Today we’d like to introduce you to Arch Wright.
Hi Arch, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I often say that One Elm at Horton Bay was born from both my deepest wounds and my greatest healing. My path began far from psychotherapy: in business and athletics. I spent decades in finance and was once upon a time a member of the U.S. Ski Team. From the outside, life looked successful. But internally, I was driven by unhealed childhood trauma that showed up in perfectionism, addiction, and a relentless need for achievement.
In my early twenties, I entered recovery, which became the foundation for everything that followed. Over forty years later, that same recovery journey has evolved into a life’s mission: helping others heal what lies beneath their symptoms and behaviors. After a successful business career, I returned to graduate school, trained at The Meadows in Arizona under leaders like Pia Mellody and Patrick Carnes, and eventually became a licensed psychotherapist.
Today, my wife Julie and I co-lead One Elm at Horton Bay, a private retreat in Northern Michigan offering 3- to 5-day individual and couple’s trauma intensives for people seeking deep, lasting transformation and expansion into vibrant wholehearted living. We limit these intensives to no more than one per month to maintain the depth and presence the work requires. In addition to that, I carry a small caseload of weekly therapy clients, both in-person and virtually.
Together, Julie and I also work nationally as concierge-level interventionists and case managers, helping families navigate addiction, codependency, and relational trauma with discretion, expertise and compassion.
Our work is guided by one simple principle: lasting recovery begins when we reclaim our authentic self. Whether I’m working one-on-one in my Horton Bay or Birmingham office, online, or walking the woods around the retreat, I’m still doing what saved my own life, helping people come home to themselves.
Interested readers can learn more or reach out through oneelmahortonbay.com and archibaldwright.com.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not. My path has been anything but smooth — and in many ways, that’s what gives my work depth and heart. Like most people drawn to the healing professions, I didn’t arrive here because life was easy. I arrived because pain became my greatest teacher.
I grew up in a family where love was often confused with performance and control. As a young adult, I turned to achievement, intensity, and addiction to fill the emptiness I couldn’t name. Getting sober at twenty-three was the first of several major turning points, followed years later by a deep reckoning with the trauma that had driven those patterns all along.
Even after building a successful business career, I found myself starting over — going back to graduate school in midlife, confronting loss, betrayal, and my own limitations along the way. The process has been humbling and profoundly human.
The challenges haven’t just been professional; they’ve been deeply relational. Learning to show up authentically and maturely as a husband and father — not from perfection, but from presence — has been some of the hardest and most rewarding work of my life.
What I’ve learned — and what I now try to model for clients — is that healing is not linear. It’s messy, unpredictable, and often painful. But it’s also where true freedom begins. Every setback, every rupture, every dark night has taught me how to stay connected — to myself, to others, and to something greater. That’s the road I walk with my clients today.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about One Elm at Horton Bay?
At its heart, One Elm at Horton Bay is about depth, safety, and transformation. It’s a place where people come (often from across the country) when traditional weekly therapy or treatment has helped them understand their struggles but not yet resolve them. Julie and I specialize in 3- to 5-day private trauma intensives for individuals and couples who are ready to address the deeper roots of addiction, codependency, relationship distress, or chronic emotional pain.
Each intensive is designed as a fully immersive healing experience. We work with only one client or couple at a time, allowing for a level of presence, privacy, and attunement that simply isn’t possible in conventional therapy settings. Our work blends trauma-informed neuroscience, attachment theory, and inner child healing with the timeless principles of 12-step recovery and emotional sobriety when appropriate. The goal isn’t just behavioral change, it’s authentic self-reconnection.
We limit intensives to no more than one per month to maintain integrity and depth. In between, I carry a small caseload of weekly clients in-person at Horton Bay or Birmingham, as well as virtually for clients in Michigan, Utah, and beyond.
Together, Julie and I also provide concierge-level intervention and case management services for families navigating addiction, relational breakdown, or mental health crises. We’ve worked nationally for more than a decade with families who value clinical excellence, discretion, and compassion.
What sets our work apart is the combination of lived experience and professional expertise. We’ve both walked the recovery path ourselves, and we’ve seen that sustainable healing happens only when people feel profoundly seen, safe, and supported. That’s what One Elm stands for, a space where truth can surface and wholeness can begin.
Readers can learn more at oneelmahortonbay.com and archibaldwright.com.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Probably my top finish in the Downhill discipline, at 16 year’s old, at the US National Ski Championships at Lake Placed New York.
Pricing:
- Intensives are $5,000 per day for individuals and $6,500 for couple’s all-inclusive
- Our Interventions are $30,000
- My hourly rate for Therapy is $250.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.oneelmathortonbay.com and www.archibaldwright.com
