THE GREATEST GIFT

FOR FIRST-TIME VISITORS

Personal Message from the Director

Why Take STAR

Your STAR Experience

The STAR Process

The Essence of STAR

What Graduates Say About STAR

The Value of a Personal Growth Retreat

STAR Staff

FOR THERAPISTS

Message from the Director

What Therapists Say About STAR

Inside the STAR Process

Why Therapists Choose STAR

STAR Staff

SPECIAL TOPICS

Addictions and Recovery

Attachment Disorder and Relationship Problems

Anger Management

Attacking Anxiety and Depression

Grief Recovery

Childhood Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress

Recommended Reading

A personal message from Barbara Findeisen, director of the STAR Foundation

Dear Fellow Traveler,

Once upon a time, you were absolutely okay. You were not afraid. You were safe. Once upon a time, you were completely at peace with yourself.

And then something happened… You may not even know what it is, or know it’s there, but it is influencing your life. You’re tripping over it all the time.

The soul becomes a child... The child becomes an adult... Somewhere in the process, something is lost. STAR helps you find it.

There is no escape from what is hidden there. It influences the way you relate to people. It influences your job. It influences the way you relate to yourself. It influences the kind of parent you are.

What usually happens is that in order to survive you gradually forget yourself – until who you are, why you’re here, and even what you feel, have all faded away in the distance. You survive, and you forget about thriving.

You get stuck. Because what have you forgotten? You. The missing piece you seek, to find wholeness, is within you.

Jung said the challenge in this century is for people to find their souls. It’s true. The pain of many people is that they’ve lost their souls. They’ve lost their essence, their spirit, their authenticity – they’ve lost their purpose.

Use whatever words you want. Whatever that is, you know it was there at the beginning. And when you’re on your death bed it will also be there, whether you’re aware of it or not. Whether you access its wisdom and power or not, it exists. Whether you call it soul, spirit, energy, your vital force, higher sense, or higher self, you couldn’t be alive without it.

It’s what most of psychology is trying to help people find – their essential, pure, authentic self. Call it radiant being, spirit, soul essence – it is that which is whole in you, that which contains the memory of wholeness within you, that which is connected to source, that which lives in your heart, that which is love.

Do most people live from this place? No, they don’t, because pain happened, and something else is now running their lives.

What you need to know is that healing is not an event, but a process. It requires risking to turn within in order to grieve our wounds and mend our hearts, to heal our past and let go of worn-out patterns of survival which may have served us then, but no longer help. In order to do that, we need time, support, and a safe place. That’s what STAR provides.

The depth and completeness of STAR is designed to allow you to begin to find your way back – to experience your essence, your authenticity, who you were before all this happened, the totality of who you are. Here, you can find reunion, a reconnection with your innermost heart, a coming home to your soul.

And there is more. At STAR, you can begin to weave the fragile thread of hope into a string of tomorrows, so that at last you are empowered to create the future your soul desires.

The staff of STAR is a community of caring professionals who understand that life transitions are opportunities for profound self-healing, personal growth and renewal. We view "symptoms" as signs of birthing a new consciousness, not as pathology. We understand that this can be a painful journey, and that it requires taking risk. We are here to hold the light as you heal the wounds of the past and mend your heart. We are with you as you come to know and experience yourself in a way you perhaps never believed was possible.

I invite you to give yourself the most precious gift – the gift of healing. I invite you to join us at the very next STAR personal growth retreat.

Sincerely,

Barbara Findeisen, M.F.T.