Built by women who listened.

It started with what wasn’t working. In 2017, Holly Macek looked at women’s treatment and saw a pattern she couldn’t accept. Programs focused on behavior and consequences. Rules came first, and the woman came second. Care that was supposed to help too often felt directive, restrictive, even punitive. It handcuffed women at the exact moment they needed to feel capable. Holly founded Women’s Recovery to treat the whole woman, not just the behavior.

Then we listened, for years. As Women’s Recovery grew, we kept hearing the same sentence. Hundreds of women said some version of it: “I’ve done therapy for years. I have the insight. The changes just won’t stick.” We watched women take the substance out of their lives and still be in pain. They could explain their patterns better than anyone. Knowing wasn’t the problem.

That sentence changed how we work. Our leadership team, our therapists and our clients spent years asking what women needed beyond an explanation of their patterns. We began making more room for regulation, relationships, body awareness and each woman’s history, alongside insight and practical skills. Women’s stories helped us understand what a behavior had been managing and what support might help now. Our questions changed too: rather than starting with “What did you do?”, we asked “What was that helping you survive?” That question opens a conversation. It does not assume that every symptom has the same cause or that every woman needs the same path.

That work became RICC: Regulate, Integrate, Cognition, Choice, the framework we use to organize care at Women’s Recovery. It gives women and their clinicians shared language for regulation, body awareness, relationships, insight and choices in daily life. These areas can overlap and be revisited as needs change. Assessment, safety and each woman’s goals guide the pace. RICC describes our approach; it is not a universal sequence for healing or a promise of a particular outcome.

Today, Women’s Recovery is a CARF-accredited, trauma-integrated outpatient program in Denver, offering PHP, IOP and outpatient care. We’re still listening, and the women we serve still shape how we work.

We measure what matters. Every woman completes standardized assessments for depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), and trauma symptoms (PCL-5) at admission and every two weeks in treatment. Progress is something we track together.