SoulGround first emerged in 2017, founded by River Dowdy, LPC, anchored in the belief that healing thrives through community, creativity, and ceremony. Initially, it was a series of immersive 3‑day drama therapy retreats—three or four times a year—hosted in Airbnbs across Missouri. Joined by co-facilitators Dr. Laura Wood, LPC, RDT; Whitney Sullivan, LCSW, RDT; Sarah Hartung, LPC, RDT; and Fatmah Qadfan, RDT, the retreats offered expressive arts, narrative, somatic healing, and storytelling.

These early gatherings served as a bridge for people transitioning out of residential or PHP/IOP care, offering continued connection, creative ritual, and community after structured treatment ended. Bonfires, ceremony, enacted myth, movement, music, and deep listening invited participants to hold their stories more fully and step into renewed healing journeys.

By 2019, SoulGround had found its first retreat campus at the Lake of the Ozarks. Retreats like SoulGround: Circe were thriving—until the timing of the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the momentum shortly after that season’s inaugural event. SoulGround’s final in-person gathering of the era was Circe with Sarah Hartung, and later that year, the team hosted a remote version—the Liminal Space retreat—with a virtual performance of pandemic stories alongside participants.

In the years after the pandemic, River and Roxann deepened their clinical skills—earning licensure and creating practices rooted in trauma-informed expressive arts. During this time, River also worked in an integrative addiction and mental health program in St. Louis County, where she reconnected with therapist Jeremy Szuba.

These years were less about hosting SoulGround retreats and more about expanding their clinical depth—integrating approaches such as Internal Family Systems (IFS), Developmental Transformations, creative arts therapies, attachment-based therapy, and harm reduction.

While Jeremy was not part of SoulGround’s earliest retreats, his arrival marked the beginning of a new chapter. Together, River, Jeremy, and Roxann envisioned SoulGround: The Unfolding Place—a space built on a strong clinical foundation, blending creative expression with evidence-based care, and widening the vision to meet clients in both therapy and immersive retreat experiences.

Today, SoulGround is beginning a new chapter as SoulGround: The Unfolding Place—a place where trauma-informed care, creativity, and accessibility meet. We’re starting small and intentional, offering individual therapy and a handful of group experiences, with plans for our first retreat at the end of the year.

From there, we’ll slowly expand, adding new ways to engage in deeper work and community connection. Think of it as an ever-growing palette of healing options—carefully chosen and built to meet the needs of those we serve.

While we’re keeping some of our longer-term plans close for now, our vision draws on models that blend clinical expertise, creative expression, and a sense of belonging that extends beyond the therapy room. The goal is simple: to create a space where healing is accessible, sustainable, and woven into the fabric of everyday life.

SoulGround: The Unfolding Place isn’t just returning—it’s evolving into something even more spacious, intentional, and rooted in the belief that when one person heals, the effects ripple outward into families, neighborhoods, and communities.