Founders - Quest Center

Words from Lucia Marx, Founder of Project Quest

QUEST Center is a program in Portland, Oregon, USA that offers holistic care and education to people with critical illnesses, including HIV/AIDS and cancer. The emphasis of Quest centers on providing mental health programs, alternative therapies, community support, and nutrition education.

"As early as college, my inner guidance led me to become a nurse, then a nurse practitioner, and finally a psychologist. I so deeply believe that we all have answers and essential guidance within, and I believe it becomes even more important when people are faced with life challenging illnesses. From working in hospitals, I became very aware that the support each person needs in finding our inner guidance is often missing, including receiving the help in making changes to live a more healthful and vital lifestyle. 

In the 1980s, I was guided to work with persons with AIDS at a time when most people diagnosed with this illness were dying. I began research on developing imagery and finding inner guidance for HIV/AIDS afflicted individuals. Everyone in the study wanted to continue, and I learned about living an 'authentic life' from these people who were told they had less than two year to live. Out of this, I was led to begin developing a supportive and meaningful community, beyond the individual work and retreats, for the courageous folks dealing with AIDS.

In 1993, after a day of intensive work leading a healing retreat, I had a very powerful, clear dream about the changes I needed to make to have a bigger heart and greater capacity. My dream included a young man living with AIDs named Lucas and indicated that he, too, might make changes in order to heal, and that if willing, we should form a 'healing center.' When I told Lucas about my dream, he shared that he also had a similar dream that included me. He stated with great sincerity, "We must create the healing center," and he found a lawyer to assist us with non-profit status. We established a board of directors, and after much trial and error, the official Project Quest was established. Then, a friend who had done development work with us applied for us to become a Susila Dharma program.

It has been very meaningful to me to do my true work each day and it sustains me through the hardest times, to know that I am linked with wonderful dedicated projects and people throughout the world. We have changed our name to the Quest Center for Integrative Health and have various funded programs for cancer, HIV/AIDS, chronic pain and other diseases. We now also serve persons who do not have serious illnesses but seek wellness-based healthcare. Additionally, we also have a training program to mentor doctoral students in psychology, social work, and Chinese medicine."

"Quest has a budget of over a million dollars annually. We are successful and well thought of in the community. I still feel excited every day to go to work, and feel that our work is guided. I feel grateful that we receive the support of the worldwide Susila Dharma community."