Retreat Support Associate (Residential)

Accepting applications now for an anticipated opening early 2027

Summary of Job

Spirit Rock is seeking candidates, well-established in Theravada Buddhist meditation practices and studies, for its Retreat Support Associate (RSA) role. This is a unique opportunity to live at Spirit Rock and support the physical and emotional well-being of residential retreatants during intensive meditation practice.

This position is part of Spirit Rock’s Resident Staff Dharma program. This program allows participants to work, practice and live at Spirit Rock. The residential experience provides opportunities to grow in spiritual understanding and wisdom, and to learn how to practice living the teachings of the dharma in work and community.

• This position is a one year term with option extensions based on mutual agreement and invitation by Spirit Rock
• Full participation in the Residential Staff dharma program is required for the duration of the position. This includes:
  • Attend weekly residential staff sangha meetings / staff dharma days whenever possible
  • Commit to weekly personal practice in alignment with current resident sangha practices
  • Participate in regular 1:1 meetings and communication with staff dharma teacher
  • This position is a commitment to extended service and the development of your personal practice. Careful planning and notice is required for time off.

Specific Responsibilities

• Support the physical and emotional welfare of practitioners during residential retreats. This may range from picking up prescriptions or accompanying a sick or injured person to the Emergency Room, to minimizing a participants’ emotional distress (i.e. talking with them over tea, taking a walk with them, sitting with them in silence etc) so they can either continue their retreat, or leave the retreat to return to the support of family and/or an appropriate therapeutic environment.
• Review pre-retreat questionnaires and communicate with the teaching team about self-identified accessibility needs practitioners may have.
• Communicate and collaborate in a professional, detailed, and timely manner to all team members and teachers as it relates to practitioner support.
• Participate in post-incident debriefs.
• Maintain appropriate and timely incident reports and follow-up reports as needed
• Coordinate with team-members to ensure continuous year-round coverage of responsibilities.
• Administrative Responsibilities - engage proactively in the maintenance and update of RSA training materials, organizing the RSA Google Drive, and upgrading RSA systems binders, maintaining and updating shift schedules. Contribute to the documentation and upkeep of additional departmental policies and procedures as necessary.
• Support other retreat operations as needed, including facilitating office hours and helping with participant check-in during retreat openings
• Conduct monthly organization of the pharmacy and back-stock, ensuring items are unboxed, priced, and inventoried accurately for timely reordering.

Additional Expectations

• Ability to be flexible with daily and weekly work scheduling. This will require middle of the night hours at times and often tending to work duties on short notice.
• Alternate on-call shifts with varying degrees of responsibility, spending significant amounts of time on-call
• Willingness to be available for non-scheduled duties which may range from simple requests for practical assistance to emergency situations. There must always be at least one RSA on call at all times when retreats are in session.
• Anticipate and communicate with teaching teams and other Retreat Operations staff regarding any current or potential practitioner medical or psychological situations of concern.
• Attend meditation instruction sessions and dharma talks to be a familiar presence for retreatants and to remain aware of the scope and type of meditation instructions being offered.
• Attend organizational, team, and residential meetings as scheduled.
• Demonstrate flexibility and adaptability in responding to varying situations and working under the direction of a diverse group of teaching teams.
• Open the affinity group session, and occasionally share announcements in front of the hall with the Sangha; this could include opening/closing retreat announcements.
• Plan and conduct training sessions for new RSA Extra Hires, both virtually and in-person.
• Utilize departmental protocols to support the early departure of practitioners as needed in the case of illness, injury, or other unforeseen urgencies

Qualifications

• Understand the physical, psychological and emotional states that may arise as a result of intensive meditation practice and capacity to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy states.
• On- call experience, or similar type of crisis response experience
• Meditation Experience: Insight meditation retreat experience, in the Theravada Buddhist tradition; long term retreat experience and recent retreat experience at Spirit Rock, IMS or Insight Retreat Center preferred.
• Comfortable working independently with minimal supervision
• Skillfully adjusts pace of work to workload demands, and maintains strong self-care to sustain compassionate presence with practitioners and teachers.
• Commitment to understanding and practicing the teachings of the Buddha across all aspects of daily life, including the ethical guidelines of the Five Precepts.
• Previous involvement in a Vipassana meditation training program is preferred, including but not limited to: Spirit Rock or IMS Teacher Training, Community Dharma Leader, Dedicated Practitioner Programs, or similar.
• Computer skill proficiency with MS Office Suite, Google Suite, Slack. Familiarity with Asana is preferred.
• Current driver’s license with a clean driving record as this position does require driving for urgent situations, and occasionally with practitioners on board.

 Desired Skills

• Confidence in handling a range of medical issues, including emergencies and non-urgent care.
• Ability to stay calm and make decisions under pressure.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to interact compassionately with and be sensitive to a wide range of people across all backgrounds; training in diversity and cross-cultural issues preferred.
• Ability to work well in a collaborative teamwork atmosphere.
• Flexible and comfortable with changing needs and priorities.
• Comfortable driving at night and in adverse weather conditions.
• Discretion and skill in handling confidential information.
• Training that develops the capacity to skillfully guide those in distress is preferred, including but not limited to counseling, chaplaincy, MBSR, somatic experiencing, non-violent communication, etc.
• Background in psychology or in the mental health field is a plus.

Physical Demands

• This role requires navigating the outdoors and Spirit Rock’s 411 acre campus which includes paved and unpaved outdoor spaces at times
• The role involves work at a desk, using a computer, and performing tasks that require prolonged periods of sitting and some repetitive motions.
• The ability to read and review reports which may involve reading and reviewing detailed information for extended periods on screens and on paper.
• This position is responsible for safe driving of company golf-carts on campus

 Guidance and Support

• Receive guidance on various aspects of the retreat experience from Spirit Rock teachers.
• Attend emergency preparedness training including first aid/CPR as well as mental health first aid and others.

Spirit Rock is an equal opportunity employer, and we place a high value on workforce diversity; qualified candidates who self-identify as a Person of Color and/or are part of the LGBTQIA+ community are encouraged to apply.

Please note, our organization is unable to provide visa sponsorship at this time.

Employment Status: Full time (37.5 hours/week) / non-exempt;

Schedule: 5 days/week; schedule adjusts with retreat schedule

Compensation: daily rate of $174/day (8 hours at $21.75/hr equivalent); plus meals and lodging provided (valued at $34,000/year)

Benefits:

• Employer paid medical, dental and vision
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Paid vacation and sick time
• Ten days of accrued retreat time at Spirit Rock within one-year of employment
• Participation in 403b retirement program
• Participation in the Spirit Rock Residential Staff Dharma program
  • Regular access to residential retreat dharma talks
  • Participation in guided meditations
  • Access to online programming
  • Regular morning residential community sits

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