Retreat
Crafted Leader: Reset
A 3-day mens reset and recalibration retreat that blends hands-on woodworking, coaching, and time in nature to help you remember who you are and what you’re capable of.
——-New Dates Coming Soon——
Overview
Crafted Leader: Reset is a 3-day, hands-on retreat in the heart of the New Forest designed to help you step out of the noise, reconnect with what you’re capable of, and return to your life with clarity and confidence.
Through purposeful woodworking, shared effort, quiet moments in nature, and a supportive group environment, you’ll stop thinking, slow your internal pace, and settle into a rhythm that modern life rarely allows.
This is where flow science meets craft.
By engaging your hands and your body, you give your mind the space it needs to reorganise, incubate solutions, and reveal insights you’ve been unable to reach in the rush of everyday life.
You won’t sit in circles or analyse yourself.
You’ll do something real.
You’ll make tangible progress.
You’ll feel capable again.
Most people arrive overwhelmed or stuck.
They leave grounded, clear, and carrying a renewed sense of “I can — I always could”.
Experience Real Transformation
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“This process has taught me that I can just be myself and that that’s okay.”
Simon C
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" I take away probably most importantly a fine new group of friends."
Dennis O’C
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"Focus on the now… it’s something I’ve forgotten how to do, but now I’ve been reminded."
Dan B
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“I felt much happier and lighter this weekend than what I’ve felt in a long time.”
Chris G
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"It's given me a different perspective. A perspective that I needed, which I didn't think I was able to find."
Matt C
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“What I got was a reset of my nervous system and a clear path for the next phase of my career.”
Alan T
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"I’ll take a lot from this and not just this weekend, it’ll stay with me.”
Jasel M
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“I can’t think of another space in my life I’d be able to share in this way.”
Gareth P
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“I felt really well held and genuinely safe to be able to share literally anything.”
Dean F
What You’ll Experience
Everything you’ll do over the weekend is designed to engage your hands, quiet the conscious mind, and activate the deeper problem-solving part of the brain.
Woodworking with hand tools: Build your own hardwood joiner’s mallet. The craft keeps the conscious mind engaged while the unconscious brings forward deeper insight.
Time away from responsibilities, performance and thinking: Three uninterrupted days with no decisions to make, no roles to play, and nothing to hold together. Space to breathe and simply be yourself.
Reflective coaching: Gentle but powerful conversations to explore life’s bigger questions and find new perspectives.
Immersion in natural environment: Walks, movement, and fireside conversations in the forest to reset body and mind.
Community: Working shoulder to shoulder with other senior-level men, all navigating their own crossroads. Honest, natural conversations, No BS and no forced vulnerability.
Nourishing meals & private cabins: Fully catered by award-winning chefs (Masterchef Ireland Winners 2013), with private glamping-style accommodation.
A sense of competence you can feel: By building something real with your hands, you reconnect with capability in a way that’s tangible, grounding and unmistakably yours.
What It Provides
Space to step away from responsibility and pressure: A rare pause from being “on” — no roles, no decisions, no expectations. Just room to breathe and see your life more clearly.
A full nervous system reset: Three days of quieting the mental noise so your mind and body settle, reconnect and reset.
Clarity on decisions you’ve been circling: By engaging your hands and letting the subconscious work in the background, insights surface unavailable in the day-to-day rush.
The satisfaction of creating something real: Build something tangible with traditional tools — no experience needed. Leave with proof of your capability in your hands.
A renewed sense of energy and confidence: You return grounded, capable and ready to act on what matters most.
What Makes This Different?
Crafted Leader isn’t a retreat with woodworking added in, or a coaching workshop dressed up as an experience. It’s a fully integrated, neuroscience-grounded process designed to help you remember what you’re capable of.
Here’s what sets it apart:
A craft-led transformation, not a novelty activity: You build a wooden mallet with traditional tools — the core vehicle for insight, not a side project.
A neuroscience-backed structure: By focusing your hands, you quiet the conscious mind and activate the deeper problem-solving part of the brain.
A cohesive blend of coaching, craft and nature: Everything is intentionally designed to work together, not stacked as separate sessions.
A small group (max 12): This keeps the experience grounded, personal and spacious.
Zero forced vulnerability: You choose how you show up. No rituals, no circles, no pressure.
Alongside the core woodworking process, you’ll also experience:
Grounding practices to calm your nervous system
Immersive nature walks through the ancient woodland of the New Forest
Optional activities giving you space to explore, reset, or simply engage
Locally sourced, shared meals prepared with care
Plenty of unhurried time for quiet reflection, conversation, or simply being.
How It Transforms
Through the act of building a symbolic wooden mallet, using your hands, focusing on form and function you give your conscious brain something to do.
And while it’s occupied, your unconscious mind gets to work.
This is flow science in action.
The combination of craft, nature, and reflection resets your nervous system and opens up a channel to deeper thinking, the kind that often gets drowned out by noise, stress, or daily survival mode.
You don’t just leave with a mallet.
You leave with
Clarity on what’s next in work, life, or relationships
Confidence to make long-delayed decisions
Connection with like-minded men who “get it.
Energy to step back into life with purpose.
What to Expect
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Day 1
- 10am: Arrival
- Meet and greet, grounding, co-create the space and set intentions.
- Inputting the challenge
Lunch
- Prepare tools and materials, woodworking project initiation.
- Free time
Evening Meal
- Forest Night Walk
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Day 2
- Dawn Pilates
Breakfast
- Continue the creative woodworking process
Lunch
- Refining Mallet
- Freetime
Evening Meal
- Campfire Mens Circle Discussion
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Day 3
- Dawn Pilates
Breakfast
- Complete Mallet Build
Lunch
- Reconnecting with big questions
- Discussing Integration and next steps
- Close
- 4pm Depart
What’s Included
3 Days of guided sessions
All tools and materials for woodworking
2 Nights Accommodation
All meals + Refreshments (freshly prepared by Award Winning Chefs)
All Activities: Forest Walks, Pilates, Mens Circle
Complimentary Reflection Pad, Pencil, and Crafted Leader Woodworking Apron.
Max. 12 Participants (3 per workbench)
About Your Facilitator
Hey, I’m Ciarán. I’ve spent years working in leadership coaching and performance psychology, helping people get unstuck and think more clearly.
But it wasn’t until I rediscovered making things with my hands that I realised how powerful capability and craft can be in unlocking deeper insight.
Crafted Leader blends applied neuroscience, purposeful handcraft, and the stillness of nature to help you reconnect with what you’re capable of — and access answers you can’t reach in everyday life.
