We had a great time at RefCon 2026! The car pooling to and fro was an extra bonus of deepening stories and friendships. The conference was a thoughtful mix of meetings, reflection, time in nature and recreation in the beautiful surroundings on Puget Sound. We are grateful for the opportunity to attend the conference on Puget Sound and are grateful to Norah, Sebastian, the Board Members of Refuge Recovery and the multitude of volunteers who worked to create this opportunity to deepen our practice and sangha relationships. Barbara Hoggatt

Such an amazing time. It was a joy to meet my friends in person. The location was beautiful and comfortable. I like the organization of the weekend. Can’t wait for Refcon next year!

Beautiful location, great companionship. I wish there had been more to it, there was only minimal structured content. Refuge retreats tend to run out of vegetarian food because not vegetarians are eating it. There wasn’t anything left for both dinners. They should just go all veg, follow the first precept.

As always the structure of Refcon is great. The people, the openness, the heart and realness is a perfect way to annually ground in community. That said, this was my least favorite location. The outwardly stunning view was amazing. And the basic room lodging was fine. Now the negative. I personally found the food basically terrible. Please know that I don’t usually complain about this. The previous two Refcons I attended has okay and edible food. I enjoyed enough of it to feel nourished. I basically didn’t find anything (other than the Cheerios) ok enough to even eat. The location being shared with other people was odd and at time uncomfortable for me. Of course discomfort is a part of life. I share because you e asked. I much prefer a location that we have solo a ceaa to during RecCon. For example the evening plays with bar we needed to walk around in the evening and the public walking thru the grassy area as well as the family party on the lawn on Saturday just felt jarring to my overall experience. I didn’t experience that at the Occidental or Santa Cruz location or even the Corbet silent retreat. Just my 2cents because it was requested. Thanks for all the work that went into the planning and the event itself.

It was a beautiful setting with beautiful people sharing complicated and beautiful things. I'm grateful for the chance to share space with people doing the hard and joyous work of recovery and reclaiming our lives. It was great to see familiar faces and to meet new people. I enjoyed the experience of being vulnerable and empowered within such a great community, and I came away with some new and specific areas to focus my work on. Thank you very much.