Everyday Health blogger Tina Aswani Omprakash details her experience on a weekend-long retreat for women living with IBDs.
By Tina Aswani Omprakash
Originally published by Everyday Health on August 23rd, 2019: https://www.everydayhealth.com/digestive-health/girls-with-guts-retreat-helps-women-living-with-inflammatory-bowel-disease-find-support/
Girls With Guts (GWG) kicked off its first-ever Newbie Retreat, a weekend-long event for new members of the organization that was held at Trout Lake in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, from June 7 to 9, 2019. The nonprofit founded by Jackie Zimmerman in 2013 is dedicated to supporting and empowering women with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, or ostomies, through the building of sisterhood and self-esteem.
For me, other than writing a blog post for GWG and partaking in closed group chats on Facebook, I hadn’t had too much exposure to GWG prior to the Newbie Retreat. So this weekend was not only my first time attending, it was also my first time meeting the board members and many women from all over the United States and Canada who, like myself, are living with a chronic condition. And while connecting with other newbies felt new and exciting, it also felt familial because we “got” each other. There was no need to explain anything about our conditions, medication, or dietary restrictions, which opened us up to genuine bonding experiences.
Throughout the weekend there were a number of fun-filled activities planned to create camaraderie amongst attendees. From disease-related breakout sessions on topics including parenting with an IBD and life with an ostomy to late-night campfire chats and team-building sports activities, it was a weekend full of laughter and fun, centered around butts, guts, ostomies, and all the taboo topics that are difficult for us to discuss with outsiders.
To read more about the things I learned from the retreat to help me to continue to live well with Crohn’s Disease, please visit the Everyday Health site for the full article: https://www.everydayhealth.com/digestive-health/girls-with-guts-retreat-helps-women-living-with-inflammatory-bowel-disease-find-support/.
You can also visit the Girls with Guts website to learn more about the organization, or about the upcoming retreat in November.
