Support Kimberly's Healing Retreat Project

My name is Kimberly Charest. I'm a registered nurse of over 22 years, a mother, wife, entrepreneur, meditation guide, breath coach and retreat host. My goal is to raise enough money for the down payment for my passion project-my immersive retreat for the Pacific Northwest. I have my business plan, I have my realtor, I have the practitioners I want to work with, I have the plan, experience, skills and drive. I just need the funding to make this retreat that will benefit individuals, the community and the world in an incredible ripple effect designed to create positive change.

There are some key things in my life that have brought me to this very point. Some traumatic and some poignant and beautiful, but all very necessary to bring about the desire to nurture and care for others.

I've been a registered nurse for over 22 years and in that time, I've walked alongside people and cared for them during the most devastating and traumatic moments of their lives. I've seen what trauma, illness and chronic stress can do to people. And the lack of available resources for support. Support that goes beyond talk therapy and dives deep into immersive and meaningful eye opening experiences.

I'm also a survivor of a school shooting where I lost three of my beloved nursing instructors. That was a pivotal moment in my life, as a young 22 year old that I now look back on knowing that the follow up support could have been so much more. Unfortunately, we have all had terrible things happen in our lives, and when we can come together and help each other realize that we are not along in our suffering, we connect and heal.

I've spent two decades of my life raising two children. During that time, I felt like I really lost myself...I forgot about myself, who I was, my own needs, what I liked and what I really wanted. In talking with so many other mothers, I discovered that I wasn't alone in that. Because mothers tend to fall into the generations old trap of the 'Martyrdom in Motherhood', believing that 'she who disappears the most loves the most' and they give 150% of themselves to prove it. but then, after all those years, they are left wondering, 'where did I go for the last 20 years? And who am I now? And what do I like? And what do I want to do for the next part of my life?'

And that can be a very lonely feeling. I don't want other mothers to have to feel that sense of loneliness and isolation like I did.

One thing that brought me a lot of perspective in my life was when a friend of mine passed away from breast cancer at 41 years old. And when she passed away so suddenly at such a young age, it made me think really deeply about how I want to spend every day, every year of my life, because none of us is guaranteed any time on this planet.... So, how do I want to use my time?

What do I want to do? What is the impact that I want to make?

So after attempting to process my own trauma and grief and attempting to rediscover my true identity, I knew that one of the things that I wanted to do on this earth was to help other people struggling, hurting, suffering, and also people that are looking for that inner peace, that true version of themselves they want to return to. Without the inner critic chiming in, without the cultural expectations or judgments and without the stories that we've told ourselves about who we are and how we should be...

Coming back home to ourselves.

And I began to do a lot of deep inner-personal and interpersonal work. I became a certified breath work coach and a meditation guide and started my company Soul Serenity, LLC. I have held successful workshops and classes for individuals groups and held sold out retreats for women. I've also met with leaders of companies to guide them through practical methods of how they can implement simple and effective tools for their staff. Many of these tools I've used for years with my patients at the bedside, and some of them I have learned in my recent education as a breath work coach and a meditation guide.

What we really want, how we want to live and who we want to impact are really the things that I want to help people discover and dive into. My real purpose is helping others through healing, rediscovery, and self restoration.

It's really why we're here....to make a difference on this planet and to help people, to love, to grow, to connect....and to hopefully leave the planet a little better than we found it.

Look, we don't need any more information. We have so much information, we are on overload. We can get pretty much any answer to anything that we want at the press of a button or a dictation on our phone. What we actually need is to get to the core of who we are, what we want, how we want to live, how we want to connect with each other and how we want to feel.

Connection, compassion, community, healing, understanding and true inner discovery can bring us all the peace we so need. That, after all, is what what we're all really after. But we spend a lot of time with all of the distractions. The material things, the judgments, the arguing, the anger, the comparisons, the constant feeling like we are never enough....it will always be that way until we put down all the things that don't really matter...and focus on what we really need.

My vision is to host a totally immersive retreat center called Unwind the Mind. Unwind the Mind is a sanctuary retreat for holistic healing, discovery and restoration. I have connections with some amazing practitioners in the Washington area that want to collaborate with me on this venture and are ready to jump in and become apart of meaningful change in our world.

I believe in nurturing every part of yourself through a variety of practices...breath work, deeply clarifying guided meditation, energy work, Reiki, shamanic healing, art and dance. These services are designed to help people reconnect with themselves and find that inner peace so we can forget about all of those distractions and get to what really matters.

This retreat center is where people of all ages can come and experience workshops, introspective self care retreats, workshops, community and feel taken care of the entire way. All the while, learning about themselves, who they are at their core, what they really want and how they want to feel when they live the life they have always wanted to live.

And this in turn helps them understand the people around them too. And we know that more understanding leads to more kindness and compassion in our families, our communities and in the world, it's a ripple effect. And it starts with us as individuals. As we begin to understand ourselves and the people closest to us, the ripple effect is inevitable. People start to notice that there's something different about you. And they want a little bit of what you have and how you feel. And so they begin to ask questions. And that's how we create change.

This retreat center is also wonderful for businesses in the area, as people come from all over and support the local businesses here. I plan to offer specialized workshops and retreats for all ages and all people...self-worth retreats for teens, LGBTQIA2+ teens, empowerment and rediscovery retreats for women experiencing a midlife transition, racial equity retreats, mindfulness classes for kids, meaningful art classes and leadership workshops that promote vulnerability, resilience and stress management. I also have plans to bring a mini workshop to schools and reach the teachers, administration and kids.

My goal is to create a supportive community where everyone can thrive. I also plan to grow agriculture on the property, plants, herbs and flowers for medicinal remedies. I will also have a retail space that features high quality and locally sourced essential oils, scrubs, balms, plants, meditation cushions and art. All the things that will help people continue their practice at home. I have already secured wholesale accounts with multiple vendors for those products.

I plan to bring in a naturopathic doctor to meet with retreat participants to talk with them about herbs and homeopathic remedies as well.

So I hope that you will help me make this vision a reality. Not only help improve the lives of people in the local area, but their families, extended families, their local communities and rippling on and on it goes. This is how we create change. This is what our world needs. We need more kindness, compassion, real connection and a collective awareness of how we are going to be as a people. We have to make the choice and discover a new path to wellbeing.

Please help me with the funding to create Unwind the Mind, a sanctuary for healing, rediscovery, and restoration. Thank you for your consideration.