PAFMG Physician Wellness Retreat @ Nicasio Creek Farm
“Words cannot express how profoundly your retreat for us changed so many things.”
-Dr. Elizabeth Arias
Spend the day enjoying nature, connection, and community with your PAFMG colleagues
October, 2025
9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. @ Nicasio Creek Farm
Questions? Reach out to Dr. Arias
“This retreat is profoundly impactful.” Mundeep Chawla, MD
Restore, heal, learn, and grow— as individuals and collectively
Agenda
9:30 Gather, Tea, & Treats
9:45-10:45 Connections, & The Science of Intention
11:00-12:15 What You Practice Grows - Physician Mindsets that Make Our Hard Job Harder
12:15-12:45 Connect In Nature & Forestbathing
1:00-2:00 Farm-to-Table Culinary Experience
2:00-2:30 Sound Healing
2:30-3:45 The School of UnLearning - Science-based Tools to Help You Enjoy the Work You Worked So Hard to be Able to Do
3:45-4:15 Integration & Takeaways for Meaningful Change
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“I took away very granular and actionable tools to practice more mindfully, which will improve my patient care, along with my professional well-being.” - Sutter East Bay Hospitalist
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“This retreat helps encourage a change in mindset that can be crucial for both the MD, their colleagues, and their patients.” – William Cheng, MD
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“Jessie is fabulous facilitator - She is truly a deep, wise, curious, brilliant teacher.”
- TPMG Critical Care Physician
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“Listening to learned wisdom from someone who has walked the same path as the rest of us, made it very authentic and genuine.“ - CCU MD
Dr. Jessie Mahoney
Jessie is a certified physician coach, physician wellness expert, and yoga and mindfulness instructor. She is a board-certified pediatrician who led physician wellness at TPMG for over 18 years.
Jessie had a vision and a calling to support her physician colleagues with exactly what she knew they needed to navigate a healthy career in medicine today. In 2019 she left her clinical practice to found Pause & Presnece where she coaches individual physicians, leads CME wellness retreats, and speaks nationally on physician health. Jessie works with physicians and healthcare institutions across the US and Canada. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the UCSF School of Medicine.
“Great way to help make the ongoing practice of medicine sustainable and fulfilling.”
- PAFMG Hospitalist
“This was an amazing day and just what my soul needed! I would attend again any time of year, any day.”
- Primary Care, Sutter Health
About Nicasio Creek Farm
Nicasio Creek Farm is a privately owned microfarm on Lucas Valley Road in Nicasio. The farm is one hour north of San Francisco, one hour and twenty minutes from Palo Alto. 15 minutes and 8.5 miles off 101 North.
Nicasio is nestled between Sonoma/Napa and Point Reyes National Seashore, and is just down the road from Spirit Rock.
Nicasio Creek Farm features a large retreat deck under the shade of a beautiful California maple, a huge paddock filled with wildflowers in Spring, golden grasses in Summer, and spectacular foliage in Fall.
It is home to deer and quail families. Wind chimes, wooden sculptures, and lovely breezes are abundant.
There is a private, beautiful bamboo yoga studio, a yoga lawn, and gorgeous spots for reflecting, journaling, and forest bathing.
Nicasio Creek Farm has a large kitchen vegetable and herb garden as well as a fruit orchard with apple, nectarine, plum, fig, lemon, elderberry and persimmon trees.
“This retreat served as a reminder that ways in which you were taught has had a negative impact on how you view your job & life.
There are ways to view situations in positive and meaningful ways to positively impact yourself & others. To learn to bring love & play into your work life.” – Crystal Evey, MD
“This is so valuable.
Forget the Zoom wellness events, or free apps offered by many large medical institutions.
What we need as physicians is this.
A day AWAY from our usual place of work. To be outside, to be with others, and to eat healthy food, and enjoy and learn evidence-based recommendations for wellbeing and longevity.
I did not realize how much I needed this.”
-Palliative Care, UCSF
CME Learning Objectives (*Earn up to 12 units Accredited CME)
Recognize thought patterns that are taught in medical training that add to the stress and distress of working in a broken healthcare system.
State the core concepts of mindfulness and describe how they can act as an antidote to burnout, stress, and emotional exhaustion.
Explain the physiology of shame, blame, self-judgment, guilt, and how they hinder your ability to learn from real or perceived mistakes.
Describe the physiology of self-compassion and how it helps you navigate challenges.
Employ strategies to increase self-compassion and mindful acceptance.
Utilize mindfulness and mindset strategies to move forward more nimbly in the face of stress, uncertainty, and lack of control.
Practice mindfulness and activate the parasympathetic nervous system to lessen reactivity, irritability, and anxiety.
Apply mindful communication strategies.
Employ the science of intention setting to navigate challenging conversations and situations.
