Mental Health Program Paused Due to Hearten House Lease Dispute

In the quiet, historic corridors of the Oquirrh School in Salt Lake City, a clash over office space has effectively frozen access to mental health care for those who need it most.

Aimee Hadfield, the founder of Hearten House, has officially paused new admissions to her intensive outpatient program, citing an ongoing, unresolved dispute with her landlord, the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City.

The stakes here aren’t just about property management or lease terms; they are about the continuity of care for vulnerable people. According to reporting by FOX 13 News, the impasse stems from a lack of clarity regarding construction plans for a shared room on the third floor of the facility. For Hadfield, who provides experiential therapies like art and movement to help clients process trauma, the uncertainty is a dealbreaker.

The tension began to surface late this summer. On September 22, Hadfield reported that two contractors walked into a room she was occupying, despite the door being clearly marked as “occupied” for a therapy session. She later learned that the authority intended to gut the space to remodel a kitchen, a project she says she was never briefed on.

The sublease agreement does allow the Housing Authority to use the room for board meetings, but Hadfield contends that she had no indication the space would be converted into a construction zone.

When a contractor returned just a week later—this time while she was preparing a client for a trauma therapy session—the situation reached a breaking point. FOX 13 News notes, the provider is demanding a concrete scope and timeline for any future work before she can resume the 8- to 16-week intensive program.

Daily Clinic News — Clinic news that's relevant to you — Photo: dailyclinicnews.com

For Hadfield, the decision to stop admitting new clients was a matter of professional ethics. “It would be unethical and unsafe for me to admit people to an 8- to 16-week program, promising them confidentiality, promising them safety, promising them continuity, and then break those promises,” Hadfield told FOX 13 News.

Currently, about a dozen individuals who were seeking support—some transitioning out of inpatient care—are stuck on a waitlist or have been turned away entirely. Hearten House has maintained that clients already enrolled in the program are being allowed to finish their treatment cycles, but the future for new applicants remains entirely dark.

The Housing Authority of Salt Lake City characterizes the situation differently. In correspondence reviewed by FOX 13 News, executive director Daniel Nackerman described the conflict as a “minor lease dispute,” asserting that Hearten House is simply failing to honor the room-sharing agreement originally signed in their contract.

Nackerman noted in an October 21 email that any planned remodeling would be “nothing major” and would be scheduled toward the end of their process. However, when pressed by reporters for a specific construction timeline or details regarding the contractors who entered the therapy room, the Housing Authority did not provide further responses. As of now, no actual remodeling work has taken place, leaving the space in a state of limbo.

The fundamental question remains: how can a service provider guarantee the safety and privacy required for trauma-informed therapy when the physical environment is subject to unannounced entry? Until the Housing Authority provides the transparency Hadfield is requesting, the doors at the Oquirrh School remain closed to those waiting for a path to recovery.

Worth a look