A Moreton Bay woman who has twice outlived a terminal cancer diagnosis is bringing her experience of resilience and recovery to Caboolture this July, running separate two-day wellness retreats for women and men at the Rose Gardens Shangri-la on Male Road.
The retreats are the work of Liz Pickworth, a wife, mother, certified Resilience Coach, Rare Cancer Patient Advocate and founder of Sidelines Consulting and Advisory. Diagnosed with a rare stage four cancer at the age of 31 in 2018, Pickworth has since navigated multiple lines of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, two 20-hour surgeries and several terminal diagnoses, most recently a prognosis of less than six months to live in 2025. Now 38, she is channelling that lived experience into structured, evidence-based programs designed to help others face their own adversity, whatever form it takes.
The Retreats and What They Offer
The What Women Want retreat runs from 9am on Friday 11 July to 4pm on Saturday 12 July, and What Men Want follows from 9am on Friday 25 July to 4pm on Saturday 26 July. Both retreats are held at the Rose Gardens Shangri-la on Male Road in Caboolture and include glamping under the stars, a night-time band and bonfire, and all meals and drinks across the two days.
Each retreat is described as an evidence-based wellness, self-development and entrepreneurship program grounded in the six domains of resilience, the same framework Pickworth credits with sustaining her through her own cancer journey. The programs draw on Pickworth’s coaching qualifications and her work delivering the “Facing It” resilience program, which she runs for people navigating serious life challenges. Both retreats incorporate yoga, meditation and specialist speaker sessions across the two days.
What Women Want features Larni Mailer, franchisee owner of Fernwood Fitness North Lakes and Morayfield, as a speaker alongside GP and psychologist talks and a self-defence session. What Men Want brings in Ryan Elson, founder of the Redcliffe-based charity Tribe Social Belonging, alongside relationship expert and mental health talks, archery tag and tai chi. Tribe Social Belonging, which Elson founded in 2018 after navigating a difficult personal period, now works with thousands of people each year across the Moreton Bay region with a core purpose of creating opportunity through connection. Elson’s session at the retreat, titled “How I Hit Rock Bottom and Got Back Up,” draws on his personal journey building the organisation from scratch.
A Resilience Framework Built From Experience
Pickworth’s approach to resilience coaching is grounded in personal experience rather than theory alone. Diagnosed with a rare stage four cancer at the end of 2018, she has been through multiple lines of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, multiple surgeries including a second 20-hour operation after the cancer spread to her spine, and was told in 2025 that she had less than six months to live with no standard treatment options remaining. She chose to pursue an experimental treatment and has since continued to live beyond that prognosis.
That experience now informs a practical and structured coaching methodology focused on the six domains of resilience, covering physical, psychological, emotional, social, professional and spiritual wellbeing. Pickworth describes resilience not as an innate characteristic but as a set of learnable strategies, and the retreats are designed to give participants tangible tools they can apply to their own circumstances long after the two days are over.
Why This Matters to the Caboolture Community
For the Caboolture community and the broader Moreton Bay region, the retreats offer something genuinely uncommon: a local, lived-experience-led wellness program that goes well beyond the standard conference format. The combination of professional speakers, therapeutic activities, outdoor experiences and the personal narrative at the centre of both programs reflects a considered approach to community wellbeing that meets people where they are.
The July timing, mid-winter and outside the school holiday period, makes both weekends accessible for working adults and parents looking for a focused break and meaningful personal investment. Whether attendees are navigating health challenges, career transitions, grief, isolation or simply a desire for greater resilience in daily life, both retreats are designed to provide practical support and connection in equal measure.
Tickets and further information for the What Women Want and What Men Want retreats are available here. Enquiries can be directed to Liz Pickworth by phone on 0424 794 139 or by email at liz@sidelinesconsulting.com.au.
Published 27-March-2026.
Featured Image Credit: Liz Pickworth/LinkedIn
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