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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An invitation to quiet the busy mind and create space for insight.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 Registration
USD per person
✦ Deadline: September 15, 2026
Save $200. First 8 registrants only. Once they're gone, standard pricing applies.
Standard Registration
USD per person
✦ Registration closes September 30, 2026
Available until September 30, 2026. Total group is capped at 20 leaders.
Questions before registering? Email info@heartofleadershipretreat.com
Complete the form below. You'll be directed to secure payment after submitting. Your spot is confirmed once payment is complete — and you'll hear from us personally within 24 hours.