Elijahs Retreat

Sanctuary for Families Elijahs Retreat provides a 7-day retreat for 300 families a year in 4 private cabins. Each cabin has two bedrooms, full kitchen, living room, laundry room, bonfire pit, and porch swings for only $45/night and $30 reservation fee. Flexible schedules and customization to accommodate the interests and needs of each family. The fifty-acre retreat offers a one-acre fenced-in playground, educational sensory garden, music and sensory rooms, 5 miles of hiking, barrel train rides, basketball, foosball, ping pong, bicycles, movie nights and fishing. Elijahs Retreat also provides opportunities to try new therapies and a wide variety of sensory tools at no extra cost; mini- equine therapy sessions, basic horsemanship lessons and ranch hand experiences where families feed, learn and interact with therapeutic animals. All these experiences support our mission to nurture attachment without increasing the financial burden for families facing autism.

Homestead Internship Elijahs Retreat strives to address the current unemployment rate of 80% for adults with autism in rural East Texas. We partnered with Jacksonville ISD and Texas Workforce Solutions to provide paid work experience for young adults with autism in the city of Jacksonville and surrounding area. Elijahs Retreat provides application and interview training, job coaching on new skills, support, education and sensory opportunities for managing behaviors and social interactions. We collaborate with the high school teachers, counselors, and transition coordinator through admission, review and dismissal meetings to modify and implement the individual Education program for each intern. The centerpiece of the work experience is an internship in homesteading. The interns gain real application of knowledge learned in biology, animal science, and job skills. Upon completion of the internship, an intern gains confidence in entering the workforce to maximize t