Woodhaven Way
Third Edition
Spring 2025
Spring at Woodhaven Recovery has been a season of growth. As we welcome new residents and nurture the evolution of our community, we're reminded of the profound transformations unfolding. Every day is an opportunity for connection, personal development, and healing as we build an environment of hope and renewal.
Recovery at Woodhaven:
Daily Practice, Lasting Growth
This spring has brought remarkable growth in our recovery program. Our young men have been actively engaging with the process—showing newfound vulnerability in group sharing, offering thoughtful support to peers, and demonstrating deeper self-reflection.
Morning and afternoon recovery groups have sparked meaningful conversations about identity, freedom, and integrity, while evening reflections provide space to acknowledge daily growth and challenges. Throughout each day, recovery principles are woven into every aspect of life at Woodhaven, from structured discussions to conversations around the firepit.
Small group sessions in our Zen Den have become a treasured part of the week—creating intimate settings for reflection and peer support through literature, journaling, and heartfelt sharing. There is a growing sense of self-awareness as residents discover that recovery isn't about perfection but progress—about showing up consistently, especially on the hard days.
The program remains anchored in personalized step work using our adolescent-focused curriculum. Our recovery team walks alongside each resident as they navigate the Twelve Steps in a way that meets them developmentally, emotionally, and spiritually. One-on-one recovery sessions continue to provide deeper conversations and significant breakthroughs. In this commitment to the process, remarkable transformation continues to take place.
Building Each Young Man's Recovery Network
We continue to attend multiple meetings weekly throughout our community. Our weekly gatherings at Covenant remain one of our most meaningful connections, where residents witness powerful celebrations of long-term sobriety and receive their own milestone coins.
Each month, residents join alongside alumni and extended members of the Woodhaven family, witnessing milestone anniversaries that stand as living proof that sustained recovery is possible. Our recently expanded alumni events have strengthened this community, offering valuable insights from those further along in their recovery journeys.
Our alumni play a vital role in the recovery community, serving as speakers at alumni nights and as role models and mentors. Their lived experience provides powerful inspiration and practical guidance, showing our current residents that sustained recovery is not only possible but deeply rewarding.
Woodhaven Academy:
Curiosity, Confidence, and Connection
Spring at Woodhaven Academy has been filled with momentum. Students engaged deeply with literature, including "Clean" by Amy Reed, taking on characters' voices in dramatic readings, and tackled the allegory "Who Moved My Cheese?" with a customized prologue connecting to their own experiences.
Our academic focus remains centered around personal relevance. Students collaborated on personal narratives, created symbolic art representing core values, and developed public speaking projects on topics they consider themselves "experts" in. Alongside these creative endeavors, students are making steady progress in core subjects, with coursework designed to meet individual graduation requirements.
Our Career Speaker Series has flourished with diverse professionals including attorney Laura Dalley, entrepreneur George Heckel, electrician Andrew Walker, musician Josh Balz, and financial and recovery leader Stephen D'Antonio. Each guest shared wisdom and encouragement, sparking connections and opening doors to future possibilities.
Expanding Horizons:
Field Trips and College Exploration
Field trips have enriched our learning community with visits to the Steamtown National Historic Site, Electric City Trolley Museum, and the Aquarium. These experiences have helped students gain perspective on our region's industrial past while enjoying interactive learning. We look forward to upcoming adventures: a visit to Stepping Stones (home of Bill and Lois Wilson) and Fighter's Heaven, where we'll make meaningful connections between our recovery journeys and Muhammad Ali's inspiring story.
College tours have given our young men tangible visions of their academic futures. Visits to the University of Scranton, Penn State, Johnson College, and a hands-on glassblowing workshop at Keystone College have helped our students envision exciting possibilities for their lives beyond recovery. These experiences provide not just information about potential academic paths, but also inspiration for building fulfilling futures grounded in continued growth and recovery.
Clinical Engagement:
In-Person Support
We are excited to collaborate with a new provider, enhancing our clinical support for residents. Our shift to in-person clinical services has made a significant impact, with residents appreciating the value of face-to-face connections. This shift allows for more natural and supportive interactions in a setting that fosters genuine healing.
Our clinical services now include twice-weekly group sessions, alongside individualized sessions that address both mental health and substance use concerns. This ensures that every aspect of a resident's emotional wellbeing is thoroughly supported. Additionally, psychiatric care continues as needed.
Recreation: Embracing Joy in the Journey
At Woodhaven, on-site activities are a vital part of daily life, offering opportunities for connection and joy. Events like the "in-house Olympics," group games including Monopoly and Rummikub, and casual activities such as basketball, pool, ping pong, and video game nights allow residents to unwind and bond over shared experiences. Even a simple recovery hike on our own property became a meaningful moment of reflection. These moments create a strong sense of belonging and pride, reinforcing the supportive atmosphere of our community.
New Hope Lane Campus
Community Activities
Off-site activities continue to be a meaningful part of our recreation program, offering both balance, confidence, and connection. This spring, residents ventured out for bowling nights, trampoline parks, escape rooms, and classic arcade games. They hiked at Salt Springs and Little Rocky Glen, shared laughs during ice skating mishaps, supported each other through indoor rock climbing, and experienced the emotional depth of a Broadway-style production of Dear Evan Hansen. These adventures do more than entertain—they foster personal growth and camaraderie, reminding us all that recovery can be filled with joy, discovery, and shared moments of growth.
Family Day Moments:
Learning, Growing, and Celebrating Together
We hosted two Family Days—both centered on connection, education, and hope. Each day opened with an interactive presentation about addiction and recovery, followed by heartfelt family support groups. During our first gathering, residents gifted their parents hand-decorated pots filled with wildflower seeds—a simple but powerful symbol of growth, resilience, and renewal. Families then rolled up their sleeves to make sushi together and played a lively game of human bingo, filled with laughter and discovery.
At our second Family Day, we invited families to work together on a unique challenge: building bridges using only marshmallows and uncooked spaghetti. The activity was more than just creative fun—it became a living metaphor for recovery itself. Fragile, messy, and meaningful. Sometimes the structure falls. Sometimes we need to start over. But with patience, communication, and a willingness to keep trying, bridges do get built. And when they hold—even briefly—it reminds us that progress is always possible.
Independence flourishes when rooted in strong community
Community Recognition
Celebrating Courage and Commitment
We are proud to share that Luke DeRosa, our Lead Certified Recovery Specialist, has been awarded Caron’s 2025 Community Youth Leadership Award. Luke will be honored at the Greater Pennsylvania Community Awards Breakfast this fall for his exceptional commitment to supporting adolescents in recovery.
Luke brings empathy, leadership, and professional expertise to his role. He holds Certified Recovery Specialist (CRS) and Certified Family Recovery Specialist (CFRS) certifications and is pursuing a social work degree at Misericordia University. What stands out most about Luke is how naturally the boys connect with him. His presence creates a belief that recovery can be both real and lasting.
This recognition highlights the caliber of professionals who choose to dedicate their careers to adolescent recovery and reflects the growing reputation of Woodhaven’s work in the recovery community.
Living proof that dedication and service create meaningful change
Where effort, heart, and service meet
With Gratitude
This summer has reminded us that lasting change happens when hearts and hands join in a shared purpose.
To our residents: thank you for choosing hope over fear, growth over comfort, and connection over isolation. Your willingness to be vulnerable, to ask for help, and to keep moving forward on the hardest days shows us what strength truly looks like.
To our families: thank you for walking this path with unwavering love and fierce commitment. Your trust in our community, your own healing work, and your dedication to rebuilding relationships create the soil where recovery can take root and grow.
To our staff: you are the steady presence that makes transformation possible. Your ability to see potential in every moment, to hold space for both struggle and celebration, and to believe in futures that others might doubt is the heartbeat of our mission.
To our own families who sacrifice so much to support this work: thank you for understanding the long hours, the emotional investment, and the commitment this mission requires. Your support makes it possible for us to show up fully for the young men and families we serve.
To Deidre and Sarah: your generous hearts and lived wisdom have created sanctuary for families at their most vulnerable moments. You have turned your own stories into bridges of hope, and your impact reaches farther than you may ever know.
To our partners in the adolescent treatment and recovery community: thank you for trusting us with the young men you serve and for believing, as we do, that healing is strongest when we work together.
To our broader network of supporters: thank you for believing every young person deserves a chance to write a new chapter. Your encouragement, resources, and advocacy help us extend hope to families.
Together we are building lives of purpose, connection, and possibility.