Our Team

BARBARA WILLIAMSON

Barb Williamson is both a member of and an advocate for the recovery community. Her passion for providing affordable, clean, comfortable and safe recovery and sober homes stems from her personal experience as well as her genuine desire to serve those in need of assistance with the drug and alcohol recovery process. This mission is apparent in the quality of her homes and the moralistic attitude behind her business practices. She makes it clear that she works for the benefit of individuals seeking a new way of life rather than monetary profits.

With the roots of her own recovery in Greater Philadelphia, Barb strives to serve this community and members of it in any way possible. Keeping in close, personal contact with her residents and the community in order to provide support and guidance is an essential part of Way of Life’s success. This level of individualized care and support helps to ensure the recovery of Way of Life’s residents and the successful integration of recovering persons and the organization into the community.

Barb’s above and beyond approach to the care and growth of her residents has caused her to not only immaculately maintain her facilities but to provide access to sources of employment, gym facilities and a wide range of recreational activities. Her approach to sober and recovery housing is focused on providing her residents whole-person care and support.

Barb’s commitment to recovering persons, the community at large, and safe and comfortable sober living has been well recognized by her peers and the news media. Fox29, Billy Penn, the Courier Times, and others have lauded Barb and Way of Life’s dedication to helping stabilize individuals and offering long-term support. This, despite the often uphill battle Barb fights vigorously to ensure recovering person’s access to quality care and amenities. Way of Life’s Morrell Park home was praised by a Philadelphia fire inspector who called it “the nicest recovery house he’d ever seen” and “nicer than his own home, just down the block in the same neighborhood”. Most recently, Barb was recognized by Women Entrepreneurs and 40 under 40.

Barb takes great pride in Way Of Life and is thrilled to have established such a strong presence in the community that means so much to her. She plans to use this presence to hustle hope for years to come.

RESIDENTIAL & TRAUMA THERAPIST

At Way of Life Recovery, we work with a community partner whose therapist has worked in addiction using clinically tested and evidence-based interventions since 2010. They are certified drug and alcohol counselor both in Pennsylvania and Internationally, has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Millersville University, and offers relationship, trauma, and addiction counseling utilizing Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). Our therapy sessions are conducted biweekly for one hour.

MARRIAGE & FAMILY THERAPIST

Marriage and family therapists are a “core” mental health profession, including psychiatry, psychology, social work, and psychiatric nursing. Our marriage and family therapist brings 15 years of experience in substance abuse. She possesses two master’s degrees, the first in education from Widener University and the second in marriage and family therapy from La Salle University. She is a dedicated and compassionate therapist who strives to help restore and build healthy relationships for all families.

Shelby Zeller

Rachel Adams

Rachel is the general house manager for our Delaware County, PA homes. She has a 12 step sponsor, a 12 step homegroup in Narcotics Anonymous, and a network of females that help her stay clean daily. Rachel’s clean date is 2/9/2017.

Rachel came to Way Of Life on November 9, 2018, with a bit of sobriety time under her belt. She went to the point in her recovery where she realized she needed a recovery house structure close to her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer. She has been able to keep her NA network in Delaware County close to her mother so she could take care of her and have a safe place to live with a structured environment while dealing with life on life’s terms.

She only planned on staying for three months before getting my place and moving on. Then the unspeakable happened. She lost her son to an overdose of fake pills laced with fentanyl on June 7, 2020.

Then, she saw how WOL rallied around with love and compassion and helped through some pretty dark days. The women here are amazing.

She finishes school on February 4, 2022, getting my certified recovery specialist certification! Her goal is to help people how they helped her when she first arrived here.