At The Onsite Foundation, there’s a special mantra the staff aims to instill in their clients: “we are human beings, not human doings.” It is this essential message the organization also hopes to pass on through The BWell Box.
Launched by the Foundation, which provides trauma-informed counseling and emotional health education to survivors of mass shootings, bereaved parents, veterans and frontline healthcare workers, in partnership with Onsite Workshops, the multi-faceted wellness kit is filled with items curated in part by Cassie Kelley, wife of Lady A’s Charles Kelley, and Tyler Hubbard’s wife Hayley Hubbard, and other Onsite alumni in an effort to bring the teachings and healing mechanisms from Onsite’s scenic campus in rural Tennessee into the homes of those seeking to live centered.
“This is a way during a global pandemic that people can really take the first step to access what it means to have emotional health and wellness in their life,” Kelley shares with Sounds Like Nashville about the quarterly subscription box’s purpose. “The mission of The Onsite Foundation is to help people find emotional wellness through programming that we create and curate with Onsite, but then also with tools and resources. All of our programming has a continuing care component, and we want to help our clients continue to heal and grow and evolve after they leave,” explains The Onsite Foundation Director Deanna Wantz. “This is a great way to get those resources in the people’s hands and help them get a little taste of the magic that happens on that ranch.”
Each item featured in The BWell Box is intentional. Onsite Workshops’ digital course 30 Days of Living Centered is aimed to help establish healthy habits, while Hubbard helped curate a collection of daily affirmations. Author and Onsite alumnus Ruthie Lindsey shares her story of growth and transformation in the book There I Am: The Journey From Helplessness to Hopefulness that sits alongside a soothing Thistle Farms Essential Oil Roll-on, selected by Kelley. “Scent is tied so much to our emotions. That so much is part of our emotional health and wellness,” Kelley explains of her rationale behind choosing the product. “To have that immediate calm scent, it’s like doing 10 minutes of meditation. That for me automatically ties you to a place of serenity and peace.” “They talk a lot at Onsite about it’s important to remember that we’re human beings and not human doings in a world that’s so go, go, go,” Wantz annotates. “A lot of the items in there are reminders and tools for us just to be.”
A unique item that also encourages patrons to “be” comes in the form of a Scrabble piece with the letter “B.” This subtle motivator fit for one’s pocket is meant to remind us to remain present and not become overwhelmed by the chaos of life. “Anytime that you’re feeling stressed or having anxiety, just stick your hand in your pocket. You can trace your finger over the groove where the ‘B’ is and remind yourself just be in the moment, be present, come back to your breath. The anxiety will pass, the stress will pass,” Wantz analyzes of the piece’s meaning.
Kelley acknowledges that the COVID-19 pandemic has added an extra layer of stress to daily life, especially for those caring for their families, with both Kelley and Wantz agreeing that adjusting to this new way of life has led to revelations about the importance of mental health. “I think people are paying attention to that more and understand that their emotional wellbeing, maybe if you’re the foundation for your family, you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else, and I think that people are paying attention to that now in a way that maybe they haven’t in ‘regular’ years,” Kelley observes. “There’s so many ways that we don’t know how to process things that have happened or how to walk through a day and move out from anxiety. All of these things are reminders that you can take anywhere, whether you’re on that campus or not, but that can remind you that you are a human being and can help you move through your day.”
“I think a year ago when the world was busy and moving, it was easy to push aside the things that we really needed to work on because we could stay busy and not deal with them. Now that things have slowed down, everything’s coming to the surface, and so you don’t have a choice but to dive deep and really get into the humanness of your soul,” Wantz declares.
As an Onsite alumnus, Kelley can attest to the transformative impact the it’s made on her life. Citing the program as “foundationally healing,” the Womanista founder says that the workshops pinpoint areas in one’s life for deep healing and growth, in addition to providing a constant well of support on and off the campus, whether through maintaining contact with counselors or fellow group members. She hopes that The BWell Box offers a similar sense of support and healing for those who desire it. “I hope people can take this as the first step, or a reminder, that without our soul being full and without our spirit being watered in a sense that we can’t really be fully who we are, I hope people take that as a reminder, the first step into a path to more help, whether you are at the peak of it right now and you want to continue through this, or if you really have been in a drought and you need to start clawing your way back to being whole again,” Kelley professes. “I hope people see this and realize how important it is to really take care of yourself.”
The BWell Box is priced at $124.95 and can be purchased here, with proceeds benefiting The Onsite Foundation.