Simpsonwood Retreat Center, Georgia
April 17 - 19, 2009

The SAMRM Retreat was held April 17 - 19, 2009. The site was the Simpsonwood Retreat Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The location was a beautiful 227 acre wooded area with lots of walking trails.

The dining facility and meeting room was a very short walk to the banks of the Chattahoochee River. There were many buildings for lodging and the rooms were quite comfortable. During our free time we had ample opportunity to stroll the grounds. What a lovely time to visit that city. The azaleas were blooming. The temperature was warm, there were gentle breezes and it was a glorious spring weekend in Atlanta.

Unfortunately, storms in other parts of the country delayed some attendees from arriving when they planned. Four members (Helen Erickson, Micky Erickson, Carolyn Kinney, and Sharon Rogers) waited many long hours in the Austin airport but they finally arrived near midnight on Friday evening. After all of the challenges of travel, they were real champs and were up and bright eyed on Saturday for the labyrinth tour. For more details about the sites we visited and background information on labyrinths read the article by Ellen Schultz that appears in this newsletter. Those of us who were able to arrive on time, spent Friday doing some serious socializing, creative thinking regarding SAMRM, meta-theorizing, and eating. In other words, we carried on.

Saturday afternoon we had an open discussion on aspects of the theory. This was helpful as we always learn from the insights of others. We also had time during our meals to discuss topics of interest and network.

On Saturday evening we had a marathon meeting to discuss business of the society. I will list some of the major points in our discussions and decisions that were approved.

• We will move to an online newsletter. This allows faster delivery, use of color photos, and saves money. A hard copy of the newsletter will be mail to anyone without email; however, at this time it appears that all members have provided email addresses. We do hope you enjoy this first electronic version of the newsletter. Please send any comments to the editor.
• Communication among the officers has not been routinely scheduled and we found this to be problematic. We will explore using Skype or a similar online group phone conference call system and try to set up planned meetings. That will help keep the momentum going strong between our large conferences.
• We would like to make some changes to the website. Da'Lynn Clayton's husband has the skill to do these changes so we will hire him for this effort. With this revision we want to add more photos, perhaps some audio, and ensure that we have the right words so that SAMRM appears with searches on nursing theory, holistic nursing and similar key tags.
• We discussed the role of treasurer vs a financial officer that is appointed by the executive committee. We decided to continue with an elected treasurer but extend the number of terms that the treasurer can run. This will appear with the next bylaws revision proposal.
• Micky reported on the progress for the 2010 Conference in San Antonio. We are really looking forward to this meeting as a time to share our research, education, and practice related to MRM. It will also be a time of renewal and fun. The River Walk is close to our hotel and the planning committee is scheduling fun time into what is usually a packed working day. This will be a welcomed relief for those of us who do get exhausted by the end of the meeting. There is more on this event elsewhere in the newsletter. However, I do want to remind people to do what you can to advertise the meeting to colleagues. If you want more of the hold the date cards, please contact Micky. I strongly encourage you to pass them out at holistic nursing meetings that you attend.
• Of course we discussed my pet project, publishing. Please get the word out about MRM through your clinical, educational, and research publications.
• We brainstormed about ways to expand our reach to new audiences, especially in ANCC, STTI, AAHN, and holistic nursing circles.

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