Swiss Basecamp (pilot): identity, purpose, connection

Location: Canton of Valais in the Swiss Alps

Cohort Size: 5 participants

Project Objective:

Disconnection from external stimuli and reconnection with internal purpose, using nature immersion and astrophysical scale to reset cognitive load and emotional fatigue. The goal is to foster reconnection: with nature, with others, and with a renewed sense of self. Photography becomes a tool for presence, perspective, and storytelling - helping veterans process their experiences and see the world, and themselves, through a different lens. We deliver an experience that is physically restorative, mentally grounding, and emotionally empowering.

Why it matters:

Designed to create the psychological distance needed to reflect, recalibrate and reconnect amongst peers and civilians.

Who it is designed for:

Veterans in the critical period following discharge, or during transitional phases where identity, purpose, and connection are being redefined. It also offers a powerful opportunity for partners -husbands and wives, children and widows - to reconnect through shared experiences that are gently challenging, restorative, and memorable.

What they get out of it:

Complete removal from modern noise and pace. No signal, no obligations, no distractions - just the necessary space to reset and recalibrate. The simplicity of basecamp living forces presence. Veterans learn practical skills that become tools for processing their experiences. The vastness of alpine landscape and night sky provides perspective that reframes personal struggles. Participants rediscover that silence isn't emptiness, it's clarity. Physically demanding terrain provides gentle, restorative challenge rather than punishment - movement that grounds and heals. For those bringing partners or family, the shared alpine experience becomes a powerful reconnection opportunity, stripping away domestic patterns to rediscover each other through challenge and beauty. Veterans return with proof that disconnection from chaos doesn't mean isolation - it means reconnection with what matters.