Get Right Wellness opened its doors at 1025 Seneca Ave. in Ridgewood earlier this year and has been working to provide accessible, affordable wellness services for the community ever since.
Jessica LaHood and her business partner Lauren Urban are psychotherapists and licensed clinical social workers. The pair saw a need for accessible mental health care and holistic wellness services in their community of Ridgewood that would break down the barriers to care.
“We both live in Ridgewood and have lived in Ridgewood for some time and love it here,” LaHood said. “We want to be able to serve our neighbors and make sure they’re getting what they need to be well and access healing. We just weren’t seeing very much of that in the neighborhood.”
LaHood mentioned specific barriers that many people face in accessing care like finance and travel. Not only are mental health services typically very expensive, but the owners of Get Right Wellness are also aware that most care requires a train ride which could take over an hour both ways, on top of the hourlong appointment.
“For working folks, for parents, that math just doesn’t make sense,” LaHood said. “We also know that people might not be able to pay the full fee for a therapy session or a healing session but can still come and get what they need.”
Get Right Wellness also started the Equity and Healing Fund to cover treatments or services for community members who are in financial need. This fund will allow other, more financially stable, customers to help alleviate the costs for those in need.
Get Right Wellness was supposed to open its doors in March of 2020, however, the pandemic made them pivot to remote service. Nevertheless, LaHood said it has been inspiring to provide support during this tough time.
“Everyone is hit so hard and certainly our neighborhood isn’t any different,” LaHood said. “It’s been great to see folks just walking by and seeing our sign that we offer therapy and reaching out to say that they need support.”
As New York City faces record-breaking COVID transmission rates, LaHood recommended that people struggling should start by accepting that this is a global trauma that we are all reacting to together. Secondly, LaHood encouraged people to stay present in their space when they feel overwhelmed by finding objects to interact with to distract from the stress.
“For example, I might smell some lavender oil or pick up a shell that I have to feel the texture of it to shift what’s happening in my nervous system,” LaHood said. “Even though things are really uncertain, we all have some resources to take care of ourselves.”
Get Right Wellness currently houses several private-practice psychotherapists and hosts different wellness classes like their weekly lactation group. In the future, they are looking to expand their services to include things like acupuncture.
