Rebuilding lives—one nail, one board, one day at a time.
Tools for survival. Foundations for life.
About The Retreat
Our Mission
The Retreat is built around one central idea: Total Mental Health.
The goal isn’t just helping people get back on their feet.
The goal is helping them stay on their feet.
Life has different stages. Sometimes people are trying to survive the moment. Other times they’re trying to build something stable that will last.
The Retreat exists to support both parts of that journey.
Through practical guidance, reflection, and real-world perspective, these books are meant to offer direction when life feels uncertain and structure when it's time to build something stronger.
Transform Your Life with The Retreat
The Retreat: Lets Build A Cabin
The Retreat: The Back Alley Compass
The Retreat: The Back Alley Compass
This isn’t a self-help book, and it isn’t a fairytale.
It’s one man telling the truth about what it took to make it through.
Garrett Kirk writes from places most folks don’t like to look at — nights without a roof, stretches of life where a motel bathroom floor was all he had, and a roll of toilet paper had to pass for a pillow. Years spent trying to numb pain instead of facing it. Long seasons where everything felt broken beyond repair.
This book isn’t just for addicts.
It’s for the homeless, the outcasts, the ones who fell through the cracks, and anyone who’s ever felt left behind or written off.
Some of these words were shaped in those hard days. Others came later, after he quit drinking and started rebuilding his life one steady piece at a time.
What he calls the cabin isn’t just a building. It’s a way of living grounded again — a safe place built with grit, humility, and lessons learned the hard way. This book shares a few of those lessons, plain and honest, just as they were lived.
There are no promises here. No shortcuts.
Just hard-earned truth for anyone trying to find solid ground after the storm.
Take what helps. Leave the rest.
The Retreat: The Back Alley Compass
The Retreat: The Back Alley Compass
The Retreat: The Back Alley Compass
This is for the ones who’ve been kicked down, left out, or forgotten. The ones who wake up not knowing where they’ll sleep, or who’ve spent nights counting the cracks in a motel ceiling instead of stars.
It’s not a self-help book. It’s not a guide with easy answers. It’s a hand reaching out from someone who’s been there — someone who’s walked the back alleys, slept on cold floors, and learned the hard way what it takes to get through.
It shows the way, not by pointing, but by sharing what worked, what didn’t, and what kept him moving forward when everything else felt broken. It’s a book for the lost, the struggling, and anyone who just needs a little guidance when no one else is around.
Sponsors
Taos Food Co Op
Our mission is to save our customersmoney on the highest - quality organic & non - GMO foods available. Its our pleasure to support this publication as one tool to help those recovering from trauma and addiction.
Dragonfly Mountain Ranch
Dragonfly Mountain Ranch
Enjoy the majestic beauty of the Taos Valley from the verdant fields and cerros of the Dragonfly Mountain Ranch!
BatCave Recordz
Dragonfly Mountain Ranch
BatCave Recordz
We represent artists who live with pride and authenticity, take control of their own journey, and refuse to follow anyone else’s road. This is music for the bold, the driven, and the independent.