The River Valley Resilience Retreat Board was glad to get their unanimously approved permit to operate from the RM of Prince Albert. Pictured Left to right: Ramsay Bellisle, Michelle McKeaveney, Chris Garland, Jeff Reeder, Tara Harrison and Dean Blanchard. (Submitted photo/River Valley Resilience Retreat)

By Susan McNeil

River Valley Resilience Retreat

Prince Albert retreat will open in weeks

Apr 20, 2022 | 4:00 PM

With some minor renovations, the River Valley Resilience Retreat will soon be ready to start its mission of helping people manage operational stress injury, also called PTSD.

Michelle McKeaveney and Jeff Reeder say it won’t take long for them to be able run day camps for first responders such as firefighters or police officers.

“We’ll be doing things there within a month,” said McKeaveney.

The location they will be using is an existing home and acreage that only needs some small changes to bring to modern standards.

“This house was built with love. The entire property was like it was built for us already. It’s very retreat-like,” said McKeaveney.

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Both she and Reeder said that it has been a tough road getting to the point where they can finally have a permanent location.

The RM of Prince Albert gave the final go ahead on the permit that will allow the project to operate last week.

“It was a huge milestone and a huge win for our organization,” said Reeder.

Despite the pressure of making their case in front of council – which later voted unanimously in favour of the permit – Reeder and McKeaveney had lots of support from the neighours that also showed up at the meeting.

“It was pretty emotional and overwhelming. It was a lot of ups and downs getting to this point and a lot of rejection,” said Reeder. “We’ve kind of endured the process and to get to the point where we had overwhelming support from the neighbours around us and the timing is perfect.”

River Valley Resilience has been running peer support groups unofficially for six years and last year decided to try out day camps.

The result was exactly what they wanted and their new location will offer the same sort of programs.

“The participants had an absolutely inspiring and enjoyable day because they were surrounded by horses and nature,” said McKeaveney.

Part of the process includes time with horses, delivered in this case by Cartier’s Equine Assisted Learning facility.

The participants in the day camps left feeling lighthearted and more supported by team members, McKeaveney said.

“A lot of them have made lifelong friendships just out of a simple day camp. Now we’re excited to do the advanced version of it on our own home,” McKeaveney said.

It was an appearance on the John Gormley radio show that turned the tables for the retreat. Two anonymous donors stepped up, one giving $50,000 and the other over $70,000.

Both donations meant the purchase of the property could go ahead and the amount of work and headache would be minimal.

“It’s been somebody’s home for 30-plus years. It’s basically a turn-key operation, that’s why it works so well for us. It doesn’t really restrict us time wise to start delivering some programs,“ said Reeder. “It’s just a perfect fit for what we need. With some minor renovations and upgrades, we’re able to just get a quick start.”

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow