Last year, fourth year medical student, Leah Hannon, generously volunteered her skills in our Pediatric Clinic working alongside our nurse practitioner and addiction recovery expert, Melissa Belbahri. Leah recently shared a wonderful reflection on the impact of her time spent supporting our clients and we wanted to share it with all of you…

“As a fourth year medical student preparing for the Step 2 Board exam, I decided to return home to San Francisco to optimize my studying. I figured this was also a great opportunity to balance my study time with advancing my experience in Addiction Recovery. Addiction Medicine and Rehabilitation is at the core of me becoming a Family Medicine physician. 

I had previous experience volunteering in centers based in Las Vegas and Los Angeles and was eager to gain experience in my hometown of San Francisco. I immediately knew after visiting the website that Epiphany Center would be an exceptional community to join. I was warmly welcomed as an Assistant Health Education Instructor to Nurse Practitioner Melissa Belbahri.  Every week I researched a topic according to the most updated medical guidelines, including smoking cessation and prevention of and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Melissa was an empowering force throughout this process and guided me in implementing effective teaching strategies.  She was also instrumental in acquainting me with all of the services and resources provided by Epiphany Center. 

What impressed me most and served as my initial draw to Epiphany Center was its philosophy of keeping families united. Allowing mothers to engage in recovery with their children alongside them is not only crucial for the mother's successful commitment to recovery, but is also significantly less traumatic and developmentally impairing for the child. Furthermore, the center provides the residents positive parenting skills classes as well as continued daycare after they have graduated the program and are pursuing employment or school.  The entire approach of Epiphany Center is all-encompassing, including well-child checks by the on-site pediatrician, consistent access to psychiatric care, regenerating a wardrobe suitable for the workforce through the Epiphany Store, cooking healthy meals daily as a team of residents, and engaging in new ideas through health education classes. Above all, Epiphany Center represented a safe, non-shaming, queer-positive, culturally-sensitive refuge and a bridge to a healthier future for women-identifying persons of all backgrounds.

Epiphany Center was an inspiring place for me through my relationships with both the residents and the staff.  Being able to connect with the residents and learn from their struggles and successes of recovery was the most meaningful part of my experience.  As a future Family Medicine physician specializing in Addiction Medicine, I intend to model the philosophy and organizational structure of Epiphany Center and hopefully return to continue growing this phenomenal place!”

-Leah Hannon

4th Year Medical Student &
Epiphany Center Volunteer

Would you or a group of friends like to volunteer at Epiphany Center?

We are currently looking for skilled volunteers who can help.