About Manifest Wellness Retreats
MeeT Katherine Illgen, LCSW
Trauma-Informed Retreat Creator & Community Builder
I’m Katherine, therapist, wellness traveler, and founder of Manifest Wellness Retreats. I believe everyone deserves to feel safe, celebrated, and connected, especially those of us who have felt like we didn’t belong in traditional wellness spaces.
My work is rooted in trauma-informed care, deep respect for lived experience, and an unwavering commitment to inclusion. Whether I’m guiding plus-size women, LGBTQ+ folks, neurodivergent individuals, or burnt-out helpers, my retreats are built with one goal:
to offer space for rest, joy, and real connection, exactly as you are.
What I Bring To Your Experience
You Deserve to Be Held, Too
You’ve spent enough time making room for everyone else. This is your moment to be held, nourished, and seen, exactly as you are.
No shrinking. No fixing. Just space to be fully you.
Built from the Spaces I Needed
For years, I moved through the world feeling like I had to shrink, in size, in voice, in spirit. As a plus-size woman and therapist, I often felt like I didn’t belong in wellness spaces. I’ve been the one packing backup chairs, holding my breath during excursions, and quietly wondering if I was too much.
Everything changed when I found people and places that made room for all of me. Not to fix me, but to welcome me. That kind of healing reshaped how I saw myself, and I knew I had to offer it to others.
I created Manifest Wellness Retreats to be the space I wish I’d had. A space where joy isn’t conditional. Where bodies aren’t policed. Where rest, connection, and radiance aren’t earned, they’re your birthright. You don’t have to change to belong. You just have to show up. And I’ll be here to welcome you.
Who I Hold Space For
For anyone who’s ever felt too big, too different, or too much.
At Manifest Wellness Retreats, you don’t have to shrink or explain yourself. These spaces are designed for people who’ve never felt fully welcomed in traditional wellness, and who are ready to breathe easier, laugh louder, and just be.
Plus-Size Women
You’ve been the only bigger body in the room, the one scanning for chairs without arms, wondering if the excursion has weight restrictions. Here, your comfort is the priority. This is your place to feel safe, celebrated, and completely at home in your body.
LGBTQ+ Folks
Whether you’re out, questioning, or simply tired of navigating heteronormative spaces, this is a retreat where your identity is welcomed, not just tolerated. Expect softness, safety, and community rooted in mutual respect and visibility.
Neurodivergent People
You’re used to masking, to bracing yourself, to adapting. Here, you don’t have to hide yourself or perform. These retreats are built with sensory needs, unstructured rest, and communication flexibility in mind. You get to just be.
Burnt-Out Helpers
Therapists, space-holders, caregivers, and entrepreneurs, the ones who keep everyone else afloat. If you're exhausted from holding it all together, this is your invitation to be held. To unplug. To be witnessed without needing to explain.
My Commitment to You
You deserve to enter a space where you can exhale, fully.
Where your story is met with care, your identity is honored, and your presence is never too much.
At Manifest Wellness Retreats, I center emotional safety, cultural humility, and deep respect for lived experience. I know how hard it can be to trust, especially if you’ve spent a lifetime being judged, excluded, or unseen. That’s why everything I create is trauma-informed, consent-based, and grounded in relationship.
This is more than a business. It’s a personal promise: to show up with integrity, to keep learning, and to hold space that feels not just safe, but sacred. You are worthy of tenderness, belonging, and joy, without condition.
And you’ll never have to earn that here.
The Space You’ve Been Searching For
If you’ve ever whispered “I just want to feel like I belong,” this is your sign.
The Radiance Retreat was built for bodies like yours, hearts like yours, stories like yours. We’ve been saving you a seat, and we’re ready when you are.
