Wellness in the Woods: Transforming wellness into reality

BY NICOLE STRACEK Wadena Pioneer Journal

WADENA — With a heart for serving people and a background in human services, including running a detox center, founder and CEO Jode Freyholtz-London established Wellness in the Woods alongside her husband Tom London in 2013 after she recognized the need for mental health support in Greater Minnesota. As a nonprofit organization, Wellness in the Woods provides peer

Business provides mental health resources to underserved individuals support services for individuals facing mental health and substance use challenges, particularly in rural Minnesot,a with services that focus on advocacy, education and expanding statewide peer support networks. Armed with lived-experiences and a passion for serving others, Freyholtz-London said that initially finding funding for the wellness-based organization was a challenge.

“Although everybody thought it was a wonderful idea, there wasn’t any money to go along with that,” said FreyholtzLondon. After applying for and receiving a $95,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Freyholtz-London was able to continue growing the network of peer-support professionals that work to help individuals who are struggling with mental health issues.

“Those funds allowed us to start building some capacity and gave us the label of a statewide consumer network,” said Freyhotlz-London.

Today, Wellness in the Woods has 63 peer support professionals who work virtually throughout Minnesota with an emphasis on region five counties including Cass, Crow Wing, Todd, Morrison and Wadena counties. The mission is to support individuals with mental health challenges that often co-occur with substance use. “But no matter who we serve, we don’t do any billable services,” said FreyholtzLondon, who said her goal was to employ peer support specialists with lived experiences.

“I knew in my heart that I wanted all of my staff and board members to be people who have had a lived experience with a mental health challenge, oftentimes substance use. Many of my staff have experience with incarceration,” said Freyholtz-London. Wellness in the Woods offers paid training for employees and helps to develop a wellness plan that focuses on how to best serve those who need it

WELLNESS: Page 4 the most. port program provides access to mental wellness from the comfort of home. Offered seven days a week via Zoom the Vir tual Peer Support pro gram is open to anyone in Minnesota and is facil itated by certified peer or recovery specialists