The Shift.
A RETREAT BY INTEGRA
Northern Italy · Spring
OUR POSITION
Most of what you have been told about perimenopause has been incomplete.
The full picture (hormonal, psychological, physical, and relational) has rarely been gathered in one place and offered to you whole. Hormones affect mood, identity shifts affect relationships, and the body changes in ways no one names.
That is what The Shift is for.
why this retreat
Most women navigate perimenopause alone, and without answers.
Perimenopause typically begins in the early-to-mid forties — sometimes earlier. Its effects are wide-ranging: irregular cycles, disrupted sleep, mood instability, cognitive fog, anxiety, shifts in libido, and a persistent, disorienting sense that your body and mind no longer behave as expected.
If any of this sounds familiar, you are not alone — and you are not imagining it.
i
Medical Gaps
You may have been offered antidepressants or anti-anxiety medication without anyone connecting it to hormonal fluctuation.
ii.
Sleep & Physiology
You wake at 3 a.m., heart racing, sleep fractured, and are told it’s stress. What often goes unaddressed is how shifting hormones disrupt sleep architecture and nervous system regulation.
iii.
Cognitive Shifts
You lose words mid-sentence and focusing feels harder. Without context, this can feel like personal decline rather than a recognised hormonal shift.
iv.
Body Changes
Your cycle becomes unpredictable. Weight redistributes and libido shifts. Your body feels less familiar; not ill, but altered.
v.
Identity Disruption
You are capable and accomplished, yet something fundamental feels recalibrated and it can quietly feel like a loss of self.
vi.
Relational Strain
The people closest to you are watching you change without understanding why. The disconnection this creates at home or at work is one of the least talked about consequences of perimenopause.
OUR APPROACH
Three disciplines.
One coherent space to understand perimenopause.
This retreat brings physicians, licensed therapists, and somatic practitioners into one coherent structure designed specifically for perimenopause. Together, they bring clarity to hormonal fluctuation, mood instability, sleep disruption, and identity shifts with both rigour and warmth.
01
Hormonal Understanding
Led by physicians specialising in women's hormonal health, these sessions explore the biological mechanisms of perimenopause and their effects on sleep, mood, and cognition.
Physician-led · Group sessions · panels and Q&A
02
Psychotherapy & Identity Work
Small-group sessions facilitated by licensed psychotherapists, addressing identity transition, relational shifts, cognitive changes, and the experience of inhabiting a body that no longer feels familiar.
workshops · 6 women max · Psychodynamic informed
03
Lifestyle & Environment
Led by nutritionists and movement specialists, these sessions address how food, exercise, and sleep interact with hormonal change during perimenopause and what that means in practice, every day.
nutrition · movement · sleep · practitioner-led
THE PROGRAMME
Three days,
carefully structured.
The rhythm is designed around how the nervous system integrates new information: expert-led learning in the morning, psychological processing at mid-day, applied practice in the afternoon, and moderated dialogue in the evening.
Morning · 09:00 – 12:30
Medical Sessions
Physician-led sessions on hormonal mechanics, how symptoms connect to hormonal shifts, and what the current evidence says. You leave with language to understand your own body.
Hormonal physiology
Symptom mapping
HRT evidence
Midday · 13:30 – 15:30
Psychological Processing
Small groups of women, facilitated by licensed therapists. Space to process what the morning surfaced emotionally, relationally, and personally. Structured and contained.
Small-group therapy
Identity work
Cognitive patterns
Afternoon · 16:00 – 18:00
Applied Workshops
Practical sessions with nutritionists and movement specialists — grounded in current evidence and focused on what perimenopause means for how you eat, move, and sleep.
Nutrition
Movement
Sleep
Meal planning
Evening · 19:30 – 21:30
Expert Dialogue
Moderated conversations with the full faculty and all participants. Direct, substantive, and unlike anything possible in a clinical setting. No question is too particular.
Panel discussion
Open Q&A
Body mapping
Optional add-ons
Private, 1:1 sessions for deeper,
individualised support.
Complement your retreat experience with a private consultation. Each session is booked separately and tailored entirely to you.
Rx.
Hormonal Consultation
A private session with a physician to go deeper on what's happening in your body. Space for the questions the group format doesn't reach, and clarity on what to discuss with your own doctor
60 min · Physician-led
◎
Psychotherapy Session
A private session with a licensed therapist to explore what the retreat has surfaced for you personally. Unstructured, confidential, and entirely separate from the group work.
60 min · Licensed therapist
◇
Pelvic Health Consultation
A private session with a specialist to explore the physical changes of perimenopause that are rarely named in a clinical setting. Space to ask directly and leave with a clearer picture.
45 min · Specialist practitioner
∿
Nutritional Consultation
A private session with a nutritional therapist on how food, sleep, and daily habits intersect with hormonal transition. Grounded in current evidence and adapted to your life.
45 min · Nutritional therapist
THE EXPERIENCE
Three days of work, warmth, and very good company.
—
Fifteen participants. No more.
The cohort is deliberately small. The depth of conversation that happens here requires it and by the end of three days, the women in this room will know each other in a way that takes most friendships years.
—
The faculty don't leave at the end of the session.
Physicians, therapists, and nutrition practitioners are present across all three days: at dinner, in the garden, by the fire. The conversation that begins in the session continues over wine.
—
The setting is part of the design.
A private estate in Italy. Good food, long evenings, and the particular quality of early summer light that makes three days of genuine work feel like something you will want to return to.
—
The company of women who already understand.
No explaining, no justifying, no catching anyone up. The conversation starts at a different level and so does the connection.
—
Rest is built in, not bolted on.
Afternoons include unstructured time: for quiet, for walks in the garden, for whatever the day has surfaced.
The location
Italy in May, chosen for a reason.
Italy in May has a particular quality — the light, the temperature and the pace of long evenings that is genuinely difficult to replicate elsewhere. The venue is a small private estate, residential and quiet, with good food, a garden for the evenings, and enough space to be alone with what the day has surfaced (or hasn't, if what you need is company.)
COUNTRY
Italy
VENUE TYPE
Private estate, residential
LOCATION
Released to subscribers first
SEASON
May
WHAT YOU LEAVE WITH
The outcomes are specific.
What you leave with is specific, practical, and entirely your own.
I.
Medical understanding of your own physiology
A clear, accurate map of what perimenopause is doing in your body hormonally, neurologically, and physiologically.
II.
Emotional steadiness and a language for it
A psychological framework for what you are experiencing and the vocabulary to discuss it with clinicians, therapists, and people close to you.
III.
Nervous system
regulation tools
Practical techniques, grounded in physiology, that address anxiety, reactivity, and sleep, applicable without equipment, ritual, or perfect conditions.
IV.
Informed confidence going forward
The capacity to engage with your own healthcare, advocate clearly for appropriate treatment, and move through this transition with understanding rather than fear.
THE EXPERIENCE
Serious work, limited places.
The Shift is launching with a single retreat: Fifteen places, one location, announced only to those on the early access list.
Applications will open to subscribers first, several weeks before public release.
If any part of this has described your experience , even in outline, leaving your contact is the right first step. There is no commitment in doing so.
COHORT SIZE
15 Women
DURATION
Three days, residential
LOCATION
Italy — revealed to subscribers
WHEN
May 2026
Early access
Be the first to know when doors open.
Leave your details and you will receive the location, dates, faculty information, and application details before they are publicly available.
We won't be sending you any newsletters of marketing.
Only the information relevant to this retreat.
THE INVITATION
Serious work, limited places.
We are launching with a single retreat. Eighteen places. One location, announced only to those on the early access list. Applications will open to subscribers first, several weeks before public release.
If any part of this has described your experience — even in outline — leaving your contact is the right first step. There is no commitment in doing so.
Cohort size
18 women
DURATION
Three days, residential
LOCATION
Italy — revealed to subscribers
WHEN
May 2026
Applications open
Subscribers first
Early access
Be the first to know when doors open.
Leave your details and you will receive the location, dates, faculty information, and application details before they are publicly available. No newsletters. No marketing. Only the information relevant to this retreat.