The Full Story
About The Eco Retreat
Our mission is to cultivate a flourishing, nature-connected community by offering nature retreats 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.
Marion and Richard, the founders of The Eco Retreat, 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.
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Marion has been working as a wellbeing and leadership coach, counsellor, and mindfulness teacher for over 20 years across community, educational, and organisational settings. She is deeply grateful for the guidance of wise elders and mentors throughout her journey and has received education and training in counselling, coaching, ecotherapy, and mindfulness. In 2025 she is undertaking Dharma teacher training under the guidance of senior Insight Meditation Teachers in Australia. She has personally studied Insight meditation, Tibetan and Zen Buddhism as well as ancient western culture and jungian psychology. Her parents were both farmers and Marion is keen to trace her roots back to where her parents started out and explore regenerative farming practices and off-grid living.
​​​​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 permaculture living.
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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 nature dynamics.
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More than ever before in the history of our planet people are engaging in creative, regenerative nature and social projects, making a positive impact and sowing the seeds 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.
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At our home in Glen Iris, we are rewilding our urban property, 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 in regional Victoria dedicated to land care, and helping our extended family and local community adapt to an off-grid, regenerative lifestyle. We split our time between the city and coastal Victoria.
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“Ecological ideas won’t save us, what we need is ecological identity, ecological self” ~ Arne Naess
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