From a Simple Idea to a Transformation: The Story Behind Camp Joy and Inner Joy

For decades, I have been a caregiver. I am the mother of two remarkable children, now 20 and 24. My son J is a sensitive, intuitive, intelligent soul who touches the hearts of everyone he meets. He has Down Syndrome, Autism, and epilepsy, and it is the seizures that pose the greatest daily challenge. He requires 24/7 care and support in all areas of life. Through grace, we have been blessed with a village of caregivers who are his friends, chosen family, advocates, and community. I often joke that my role is not just ‘mother of J’, but 'mother of the village' - coordinator, supplement-giver, schedule-maker, ‘firefighter’, and advocate. It is a role I cherish deeply.

J, and the joy he brings

Alongside caregiving, I have worked as a homeopath for 11 years. I coordinated three international moves, volunteered within my spiritual community, and supported my mother (and my sister, who was her primary caregiver) during her dementia journey. I was always capable. Always busy. Always responsible. For years, I lived in survival mode, saying “yes” when “no” would have been wiser. Meltdowns were luxuries I didn’t have time for.

Of course, I took breaks. There were vacations, girls’ trips, and retreats with my partner, and even retreats for myself. They were all lovely. Yet within minutes of returning home, it often felt as if I’d never left. Because I hadn’t changed. I was still living inside the same survival stories, with the same thoughts, the same reactions, and the same chemistry coursing through my body. Transformation eluded me.

As a homeopath, I knew intellectually that our emotions affect our health. Yet I didn’t have the skills to shift the patterns that were defining my identity and wearing down my spirit. Eventually, in 2017, my body forced a reckoning. A chronic health issue emerged that created immense fear, exhaustion, brain fog and anxiety. I needed to sleep every afternoon, crashed by 8pm, woke up at 3am to worry, and repeated the cycle. I continued to work when I could and tried to maintain a sense of ‘normal’ in all of our lives. I sought doctors, treatments, and supplements, but nothing made a difference.

Somewhere in the midst of that unraveling, I discovered a diverse array of spiritual thought leaders and teachers who would become my guides. I read, I listened to podcasts, attended retreats and courses, and built my own daily practice. Through this journey, I began to understand that I was here not just to cope, but to wake up. I needed to learn to love myself. To meditate. To allow joy. To surrender. To listen to my body. To honor grief. To soften. Over time, subtle shifts occurred - how I saw the world, how I reacted, how I slept, how I spoke to myself. I didn’t become less busy, but I became more aware and more choiceful.

By spring of 2024, a dream began to form: a women’s retreat. A place for beauty, nourishment, growth, and rest. My sister and I imagined it with pure delight - until, quite suddenly, life changed again. My husband and I were hit head-on by a drunk driver on a Friday afternoon. And our mother died the next day. It was a devastating and surreal period,

and yet we were held by our “angels” - including my sister and J’s caregivers - and by our friends, family, and spiritual community. We meditated multiple times a day, walked slowly, prayed, rested, and healed. When we realized we would be okay, a phrase kept repeating itself in my mind: this is not the dress rehearsal. If not now, when?

Camp Joy Retreats for women was born from that moment.

The Inner Joy workshops - my contribution to the retreats - emerged from the deep understanding that true change does not happen through vacations and massages alone. It requires a shift in identity, awareness, and the chemistry of our own thoughts. It requires space for grief, space for growth, space for self-love, space for joy. It requires learning how to emerge from survival and inhabit our lives again.

During our retreats, women gather in beautiful places to reflect, connect, release what no longer serves them, choose new narratives, and make room for their next chapter: large or small, bold or quiet, but always their own.

Camp Joy was born from my journey, but it is sustained by the journeys of every woman who joins us. Inner Joy is my greatest privilege to share.

Warmly,

Marea