Fall / Winter 2019 Newsletter
Healing For A Family
We hear a lot about the opioid crisis but often that information focuses on statistics, hard-hit communities and the causes of this public health crisis. Meet Holly, a woman who can put a face to the trauma and despair brought by opioid dependency but who can also shine the light on the hope and joy of the pathway to recovery and healing.
Her addiction began at age 13 with an over prescription of pain killers after a tonsillectomy. The pills eased not just her physical pain but the emotional one that she suffered after the death of her father at that tender age of preadolescence. She was not aware how deeply she was grieving, and there was no intervention to assist her to cope with the feelings of loss. Over the years and like so many others, she migrated to other drugs after she could no longer obtain those prescribed. She used cocaine, meth and later heroin in the search for something that would dull the pain and the tragic consequences of her addiction. Although early on she completed residential treatment, she was unable to continue sobriety.
Holly is the mother to three children, two born during her addiction. As a consequence of her dependency, her children were removed by CPS. She missed important milestones of their development. Along the way, she also experienced near death through overdose and traumas too numerous and private to elaborate on. She found the refuge and
help of Santa Maria after the birth of her third child. A caring physician insisted she have a plan for treatment before she was discharged from her maternity hospital stay. Her mother suggested Santa Maria, and Holly entered residential services coupled with medication assisted treatment, surrounded by the support she so desperately needed.
With the help of court liaison services offered through SMH she regained custody of her children. With guidance from her peer recovery coaches and counselors, she completed treatment, enrolled at Houston Community College and secured childcare for her children. She resides at Bonita House in the sober living apartments with her family. All of her family members have been strengthened by the many services available to children and families. Holly is studying counseling and is determined to become involved in the world of recovery services as her profession. Today, she shares a warm smile, thoughtful insight into her future and the hope she envisions for her children. She asked that we recognize the Santa Maria staff “Coach Patera and Coach Traci, Mr. Tommy Austin and Ms. Amelia Murphy, my inspiring team of counselors and advocates… I could not have come this far without them!”
She is the face of RecovHERy.
Download the Fall/Winter 2019 Newsletter
April Dawn, The Face of RecovHery
April Dawn was born in a small town in the hills of southeastern Kentucky, given a name that illuminated the light, beauty, and joy of a newborn’s arrival to the world. Somehow, her infancy and childhood became, instead, a nightmare of abuse that left her scarred permanently and alone with her pain and humiliation. April’s parents did not offer love and protection, but were responsible for her abuse. At the age of four, she was hospitalized for six months to heal internal wounds. At 13, she was “sold” to a man that took her away from her home and married her with parental consent. The time in between was a constant story of abuse at the hands of those who were supposed to guide her growth, treasure her spirit. There was no intervention.
To mask her searing emotional and physical pain, she learned to numb her feelings with alcohol, taking her first drink at age 9 and becoming a full blown alcoholic by age 10. By the age of 15, she almost died from alcohol poisoning and it still turns her stomach to think of drinking. She found opiates and meth as a replacement to numb her pain. “I knew I was numbing, when I felt sad, that was my clock… I knew it was time for more drugs.” She suffered through three abusive marriages and brought four children into the world. She had periods of sobriety, trying to be a good mother on her own. Although she was not actively using drugs, she did not did not receive treatment for her loss and trauma. “I had seven years sober, but I was not in true recovery….I know that now.” Her sobriety did not last. Eventually, she lost custody of her three children and a fourth died. Her life was again spiraling downhill.
Eventually, April was sent to inpatient treatment by Harris County, a condition of her probation for a possession charge. This offer of treatment over jail time turned her life around. She spent 30 days in the county program and was released with a determination to stay on a straight path. However, she found herself returning to a very unhealthy situation in a home in Baytown. She simply was not surrounded by the support needed to change her life, but rather the temptation to return to a life of misery. Without a safe place to stay and in danger of being at odds with her probation orders, she called her peer recovery coach Deborah who dropped everything and came to April’s side. Deborah was available because Santa Maria’s coaching team is attached directly to the county treatment program that April had just completed. Participants in the program are given a lifeline contact number to keep close and encouraged to reach out for any need or concern. Coach Deborah brought her to Santa Maria, recognizing that additional treatment and support were absolutely necessary. The staff at SMH coordinated with April’s probation officer and made sure she was compliant with court orders. April began her 60 day treatment in our intensive program.
While in admissions at Santa Maria, April said, “I saw a sign that read trauma informed care which I didn’t really understand, but I knew that my life was filled with violence and that I needed that.” Safe in her room and at the Jacquelyn campus. She could identify with every other client and learned much from their stories. With the help of her counselors, she began to rebuild her trust and confidence. She opened up in recovery, looking at the real reasons that she had become an addict. She found that she had suppressed her feelings for years and came to understand that the abuse, fear and humiliation were connected to her life choices. She became more resilient, believing she could live her life and thinking differently about her future. April began to envision a different kind of life.
Near the end of her program, she discovered that she needed to have faith in something outside herself, that she could not do it on her own. For months, her coaches and counselors had held her faith and her inspiration. She was angry with God, for the abuse and for the loss of her children. Again, a peer recovery coach guided her to her next safe haven. April moved to a faith-based treatment campus for the next period of healing. During her participation, she set down her anger with God and made an important spiritual and emotional shift. She discovered a belief system that had never been presented in her life. She blossomed.
Today, April Dawn is back at Santa Maria. She is hard at work earning her GED through our education program. She is living in sober housing on our campus at Paschall. She is enjoying reunification and some limited involvement with her children, thanks to the support of our CPS liaison services. They are all receiving family counseling and although she won’t regain custody anytime soon, she is healing with them through their efforts. She jumps at the chance to stay connected to the community of those in recovery. She is active in our PAC (Peer Advisory Council) and jumps at every opportunity she can to tell her story to others that are struggling. She dreams of a shot at working in technology, learning programming skills; a dream she never dared voice before.
After an entire lifetime of violence, trauma, addiction, and defeat April Dawn has worked with her team to create a supportive structure for healing and hope. That structure is as individual as her own story and has been “wrapped around her” for maximum success. It takes the extensive and dedicated work of an entire staff, in concert and with great compassion, to both recognize and provide all of the services a woman needs to be whole, perhaps for the first time in her life.
When asked how she feels, she says “Victorious, I am victorious. With drugs there is nothing but death at the end, but with recovery there is anything that I want.” She is the face of RecovHERy.
Exxon Mobil improves our facilities during two full days this Fall
We could not be more grateful to Exxon Mobil for partnering with Santa Maria and United Way of Greater Houston for the two amazing Day of Caring events that took place at our Bonita campus on September 5th and at our Jacquelyn campus on October 25th.
The first group consisted of 90 volunteers from the Global Lubes group. The main project was to build a beautiful, large deck for our playground area. This effort took a lot of preparation. Our staff met with their lead team coordinator, Vivian Winston, weeks in advance of the Day of Caring to coordinate all the details and prep work. Three other volunteers, Paul Davis, Paul Graber and Jeff Howard visited our campus the day before bringing all the equipment to drill and complete the prep work required for our deck to be built the next day. In addition to this laborious project, other teams of volunteers tackled landscape improvements on all the main green areas and to painted two rooms, a bathroom and kitchenette in the residences of the Women with Children Program (WWC). One additional team of volunteers sorted clothing donations for nearly three hours. In total, this group of 90 Exxon volunteers contributed to more than 780 volunteer hours and about $6,000 worth of supplies. We would especially like to recognize Terry Neal, Global Lubes Operations Manager for leading by example and working alongside his team to make Santa Maria Bonita House a more attractive and functional home for clients and staff to enjoy.
The second group consisted of 106 volunteers from the Procurement Department. Their main project was to provide outdoor furniture for our garden and hallways, since we had a shortage of seating areas at our Jacquelyn House. The day started early and it was cold and rainy, but the weather did not stop this incredible group. They started working at 8 am on five different projects: carpentry, painting, landscaping, holiday decorating and cleaning. The heavy cleaning took place mainly in the sheds and with the pressure washing of the courtyard. The decorating was inspired by the fall and Halloween season. Their cheery decorations were spread throughout the reception area and big group room. The landscaping effort was spread throughout the green areas in our courtyard and back patio. Other teams worked on painting a few common rooms and offices. The biggest team focused on carpentry. Doug Fisher, did an outstanding job leading this team. For two months prior to the group event, he worked in his spare time, after work and on the weekends, to precut and prepare all the wood necessary so outdoor furniture could be assembled at our campus in just one day! They were able to provide us with twelve outdoor benches, six side tables and six picnic tables. The carpentry team also built a sturdy and high-quality gate around the trashcans. This addition made a positive impact on the appearance of our campus.
There were so many areas under construction and painting the staff planned a day off campus for our clients. We appreciate City Council Member, David Robinson and his office staff for providing tickets for an outing to the Houston Zoo. These tickets made a special day for our inpatient clients who returned home to a much improved and beautiful campus.
It’s been so wonderful to have such talented and committed volunteers at Santa Maria. We are truly grateful for all the hard work and dedication they put towards upgrading our facilities. Our clients, women and children are getting to enjoy the benefits of their hard work every single day. Our sincere appreciation!
Our community partners from UHDowntown visit Bonita House
We were happy to host our community partners from University of Houston Downtown on Wednesday October 28, 2019; Jonhatan Schwartz, Dean of College of Public Services, Ashley Blackburn and Judith Harris from the Criminal Justice Faculty.
We are honored of the collaboration we have with UH Downtown since 2015. We are proud to join our efforts to inspire a brighter future for treatment, response and success. We look forward to continuing to share our strengths and expertise to building on to our current partnership.
Volunteers from DOW Chemical visit Santa Maria
On September 13, a group of 30 volunteers from DOW Chemical, visited Santa Maria -Bonita House for a Day of Caring.
This group of volunteers were visiting Houston to attend the company’s annual Employee Resource Group (ERG) conference called “EMERGE”. This conference brings together more than 400 employees from 30 countries and diverse job roles, functions and businesses in Houston, Texas.
Through a partnership with Volunteer Houston, DOW Chemical employees, visited a total of nine local non profit organizations for a day of service projects throughout Houston. They selected Santa Maria based on our passion to serve the marginalized and at risk women and children. The project performed at our main campus consisted on painting the exterior wrought iron perimeter fence.
Thank you Volunteer Houston and DOW Chemical for your support to Santa Maria and the community in recovery!
Exxon Mobil brings more than 90 volunteers for a Day of Caring
On September 5th we hosted a large group of volunteers from ExxonMobil at our Corporate Offices. This amazing group of people worked very hard to build a beautiful deck in our playground area. Make sure you look at the photos at the bottom of this article. They also did a great job beautifying our campus by landscaping all the main green areas. Two rooms were painted, one of them is the group room, bathroom and kitchenet of WWC (Women With Children) Residential program. A few volunteers even helped to sort clothing donations for about 3 hours. We are very happy and grateful for this Day of Caring from ExxonMobil. Altogether, they contributed to more than 780 volunteer hours and about $6,000 worth of supplies on these projects. We are truly honored to have them come serve the community in Recovery. Special thanks to Vivian Winston for all the communications and prep work done that made this project possible. Shout-out to Terry Neal, Global Lubes Operation Manager for leading with example and working alongside all his team to make Santa Maria a nicer looking place for staff and clients to enjoy!
Our clients, women and children will get to enjoy the benefits of your hard work every single day. Our sincere appreciation!
Indo-American Charity Foundation awards grant to Santa Maria
We are honored to be one of the non-profit organizations to be awarded a grant from The Indo-American Charity Foundation (IACF). The IACF is a non-profit organization that helps the under-privileged and needy with monetary contributions and volunteer work with established and emerging non-profit organizations in the Greater Houston Area. We feel very fortunate to partner with them and count with their support!
Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia visits Santa Maria
Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia visits Santa Maria
Santa Maria was privileged to have a visit from freshman US Congresswoman Sylvia Rodriguez Garcia, on Monday July 29th, the first day of her summer recess from Congress. Ms.Garcia spent time touring the Bonita House campus and meeting with staff to learn of the mission and programs that define Santa Maria. The restorative justice programs offered to women and their children were particularly highlighted. Led by CEO Nadine Scamp, a discussion after the tour centered around congressional topics including funding for the opioid crisis and other behavioral health related topics. Santa Maria is grateful to the Congresswoman’s keen interest in our work!
Registration for Recovery Coach Training in Sept.2019 is now OPEN!
Are you interested in becoming a Recovery Coach?
The new training session is coming up!
Please read the requirements for taking this course and when you are ready to register, click HERE.
Training Dates: September 27 – 29 and October 5th and 6th (you must attend both weekends)
Time: 9:00am – 6:00 pm
Address: Santa Maria -Bonita House
2605 Parker Road, Houston, TX.
Trainers: Amelia Murphy and LaNisha Jiles
Cost: $200 (*$50 for Santa Maria employees and approved Alumni)
Requirements:
- High School Diploma/GED
- Two Years of Sobriety
- Working/Volunteering in a Recovery Organization -a formal letterhead from that organization is required.
Please contact Coach LaNisha Jiles for approval before making online payments.
LaNisha Jiles (713)818-3784
ljiles@santamariahostel.org
recovery-coach@santamariahostel.org
Click HERE to register online.
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