The Gift of Recovery
Reflections on Onsite Wellness House from Suzanna H.
Our first group of clients at Onsite Wellness House’s Intensive Outpatient Program graduated a few weeks ago. As the clinical director and their guide through the 8-week program, it was my pleasure and privilege to witness their brilliance and resilience.
Over the 8-weeks, I saw a group of strangers become deeply connected to themselves and one another. I saw people overcome things holding them back—from their childhood wounds to ways they avoid conflict. And I saw incredibly busy individuals who were engaged and committed to showing up for themselves.
One of the clients, Suzanna, shared a letter of gratitude that she said I could pass along in hopes that more people might experience the same kind of transformation and healing.
As you read the letter below, I hope you know that you deserve the space to recover from life’s bumps and bruises and rediscover yourself.
Life can be complicated; healing doesn’t have to be. Our team is here to guide you back to hope. Whenever you’re ready, we’re just a phone call away.
—Hannah Phillips, Clinical Director, Onsite Wellness House’s Intensive Outpatient Program
A letter from Onsite Wellness House Alum Suzanna H.
Dear Onsite Team,
A few weeks ago, a close friend asked me how I felt as my 8-weeks in Onsite Wellness House’s Intensive Outpatient Program were nearing their end. “How do you feel?” “Was it worth it?” were just a few of their questions.
Without hesitation, I responded that this 8-week program has changed the rest of my life; it was the sincerest expression of healing, groundedness, and recovery I have experienced.
As a trauma survivor, I have spent over a decade learning, collecting healing tools, and in counseling. I’ve tried everything possible to forge a new path different from the one I came from. But when my younger sister Mary, who had special needs, passed away after four years of intense family crises, changing cities and jobs, becoming her caregiver and guardian, and enduring the pandemic, I was leveled in a way I didn’t know possible.
For the past year and a half, I struggled to breathe through my shattered heart. For the first time, I woke up to days where I would have done anything to stop the pain. Nothing worked. I went to grief counseling, continued my regular weekly counseling sessions, worked, rested, traveled, got a dog, gave the dog back, met with a psychiatrist and my doctor, spent time with friends, pulled back from friends, and read countless books on grief and healing. Despite all my efforts, I couldn’t seem to process the magnitude of my grief and pain; I felt frozen.
Upon encouragement and awareness that I needed support in finding my way forward, I connected with Onsite Wellness House’s Intensive Outpatient Program. The investment of resources, time and presence was the most important investment I have ever made in myself.
For the first time in two years, I feel like myself again—though now a version of myself that is broken but present, in true recovery and envisioning a future filled with beauty and genuine thriving.
I have never received such expert care or understood trauma at such a profound level. You have transformed both my right now life and my future, and for that, I can only say thank you from the bottom of my heart.
This gift of recovery, healing in community, and quality of clinical care is something I hope to pay forward in the years to come, in whatever way that becomes possible.
To the Onsite team and all who made my participation possible and helped me feel so deeply seen and cared for—thank you.
Suzanna H.
Onsite Wellness House’s Intensive Outpatient Program Alum
