We thought about what makes our retreats and other events special and realized it is the personal connection, the times when we can laugh and cry and laugh again and we don't need to be in the same location to do that!

Open to anyone in our Wind River family (survivors, caregivers, volunteers, supporters, healthcare practitioners), we are rolling out a new way to connect with us, and hopefully experience a little Wind River magic from the comfort of your own living room that we are calling Tea Time with Wind River.

It's Simple:

1. Use our new scheduling tool to Sign up for a 30 min time slot
2. Make yourself a cup of tea just before your scheduled time
3. Get comfortable, sit back and chat with one of our Wind River team members

* Who you will talk to may be surprise as in addition to Shannon, Cheryl and Dave, other team members like Healing Touch Guru Shirley, Tai Chi Mike, Artful Amber, Riveting Robin, and Bouncing Yogi Becca will be in as well!  Try it!

Mental Health Corner

This article is SPOT ON for what many of us cancer survivors, and now the world are experiencing.   Please read when you have a moment.

That Discomfort You Feel is Grief
Harvard Business Review Article
March 23, 2020
By Scott Berinato

Saturday March 28th -
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Since our in-person activities are being postponed in April, the Wind River Team has created an array of new programs to stay connected with you.  And we are also sharing uplifting offerings from trusted wellness friends. We are all in this together!

First Virtual Event:
Get Your Rear In Gear
Saturday march 28th - wherever you are!

Walk, Run (or Jump in Place!) in honor of the Get Your Rear In Gear Race that was cancelled.   Post a picture on our Facebook Page when you are done!

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We know some survivors are considered at high risk for COVID-19 and may not have friends or family nearby to help with basic grocery shopping and other urgent needs.

If you are in the Charlotte area and you need some help, Click Here to let us know! We will follow up with you directly to explore options and see if we can get you some help. 

Looking for creative ways to enjoy new found family time? 

​Cheryl Lecroy of Wind River, and mother of 3 teenage boys offers you some of her favorite online escape ideas:

• Dancing Alone Together aims to be a central resource for the digital dance world that is beginning to bloom. Including Live-Streamed Dance Classes and Dance Performance Footage & Films
• 25 Virtual Tours Of Ireland Explore from the comfort of your couch
• You can now download over 300,000 books from the New York Public Library for free
• Google now lets you explore U.S. National Parks via 360-degree virtual tours
• Welcome to Virtual School Activities for all ages! A collection of sites to live webcams, virtual tours/trips, and other miscellaneous fun educational sites.  
• NASA makes their entire media library publicly accessible and copyright free 
• Audible just made hundreds of titles completely free to help during coronavirus crisis
• MetOpera - offers nightly streaming of awesome opera performances.. Cheryl's fave!

For our Business Owners

Many of our Wind River friends and supporters are also business owners. So we wanted to share with you a new free series that a regular supporter of Wind River is offering. 

Business Coach Katie Mattson-Craig of Daily Momentum is hosting 20 minute weekly discussing with different business building masters.  Listen in for their business and mindset tips to help you navigate these uncertain times!

SIGN UP: Daily Momentum Master's Series

WHEN: Monday mornings 10-10:30a EST, March 30th-June 29th

AND remember everyone, support your local businesses!  If someone is offering online yoga, art therapy, music or drumming lessons, or other wellness programs and you can afford to pay them their normal fee, do it!   We want to see all our smaller business survivor and thrive!

​Wind River Alum SpotLight - By Laura Renegar

PTSD and brain trauma aren’t just for those returning from an actual war zone; it is for any of us who have struggled with some of life’s hardest experiences.
 
Whether it’s cancer, divorce, mental or physical abuse, the loss of someone we love, a car accident, or a dysfunctional relationship … we all have something in common. Fear, anxiety, and hurt can prevent us from moving forward with hope for a happy future.
 
In my case I didn’t even know that I carried a traumatic wound in my brain from a spinal surgery I had 30 years ago.  During that surgery I woke up and I remembered everything, so when my current doctors began discussing another surgery on my spine, I had visceral physical reactions to the idea. My body was reacting to what my brain was holding onto from the past.  My anxiety was extremely high and I couldn’t control it, nor did I understand it since I have had 11 other non-related surgeries since that spinal surgery and for all those my level of nervousness was completely normal.  This was different and alarming.
 
My friend Shannon of Wind River called me 3 weeks before my spinal surgery and I told her about my anxiety. She recommended a visit to a trauma therapist, Kim Leppert, MSW, LCSW-S, CSAT, of FlyLeaf Consulting.  I went to see Kim and she changed my life.
 
At first I was skeptical because I didn’t feel like what I was experiencing was from actual trauma. I hadn’t been in a war or witnessed a shooting, it was “just” back surgery from 30 years ago. But I went ahead and made my appointment and I am so thankful that I did!  My anxiety went from an 8 (1 to 10) to a 4, and within a few days, down to a 2!

How you ask? We did something called Brain Spotting. It is related to EMDR and biofeedback and works by locating points in the client’s visual field that help to access unprocessed trauma in the sub-cortical brain. I don’t fully understand how it works, but what I experienced was off the charts and life changing!  My brain trauma has been released. It sounds crazy, right? Well, I cannot even describe how different I felt when I walked out of her office.  I had two appointments for this issue, but the main release came in just one 2 hour appointment!  I had my surgery in early February, with no anxiety, and my recovery has been so much better than I could have ever hoped for.

Think of how many people could be helped by something like this. Brain spotting works on anxiety, trauma, PTSD, addiction, grief….all kinds of things!  Being involved in the breast cancer community I know many survivors that have come out of cancer treatments, and surgeries, with some level of trauma and or PTSD.
 
If any of this resonates with you, please consider getting help. I have been able to take the hundred-pound weight I have been carrying around (and didn’t know it) and toss it into the wind. Poof. It’s gone!
 
Thank you Kim Leppert for giving me back my mental and emotional freedom before my surgery.  Thank you for changing my life!  Laura Renegar