Are you a community leader, a counsellor, police or probation officer, teacher, orametua, physician or nurse? Are you one of the frontline folks who help paddle the vaka of social services in our Cook Islands community? writes Linda Kavelin-Popov.

A retreat and workshop is being held on Aitutaki on Monday and Tuesday September 23 and 24 at Resort Tava’e from 8am to 3pm. It’s called “Help for the Helpers” and addresses how to balance sacrificial service with radical self-care. It offers a certificate for those attending the two days, as well as professional development credit. It will be an experiential, interactive retreat to fill your cup and sharpen your skills.

Offered by Solutions Cook Islands, funded kindly by the Social Impact Fund, it is completely free, and offers breakfast and lunch buffets both days. It is also a first step to becoming a Virtues Project Facilitator.

Main presenters, Tane Keepa and Robin Arnold from He Waka Tapu treatment centre in Christchurch are known for their inspiring work in healing and personal development using a culturally relevant approach as master facilitators of The Virtues Project. Project founders, Dr. Dan Popov and Linda Kavelin-Popov as well as Marie Francis, director of Solutions Cook Islands, will be presenting briefly as well.

Participants will receive five Virtues based strategies for life and work, holistic tools for healing and personal growth, tips on personal care, and mindfulness practices. The goal of the workshop is to nurture the nurturers and leaders, the ones who are constantly giving, and sometimes in danger of burnout. You can’t keep giving if you’re running on fumes, so caregivers need strategies for sustaining themselves body, mind and spirit.

Many times, in our travels for The Virtues Project, we have witnessed in small towns or small countries that once an individual is shown to have virtues such as responsibility, reliability, service and excellence in whatever they do, people start relying on them for more and more until they break down from the sheer weight of it all. As the load they carry gets heavier and heavier, they continue to say yes when asked to do yet another thing, but in the long run, without a pace of grace, their burden is unsustainable. We can actually overdevelop certain virtues such as responsibility, and need other virtues, such as moderation, to balance them. Knowing our strength virtues and growth virtues is an important aspect of a sustainable life. It is said that the Lord never tests us beyond our capacity but often we over test ourselves.

For more information, or to register, contact Linda at virtuesdiva@gmail.com or cell 76938. Register soon as space is limited. Again, there are no fees, thanks to the generosity of the Social Impact Fund.