized pre-retreat preparation, your private intake conversation, the sound bath, meals, and everything you need to be fully present for the experience. Please note: Accommodation, evening meals, and transportation are arranged separately by each participant, allowing you the flexibility to choose what works best for you.

Early Bird — 8 Spots Only

Early Bird Registration

$947

USD per person

✦ Deadline: September 15, 2026

  • Thu arrival (evening program) through Sat close
  • How to Fascinate® pre-retreat assessment
  • 30-minute pre-retreat welcome & intake conversation
  • All SHiNE™: Unlock Your Brilliance sessions
  • Sound bath — Dr. Shekinah (Saturday close)
  • Welcome packet, journal & all materials
  • High-Value Statement & Leadership Charter
  • Fireside Chat & Word Jar · peer circles throughout

Save $200. First 8 registrants only. Once they're gone, standard pricing applies.

Standard Registration

$1,147

USD per person

✦ Registration closes September 30, 2026

  • Thu arrival (evening program) through Sat close
  • How to Fascinate® pre-retreat assessment
  • 30-minute pre-retreat welcome & intake conversation
  • All SHiNE™: Unlock Your Brilliance sessions
  • Sound bath — Dr. Shekinah (Saturday close)
  • Welcome packet, journal & all materials
  • High-Value Statement & Leadership Charter
  • Fireside Chat & Word Jar · peer circles throughout

Available until September 30, 2026. Total group is capped at 20 leaders.

Questions before registering? Email info@heartofleadershipretreat.com

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Early Bird Registration Save $200
$947 USD
First 8 registrants only · Deadline September 15, 2026
Standard Registration
$1,147 USD
Available until September 30, 2026
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