What would you like to work on?
How are you going to get there?
These are just a couple of the questions that B.K. Bergman asks participants to answer in their workbooks over the course of a Write Now Therapy retreat.
“It’s kind of like giving them a toolbox, to kind of help them through [their problem],” Bergman said. “You know something as bad as a day at work or something more serious that may have happened.”
Bergman established Write Now Therapy in 2021 as an online, self-help writing therapy tool. This year, he started offering one-day retreats, enabling guests the chance to work through their thoughts and feelings via narrative writing, if traditional therapy isn’t an option for them.
With both a master’s in psychology and creative writing, Bergman pivoted from marriage and family therapy to becoming a mental health coach with a focus on instructional therapeutic writing.
He held his first retreat over the summer in July in Paso Robles. The retreats begin with a 15-minute technology detox—an opportunity to clear everything out of your head, according to Bergman. Following the detox, guests begin working through mindfulness exercises and writing prompts in their own workbook.
“I think the participant is engaged in the material and then being able to kind of talk to them privately and say, ‘Are you fighting a block or something that you’re not getting?’” Bergman said. “Or in some cases, in the material, we don’t go into a lot of depth, but you never know what someone’s trigger is going to be.”
With about 15 people who attended the first event, Bergman decided that the next one needed to be a more intimate setting because he wanted to allow participants the chance to work individually with him.
“If it’s a bigger group setting, I may miss those opportunities [talking to them one-on-one] for the individual to make sure that the material that we’re going through is being as productive as possible,” Bergman said. “Then the individual feels like they’re getting very individual attention as opposed to, you know, a bigger retreat size where that won’t happen.”
He received lots of positive feedback from the first event and still keeps in touch with some of the participants.
“There’s definitely been those that have communicated since the last retreat and have appreciated the fact that, ‘Wow, I paid for this weekend, but I’m still getting ongoing support’ to continue their journey,” Bergman said.
The next retreat will take place in Avila Beach on Oct. 19 at Avila Lighthouse Suites, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and a third retreat is in the works, according to Bergman. Learn more at writenowtherapy.com.
In addition to the retreats, Write Now Therapy offers a variety of online, self-guided tools, like prompts, articles, and questions individuals can use to get the help they need right now, according to Bergman.
“It’s not so much journaling as it is allowing them to take a situation and rewrite how they feel about it,” Bergman said.
Correction: This story was updated to include the correct spelling of B.K. Bergman’s name. New Times regrets the error.
Fast fact
• SLO County Arts is hosting the 27th annual Open Studios Art Tour over two weekends in October. Artists across the county will have their studio doors open on the weekends of Oct. 11 to 12 and 18 to 19 for locals and visitors to talk with them about their creative processes and finished art pieces. Art pieces on display and in the making will range from paintings to jewelry, ceramics, and more. You can assemble your own tour, using the catalog of participating artists found at slocountyarts.org/osat. ∆
Reach Intern Bella Cox at ntintern@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Oct 9-19, 2025.