Our Story
Your environment shapes how you think, feel and behave
OUR JOURNEY FROM
OVERWHELMED TO CLARITY
ORIGIN
Nua Retreats is the passion project of paramedics Georgie and Nathanial Blackman.
NHS REALITY
Proud of their work but frustrated with limited NHS access to alternative therapies, they saw an opportunity to bring together clinical experience and holistic approaches in one space.
OUTSIDE WORK
The couple lived by a work-hard, play-hard mantra, which later they recognised as a way of coping with burnout. After getting married, having children, and the loss of a close colleague to a brain tumour, they realised their lifestyle was no longer working.
TURNING POINT
In 2024 they made the unanimous decision to stop drinking. It was the starting point that shaped everything that followed.
CLARITY & DIRECTION
Clarity came, but not overnight. Deeper inner work led Georgie to hypnotherapy and breathwork, which she found deeply grounding and powerful, inspiring her to retain. She now runs SOMA breathwork sessions across Norfolk and Suffolk, and is a qualified cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist, alongside her work as a paramedic.
BUILDING MOMENTUM
Nathaniel, a paramedic practitioner, had always wanted to run his own business. With dyslexia shaping his early experience of fight-or-flight states, he also trained in sound therapy to support nervous system regulation. Together, they saw an opportunity to combine their healthcare backgrounds with their work in alternative therapies.
BUILDING THE RETREAT
Combining ancient practices, psychoeducation and modern healthcare they set out to create a retreat centred around preventative health, nervous system regulation and meaningful change. NUA Retreats was born.
ETHOS
At its core, the retreat is built on the belief that anyone can reset. No two journeys are the same, but growth comes from moving through fear, self doubt and staying open to change.
The Power of Connection
We believe awareness comes first, followed by connection – to self, to others, and the natural world. In a fast-paced, high pressure world, disconnection often sits at the root of stress and burnout. Everything we do is designed to help people slow down, reconnect, and regulate the nervous system.
How We Work
We combine lived experience in frontline healthcare with practices that support nervous system regulation and emotional wellbeing to create lasting change. We work with trusted practitioners, wellbeing professionals and chefs who prepare nourishing plant based meals, in luxury accommodation surrounded by nature.
Georgie and Nathaniel Blackman,
Nua Retreat Co-founders
Nua Retreats was founded to create measurable change through clinical insight and holistic practice. Many of our responses are automatic, shaped by life experience and conditioning. With awareness, we can begin to change how we respond and in doing so, change how we live.
