Dr. Vikki T. Gaskin-Butler and Dr. Stephanie Z. Reed, the co-founders of Rest and Re-Create, are hosting their signature retreat — Stillness by the Shore: Rest and Reflect — at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor from October 9 through 11, with registration open. The organization describes its mission as building healing spaces for women, and especially for women of color, structured around rest, renewal, and sisterhood.
Gaskin-Butler, a St. Petersburg native who taught at USF St. Petersburg, is a licensed clinical psychologist, an ordained clergy member, and a yoga teacher — a combination that informs Rest and Re-Create's founding framework, which the organization describes as restoring the unity of spirit, mind, and body. Her co-founder, Reed, approaches the work from a different but complementary direction: she is an epidemiologist and health equity researcher whose academic focus is the physiological effects of chronic stress, specifically its documented links to cardiovascular and autoimmune conditions.
That pairing — pastoral and clinical on one side, epidemiological on the other — gives Rest and Re-Create's programming a dual grounding that most wellness retreat operators don't carry. The October event at Innisbrook is the organization's flagship format, but the program extends across multiple channels: online retreats, educational workshops, speaking engagements, and retreats assembled by request. Week-long retreat formats are listed as coming soon.
Registration for the October 9–11 Stillness by the Shore retreat is open. The week-long formats the organization has announced have yet to be dated.
