During the first retreat - September 2001 - a feedback sheet was given to the participants on the last day, to evaluate the program. The questions were focused on whether the participants were able to increase their feelings of well being and to decrease/transform negative feelings. There was an overwhelming positive response. The integration of the two approaches: creative self-expression on one level, and meditative silence on another level, proved to be both challenging and enriching. These results encouraged us to plan the
second retreat.

During the second retreat  - April 2002 - we tried to analyze these psychological changes more in details, and we asked the participants to fill a questionnaire both before and after the retreat. The questionnaire listed 18 states of mind, 9 positive and 9 negatives, and asked each participant to indicate the state of mind on that moment, from 1 to 5.  All positive feelings had increased and all negative feelings had decreased, in various degrees. The most significant changes were: a) increase in energy, serenity and self-esteem; b) decrease in fatigue, confusion, and sadness. These results confirmed that the retreat experience had provided personal benefits for the patients who participated, but it was clear that for each patient this had happened in different ways. When we analyzed the images and the titles of the personal exhibitions of the last day, it appeared that three main themes had emerged: a) openness to their own vulnerability; b) integration between their negative and positive life experiences; c) symbolic expression and elaboration of spiritual needs.

Here are some sentences written by the participants during the creative writing workshops:

1. Some patients emphasized a new openness to their own vulnerability. "The uncomfortable burning inside indicates I can no longer hide. I feel a dark spot in my soul. No more victim. No more tears of sadness.  Now it is time to fix myself".
2. Others had moved deep into the experience of the negative, and had
   reached an integration of the negative and the positive. "Within the darkness of life, I slowly listen to a free sensation of hope, within the blue. Therefore... I exist!"
3. Other patients expressed existential needs, acceptance and spirituality. "This is my road to recovery. Everything is in your hand, myself included, and whatever happensS let me live in the mystery of this contemplative awareness".