Ubuntu Wellness Celebrates 5 Years with Expansion

Photo credit: Cassandra Shofar/KMG. From left, Ubuntu Wellness owner Erin Moore, Director of Healing Services Michelle Gonzalez, and owner Jen Emch recently celebrated five years in business with a third expansion. The holistic center now has a ground-level location at 201 Main St. in Chardon in addition to its upstairs facilities at 203 Main St.

Thursday, April 1, 2021
From Geauga Maple Leaf, by Cassandra Shofar

When Jen Emch and Erin Moore opened Ubuntu Wellness in Chardon five years ago, neither envisioned what it would become.

They both knew they wanted to create a holistic one-stop-shop environment, but they didn’t imagine taking over the entire corner of Main and Court streets.

“Jen is a visionary and I just kinda say, ‘Yeah!” Moore said with a laugh during a recent interview inside their newest addition at 201 Main St.

The ground-level space takes things to a whole new level for the holistic business, which offers clinical counseling — including art therapy, trauma-specific therapy, EMDR and DBT for people ranging from children to adults, as well as couples — support groups, massage services, reiki services, yoga and movement classes, meditation, wellness workshops, school-based mindfulness programs and corporate wellness.

“We hit the jackpot,” Moore said of the building.

“We also now have a sign because we have a first-floor presence,” Emch excitedly chimed in, adding the space, which has two bodywork treatment rooms, is handicap accessible.

Natural sunlight poured through a large window on the side of the building, highlighting lush plants, a serene sculpture, Himalayan sea salt candleholders, gemstones and a water fountain — all aimed to create a peaceful, healing and meditative atmosphere.

“I think what sets us apart in our clinical services is our space doesn’t look clinical,” Emch said. “It’s spa-like, so it kind of already reduces the stigma for people coming in for a counseling appointment. I think people are almost immediately put at ease when they enter the space, which then just feels more conducive to healing.”

GROWING PAINS

The aesthetics of the ground-level space matches those of Ubuntu’s upstairs offices, at 203 Main St., which added to its appeal when Emch and Moore — both licensed professional clinical counselors — were looking to expand.

Initially, in April 2016, they started in one studio space upstairs, where they added three rooms for bodywork and counseling. They were able to expand into an apartment space across the hall, which added a few more rooms for services.

But it was still not enough.

“With all of the office expansions upstairs, we had five staff — two massage and bodywork people and clinicians — sharing one office, trying to navigate that. And then (we were) just really missing that other piece of needing a space for classes. We have this whole mind, body, spirit continuum and we were missing a couple of those legs,” said Emch, who is also a certified Dancing Mindfulness facilitator. “We really did put it out into the universe often. We had looked for other spaces, nothing really was standing out. The healing energy of this building cannot be captured anywhere else. We were really grateful this space ended up opening up.”

Moore, a licensed massage therapist, added, “The reason we opened (to begin with) was because we wanted to offer more than just counseling. The timing was great. There’s a plethora of things that we’re offering. There’s so much out there that needs expressed.”

Ubuntu’s new space, a former bank, incorporates some of the original marble tiling, tin ceiling tiles, hardwood floors, brick walls and even a bank vault turned reiki treatment room.

“The bank vault … is kind of the coolest part. We call it the reiki vault. It’s definitely the talking point of the space,” Emch said. “And even with this space, we wanted … to honor anyone who has been in this space in the past. We’ve got old pieces of the gazebo above the doors, an (1873 photo) our landlords gave us of our building … just really honoring what this space used to be.”

All massage and bodywork services, classes and workshops are now being held at the ground-level space — which officially opened Jan. 1 — and all clinical and support group services are held upstairs, Emch said.

SPREADING WINGS

Ubuntu currently has 15 practitioners on staff, including Michelle Gonzalez, who started in 2018 as a yoga instructor and reiki practitioner and is now also director of healing services.

“Michelle … at the helm down here has really, really been phenomenal and we’ve exploded with class offerings, workshop offerings, getting additional massage therapists in here,” Emch

said. “Michelle and I share several clients, (with whom) I’ll be doing some pretty intense trauma work and then hand off to Michelle for reiki services and it really has worked out beautifully. And then clients take our yoga classes … which is what we wanted.

“It’s transforming wellness. We need all the legs of that in order to produce change,” she continued. “Talk therapy does one thing, but how do we tell our story in a different way — at a yoga class, at a movement class, in a reiki session, in a massage appointment. Things get stored in our bodies. Our stories get stored in our bodies and we have other opportunities available for people to be able to release it.”

Ubuntu is looking to expand into more schools and offer more weekly yoga classes, monthly workshops and collaborations with other businesses on Chardon Square and beyond, Emch added.

Gonzalez said it’s been an incredible journey to watch Ubuntu thrive and to be part of its family.

“I never would have dreamed in my six years of doing this that I would be working alongside clinical counselors, that this would be my work,” she said, adding the sky is the limit and she is currently focusing on outreach, as well as pulling in different healing modalities to service a greater audience.

“Stay tuned,” she said with a smile.

SURVIVING & THRIVING

Gonzalez, Emch and Moore all expressed gratitude for the community’s support, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s not lost on any of us the gratitude we feel, not only for … our healing team, but for the community to continue to support us and believe in us, to trust us with their care — that is not something that we take lightly or take for granted,” Emch said. “We wouldn’t be here without those things. The universe has put this team of people here perfectly.”

Moore said the vulnerability and humanness of their staff is significant and unique.

“The human side of everyone that’s here impresses the crap out of me because in other places I’ve been before, people have been somewhat guarded and everyone here is vulnerable,” Moore said. “You get to know them better and then you become family and the community catches on to that. They feel it. They understand. We share in the human experience. This works because we’re all here for the same reasons. It really has become a family.”

Moore currently runs a support group called Motherhood and Sobriety in collaboration with Chardon’s Mother Rising owner Shauna Rich.

“It’s a group of moms who are currently sober or who would like to be sober,” Moore said. “People don’t have to be sober to come to this group. It’s going to be simply for the empowerment and experience of mothers and empowerment through that solidarity. This isn’t condoning or condemning any route people take, whether it’s AA, SMART … we want to have all of those resources available.”

Emch said the support group, like all of their programming and services, is about “meeting people authentically where they’re at.”

“Which is the overarching mission of Ubuntu,” she said. “We can only meet people as authentically as we have met ourselves.”