The reset button on life: an all-inclusive retreat to escape to.
Flights covered, room ready, kind people, good food, nature, something worth doing every day, and a clinician nearby if you need one. The best of a campus and a retreat, with none of the feel of an institution.
Day one, in plain words
- Travel is arranged and paid. Someone meets you when you arrive.
- Your room is ready. No paperwork marathon.
- You already know one person: the one who has been talking with you.
- Dinner with other guests. You can say as little as you like.
- A clinician has already checked that this is the right place for you.
Somewhere you would choose to go.
The first stays use an existing venue run by experienced people. A flagship campus of our own is the long game, once the model is proven. The pictures show the feel we are building toward, not a place that exists yet.
Private or shared rooms in small buildings, not wards
Evenings are easy: the fire pit, a film, a gameRooms and kitchens
Private or semi-private rooms, accessible rooms, and communal kitchens where people cook and eat together.
Outdoors
Terraces, gardens, trails, water where the venue has it. Nature is part of the treatment, not the decoration.
Rooms to work on things
Counseling rooms, private spaces for video calls with a clinician, classrooms, a creative studio, a gym, and desks for job hunting or remote work.
Animals
Carefully managed time with trained therapy animals. A dog that is glad to see you is not a small thing.
Images are concept renders of the look and feel, not photographs of a signed venue.
Staff who listen, and are there for a hug if you want one.
Kind-hearted paid staff and trained volunteers who genuinely care, chosen for that and trained for it. Nobody rushes you. Nobody treats you like a case number.
- The operator's team runs the day to day: meals, activities, the house.
- A named clinician is responsible for screening everyone before they arrive and for what happens if someone needs more help.
- Your named person from the app stays in touch throughout and for 90 days after.
- Specialists as needed: a nutritionist, a fitness partner, a careers coach, a grief counselor, a housing or money helper.
- Other guests. People going through their own fresh start. Many friendships start at the dinner table.
Concept render · arrivingStructure when you want it. Rest when you need it.
Everything is optional. The point is to have good things to say yes to.
- 8:00
- Breakfast together, optional gentle movement or a walk
- 9:30
- Time with your named person, or a session with a therapist if that is part of your plan
- 11:00
- Working on the problem: a job, a home, money, a move. With a specialist, not alone
- 12:30
- Lunch
- 2:00
- Pick one: art, the gym with a partner, gardening, a hike, a bike ride, the water, the studio
- 4:00
- Your own time. A nap counts.
- 6:30
- Dinner and an easy evening: games, music, a film, the fire pit
- 8:00
- Optional group check-in and wind-down
Things to do
Cooking, gardening, hiking, cycling, swimming or surfing where the venue allows, fitness with a workout partner, art, music, games nights, films, learning something new.
Things to work on
A CV, a job application, a budget, a benefits claim, a housing application, a visa question, a plan to move. With help, and with money set aside for the practical costs.
Things to feel
The natural highs: tired legs, sun, a meal you helped cook, a laugh at the table, an animal that is pleased to see you, a day that went well.
From a long weekend to three months. Agreed with you, not imposed on you.
Local Rest
A short, voluntary break close to home after a safety check. A breather, not a program.
Restore
A supported break with structured recovery activities. The first pilot stays are this length.
Rebuild
Deeper work on community, work and housing. For when going back to the same life is not an option yet.
Who qualifies, how many staff, and how long each stay lasts are set with clinical partners and local licensing rules, not by us alone.
What makes a place qualify
- An experienced operator already running it
- An insurer willing to cover exactly what happens there
- A hospital within reach and a written route to urgent medical help
- Rooms, food and activities that are genuinely good, not institutional
- The right licence for what actually happens there, checked by lawyers
- Reachable by guests we will pay to fly or drive in
Close to a hospital first. Cheaper, beautiful places as we grow.
Now one existing venue in the US. Later places of our own, and abroad where it is safe.
The first stays happen in the US, near a hospital network, using an existing venue. That is not caution for its own sake. It is what keeps a guest safe on a bad night.
Longer term, the economics favour beautiful places where rent and running costs are low, whether that is a quiet corner of the US or a well-run venue abroad. Flying guests to a low-cost region is often cheaper than housing them in a big city. Abroad is only on the table for guests screened as lower-risk, with an experienced operator, a proven route to local medical care, and legal long-term stays rather than visa tricks.
Nobody is turned away for money. Nobody is asked for money because they are struggling.
If you cannot pay
You come anyway. Your place is covered by sponsors, donors and partner contracts. There is a fair, private check that you qualify, so that help goes where it is needed. Places are chosen by written rules, by people who are not the fundraisers. In the first year places will be limited, and we will say so plainly rather than overpromise.
If you can pay
You pay a fair, published price on a sliding scale. Buying food in bulk and running a shared house keeps costs well below hotel prices, so what you pay also helps cover a place for someone who can't.
What we will never do
Ask anyone for money because of their state of mind, make help conditional on a gift, or let a donor pick or meet the person their money helps.
Illustrative: a 7-day stay costing $1,750 might be covered $900 by a health-system or county contract, $600 by a sponsor, and $250 from ESCAPE's assistance fund. Every stay has its money confirmed before anyone travels.
Welcoming does not mean unsupervised.
Who a stay is for
Adults, screened by a clinician, who are not in acute crisis and do not need hospital care or supervised withdrawal. Those people are referred on, warmly, to the care they need.
Who is responsible
A named clinician for screening and for what happens if someone needs more. The operator for life on site. The host charity for governance. Names, not org charts.
If someone needs more
A written route to local medical and emergency care, agreed before the venue is chosen. Staff know exactly what to do, and so does your named person.
The stay is two weeks. The fresh start is the point.
Every stay comes with a named person for 90 days after and a plan with money behind it.