Women's Wellness Retreat in Portugal
A transformative experience on Portugal's Silver Coast, June 3–8, 2026.
Stop waiting for permission to put yourself first.
Hey there…
I invite you to consider your answers to these questions:
Do you identify as a smart, driven, high-achieving woman who cares deeply for others- like your family, students, patients, clients, employees, or neighbors?
Do you feel overwhelmed by personal responsibilities or stuck in an exhausting career that looks good on paper but leaves you unfulfilled?
Have you tried to “fix” yourself with all the things- morning routines, meditations, and movement; self-care, self-help, and self-sabotage- only to find minimal relief?
It’s not your fault.
We don't burn out because we're weak.
We burn out because we're extraordinarily capable of overriding our own limits. And the most effective thing you can do is temporarily remove yourself from that system entirely.
This retreat is for you if:
✓ You’ve been feeling constantly drained by expectations that seem to take everything you’ve got and then some.
✓ Rest doesn’t exist in your world right now… even vacations feel more like planning and managing than actually relaxing.
✓ You want to feel good again, in every sense of the word… but don’t even know where to start.
✓ Appearances matter. You don't want your performance to drop, yet the margin for error keeps shrinking.
✓ And deep down, you worry that you’ll be stuck suffering in silence forever.
Six days in Portugal.
Return home renewed.
The Reclaim Your Joy Wellness Retreat is a small, intimate gathering of high-achieving women on Portugal’s Silver Coast, June 3–8, 2026. Experience six transformative days that aren’t about fixing or optimizing anything- they’re about finally taking a deep breath and letting your system recalibrate.
This isn't just a getaway—it's an investment in your future self.
It's about practical tools, profound rest, and a beautiful change of scenery to spark a genuine shift.
Where We’ll Wander:
Discover the Heart of Portugal’s Silver Coast
Often simply called Caldas, this vibrant city known for its rich history in ceramics is a quintessential Portuguese town. It boasts a beautiful park, winding streets, and a daily fruit and vegetable market that is one of the oldest and largest in Portugal. The city's name, meaning "Queen's Hot Springs," comes from its historic thermal hospital founded by Queen Leonor in the 15th century.
Caldas will be your home base for the retreat, with our stay at the 4-star SANA Silver Coast Hotel. Housed in an elegant 19th-century building with modern updates, the hotel features beautiful bathrooms with exceptional showers, a generous breakfast buffet, an intimate bar with outdoor seating, and is conveniently located next to a small Portuguese mall for casual shopping. The SANA Silver Coast will also serve as the primary location for our group workshops.
Caldas da Rainha
Step back in time in Óbidos, a remarkably preserved medieval town entirely enclosed within fortified stone walls. This charming village is a designated national monument and is known for its narrow cobblestone streets and traditional whitewashed houses draped in bougainvillea—vibrant flowering vines that spill over doorways and walls in shades of pink, purple, and red. Óbidos is also famous for its annual International Chocolate Festival and for ginjinha, a sweet cherry liqueur traditionally served in a small chocolate cup.
Óbidos
This picturesque coastal town nestled around a unique, shell-shaped bay, makes it one of Portugal's safest and most family-friendly beaches. The calm, shallow waters are perfect for swimming and various water sports. A charming promenade lines the bay, offering lovely views, cafes, and restaurants, while a wooden boardwalk leads to the impressive dunes and a more rugged stretch of coastline.
São Martinho do Porto
Located adjacent to São Martinho do Porto, Salir do Porto is a smaller, more tranquil village known for having the highest sand dune in Portugal. It offers stunning views of the bay of São Martinho do Porto and provides a more laid-back atmosphere. It's a great spot for those seeking peace and natural beauty, with opportunities for walking and enjoying the natural landscape.
Salir do Porto
This dynamic coastal village uniquely situated where the Óbidos Lagoon meets the Atlantic Ocean. This creates a diverse environment offering both the calm, shallow waters of the lagoon—ideal for windsurfing, kitesurfing, and paddle boarding—and the more dramatic waves of the ocean, popular with surfers. The village itself offers a good selection of restaurants and cafes, many with stunning views of the lagoon or the sea, making it a popular destination for both relaxation and water sports.
Foz do Arelho
Lisbon will be your arrival and departure city for the retreat. Portugal’s vibrant capital blends historic charm with modern energy, offering sunlit hills, colorful tiled buildings, and sweeping views of the Tagus River. Known for its iconic trams, lively neighborhoods, and rich culinary scene, Lisbon invites wandering, café pauses, and discovery. It’s a city where tradition and creativity coexist, setting a welcoming tone for the journey ahead.
Lisbon
What You’ll Bring Home
A true reset that lasts.
This isn’t about a quick fix, it’s about actually experiencing what a rested body and mind feels like. You’ll leave knowing how to return to that state and how to protect it once you’re home.
Clarity on what's next.
With the space to finally slow down and think, new possibilities emerge and decisions become clearer. This powerful internal shift lets you leave with clarity on what needs to change and a personal roadmap to get there.
Yourself, renewed.
You’ll return home reconnected to what genuinely lights you up. You’ll have the tools to use your voice to express what you want, what you don’t, and what you need. And most
important, you’ll no longer wait for permission to put yourself first.
This isn't a reward for getting your life together; it IS getting your life together.
Step out of the systems that drain you and into an environment designed for deep restoration.
What Made Them Say Yes
"I just kept staring at the page thinking, this is exactly what I need. And then I thought, if not now, when? And I couldn't answer that. So I booked it. The second I hit confirm, I burst into tears. I didn't even know how badly I needed to say yes to myself until I finally did."
— Retreat Participant "My husband actually said, who are you waiting for permission from? That's when I realized I was the one withholding it from myself. I booked it before I could talk myself out of it again. For the first time in years I put myself first and it felt terrifying and completely right at the same time."
— Retreat Participant“My hands were shaking when I hit submit. Then I sat there and just... exhaled. Like something I'd been holding for a very long time finally got to put itself down. I called my sister right after and said I did something for me today. She started crying and said “its about time” before I even finished the sentence.”
— Retreat Participant
June 3 - 8, 2026 · Portugal · Limited 5 Spots Left
The next step is a conversation.
The call is a way to ensure alignment. You’ll be able to ask questions, talk through details, and decide without pressure if this is the right next step for you.
What to Expect
1. Community + Connection
At the retreat, you’ll be surrounded by a small group of women who understand what you’re carrying and can hold space for it—without judgment. The simple act of being witnessed, supported, and reminded you’re not alone can be profoundly transformative. From shared meals to walks on the beach, the connections you build here tend to outlast the retreat itself.
2. Cultural Immersion
Experience the warmth, rhythm, and hospitality of Portuguese culture, where slowing down is not an indulgence, it's a way of life. Together, we'll explore local food, landscape, and daily rituals that remind the body how to breathe again. We’ll walk beneath the beautiful bougainvillea flowers as they spill over whitewashed walls, softening the cobblestone streets, unhurried, with nowhere else we need to be.
3. Curated Activities
From gentle morning yoga and creative tile-making, cultural excursions to a medieval walled city and the relaxing days at the beach, each experience is intentionally chosen to support nervous system regulation, connection, and renewal. Our daily flow balances group time with personal reflection, guided exploration with independent expression.
4. Well-being Workshops
Each afternoon includes professionally led group coaching sessions in a calm, safe, relaxed setting. You’ll be guided to uncover the root causes of chronic over-functioning, recognize long-standing patterns, and gain new perspective, tools and language to develop a personal roadmap for lasting well-being. You’ll achieve in days what often takes months.
5. Layers of Support
From the moment you enroll, you’ll receive specialized support to help you feel prepared, grounded, and connected. After securing your spot, you’ll receive a retreat eBook with detailed information along with access to pre-retreat Zoom calls to answer all of your questions and help with planning. During the retreat, optional enhancements—including mind-body wellness services and private coaching sessions—will be available. To ensure lasting integration, you’ll also have the option to continue your journey, post-retreat, for sustained momentum and well-being.
When Stepping Away Is the Work
The distance matters. Portugal’s culture is built around slow living, and crossing an ocean creates a psychological permission slip to truly disconnect.
Wellness retreats aren’t a cop-out or an escape—and they certainly aren’t selfish or a way of avoiding responsibility. They’re an intentional reset. Sometimes, the only way to truly disconnect from what’s keeping you stuck is to step outside of your daily environment and give yourself space to reflect, reset, and realign.
The Reclaim Your Joy women’s wellness retreat offers something difficult to access in everyday life: A rare combination of shared community, intentional space, and thoughtfully curated experiences that create meaningful change in a short amount of time.
Through guided workshops, connection, and immersive moments, this retreat is designed to support deep restoration—and to help insights turn into action long after you return home.
Well-being Workshops: Laying the Foundation to Reclaim Joy
After a full morning immersed in the warmth, rhythm, and hospitality of Portuguese culture, we return to Caldas da Rainha to pause, reflect, and integrate what the day has offered. These professionally guided coaching groups are the heart of the retreat. Thoughtfully designed and intentionally paced, the daily workshops build on one another to uncover the root causes of chronic stress, illuminate long-standing patterns, and introduce practical, evidence-based tools that support meaningful shifts in well-being.
You’ll gain a deeper understanding of your own experience, along with tools for setting healthy boundaries, techniques to support nervous system regulation, and an appreciation for compassionate self-inquiry. Together, these sessions ensure you don’t just feel better—you understand why you feel better.
You Weren’t Meant to Burn Out. There’s a Better Way Forward
Community support and a meaningful change of scenery can be powerful catalysts during periods of stress and transition. Our retreats intentionally take you out of daily routines and into a thoughtfully guided space to pause, reflect, and reconnect—led by board-certified wellness professionals. Together, we focus on restoring emotional well-being, rediscovering joy, and building practical, sustainable tools that support a more fulfilling relationship with both work and life.
This is for you if >>>
You’re driven and capable, yet find yourself struggling to find a healthy balance between career demands, family responsibilities, and personal needs.
You carry a constant mental load and feel like your mind never fully gets a break.
You have difficulty shutting your brain off and often find yourself stuck in overthinking.
You’re caught in a cycle of people-pleasing, putting yourself last, and feeling depleted.
You want a healthier relationship with work and life so you can be more present at home.
You believe in the value of working with qualified and experienced professionals.
You’re a smart, resourceful, Independent woman who’s ready to prioritize yourself—even if you’re not sure where to start.
Meet Your Guides: Amy Schamberg & Melissa Lefort.
Our Story. Your Foundation.
Melissa spent over 20 years as an educator before burnout led her to step away and rebuild her life from the ground up. That journey brought her to Portugal, where she discovered a way of living rooted in presence, creativity, and joy. She now lives there with her family, grounded in a rhythm that allows for peace and presence in simple routines—like walking her daughter to and from school. Today, Melissa is an author, innovator, and podcast founder focused on reinvention and meaningful change.
Amy spent 15 years in school psychology until chronic stress and unsafe working conditions pushed her to confront the very systems she had been helping others navigate. She went on to become a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach with training in functional medicine, and now supports high-achieving professionals recovering from burnout. As a Health and Well-being Strategist and occupational health doctoral student, Amy’s research focuses on evidence-based, Total Worker Health approaches to advancing employee health, well-being and safety.
Together, Melissa and Amy share a simple but powerful belief: True wellness isn’t about more self-care, it’s about changing the conditions that make rest, joy, and connection possible again. The Reclaim Your Joy Wellness Retreat in Portugal is your chance to step out of the systems that drain you and into an environment designed for deep restoration. Will you join us?
Let’s be clear: Burnout is not a personal failure.
Burnout is caused by an imbalanced system. According to the World Health Organization, burnout is a state of mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion caused by unmanaged, ongoing workplace stress.
No amount of mindfulness, massage, or meditation can fix a toxic system, unrealistic demands, or unsustainable expectations.
Real change in the workplace requires shifts in leadership, culture, and job design. While those changes aren’t the sole responsibility of the person being crushed by a dysfunctional organization, having the language, tools, and strategies to protect well-being and advocate for healthy boundaries is a critical piece of the puzzle.
This retreat bridges that gap. It offers space to step away from daily pressures while building practical insight and skills to understand what’s driving your stress, and how to respond with greater clarity, confidence, and resolve.
Come back to yourself this June in Portugal.
Please take a moment to complete the application form and a member of our team will reach out within 24-48 hours.
