About the retreats...

​The Renewal retreats help women with a cancer diagnosis reduce stress, connect with their bodies and nature, and claim their own healing in a supportive community of peers. The retreats are hosted in the beauty and tranquility of Commonweal Retreat Center, where cancer support programs have been running for over 30 years.

Funds for cancer research and awareness are important; however, very little of that money goes toward helping women cope with the enormity — anxiety, stress, fear, helplessness — of cancer.  

Renewal helps women in a tangible way at a time when they really need it.

​What's DSML? - Quotes

DSML is part of the solution to the fragmented healthcare system"

I feel a sense of release and rejuvenation like freedom…from letting go. I feel connection to others and the earth. I feel gratitude for my experience, my pain, and emotion. I appreciated the unattended sorrow ritual the most. It was important for me to just cry. To acknowledge my pain and loss and be witnessed in that journey. To write my sorrows on rocks and walk with them to the beach and release them into the ocean. This was a powerful, cleansing, hopeful process.”

...a warm welcoming inviting peaceful house to rest in"

I just feel like layers of an onion peeled away and I'm able to go forward much lighter"

I feel much calmer and grounded than I did when I got here. I’ll be thinking about this experience for a long time and integrating it’s lessons. It was so important and needed and deeply healing to get to spend so much time with this group of women. I’m so deeply grateful to all of the participants, facilitators, staff and everyone involved with DSML for making this possible for me and us.”

Leaving today, I feel heard, grateful, and at peace. Full in so many ways, satiated, hopeful.”

I feel more at peace and put back together after my time at the retreat.”

When I first arrived I was nervous and full of anxiety. I am leaving today with a full heart and a grateful spirit. I feel honored to be among such brave, strong, and vulnerable women.”

I loved the retreat. The playfulness, candor, energy of the facilitators, the delicious food, the acceptance of the healing circle and the vulnerability of all the women. The quiet of the room, the roar of the ocean out the window, the dancing and the music.”

I feel strong and empowered, really supported and also affirmed by the shared sorrow and experience of this group. I also feel calm and clear headed—an incredible feeling considering the chaos in my life right now. Thank you!”

I have not previously experienced an environment where people, including myself, expressed tears, sadness and anger that is held in a safe space. To show my innermost feelings is to take a chance with vulnerability. It is a risk, but I now know that the rewards are immense.”