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Ministry Objectives

Respite Retreat's ministry objectives are five-fold:

1) To provide a safe, nurturing place for families in crisis to come in a serene, God-centered place so that they can receive intensive one-on-one intervention by experts in the attachment field.

2) To offer week-long family-bonding camps to jump-start the bonding process and get families laughing and playing together, while providing the parents with critical training, tools and techniques to help them continue the bonding when they return home.

3) To have a place of rest and peace that families can come to for vacation, with skilled therapeutic respite care available for the parents as necessary.

4) To host training seminars by experts in the attachment field to equip and empower parents, teachers, pastors, therapists, and others in the community to forge strong partnerships to help raise up troubled children ... and specifically to train and provide apprenticeships for respite providers willing to serve needy families in their communities.

5) Years down the road: to build a therapeutic equine program using the majesty of the gentle giant Clydesdale horses to teach that being "big and strong" does not mean being a bully ... but rather being dignified and submissive out of love, trust, loyalty and respect ... in the hopes that the youth will learn to apply this reality with other humans, too.