The Full Story

About The Eco Retreat

Our mission is to cultivate a flourishing, nature-connected community by offering nature retreats and workshops for mindful living and leadership. We aim to help foster a deep connection with the natural world, nurturing resilience, mindfulness and purpose-driven leadership and community.

The Eco Retreat was founded in 2020 during The Eco Champion program Marion participated in with Stonnington Council and Port Phillip Eco Centre. While the idea of providing eco retreats has been a long time dream after Marion and Richard had been attending several Eco Dharma and Insight meditation retreats for more than a decade.

Marion and Richard, spent their childhoods in farming communities, immersed in the awe and wonder of nature. Richard grew up in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia, while Marion spent her early years east of Launceston in regional Tasmania. Both have a deep love and respect for nature and share concerns about the current trajectory of our culture. Their work with The Eco Retreat is driven by the urgent need for climate action, holistic wellbeing and leadership, as they seek to make sense of what it means to be alive at this pivotal moment in history.

Marion has been working as a leadership coach, counsellor, ecotherapist and mindfulness teacher for over 20 years across community, educational, and organisational settings. In 2025 she is undertaking a four year Dharma teacher training under the guidance of senior Insight Meditation Teachers in Australia.

Marion is also a practising studio artist, and part of an art collective in Glen Iris. Her parents were both farmers and Marion is keen to trace her roots back to where her life begun and explore regenerative farming practices, off-grid living in small community and creative arts practice in nature.

Richard, Marion's husband, is a leading technologist at a SaaS climate technology company, helping the international built environment transition towards decarbonisation. He is passionate about humanity’s shift to a more sustainable world and advocates for mindfulness and compassion in all aspects of his work and is keen to learn more about regenerative living and leadership.

In June 2022, the World Health Organisation launched a policy brief urging countries to integrate mental health support into their climate change initiatives. Around the world, people are increasingly concerned about the existential threats we face. Despite the urgency of these complex crises, many individuals are either in denial, overwhelmed with grief and anxiety, or actively working to adapt our systems and communities for change. Society is experiencing a growing mental health epidemic among young people but it's climate change and government inaction that is the pathology. At The Eco Retreat we understand deeply that human mental health and wellbeing is not an individual condition seperate from the context of culture and environment but rather an interconnected web of social and natural dynamics.

More than ever before in the history of our planet, people are engaging in creative, regenerative nature and social projects, making a positive impact, reducing harm and sowing the seeds of hope for a socially conscious culture to emerge. It is vital that we connect locally with our communities and support one another in building relationships with both the land and each other as we navigate the unprecedented challenges of climate change ahead and seek to prepare ourselves for adaption.

At our home in Glen Iris, we are rewilding our urban property to provide habitat for local birds and insects, growing food, and contributing to community climate action, all while raising four teenagers. We are working towards our shared vision of establishing The Eco Retreat project in regional Victoria with a property dedicated to land care, and helping our extended family and local community adapt to an off-grid, regenerative lifestyle while slowing down and having the time and space to dedicate to the art of localised culture making. We currently split our time between the city and coastal Victoria.

“Ecological ideas won’t save us, what we need is ecological identity, ecological self” ~ Arne Naess