Electronic Version

 

RECOVERY ROOTS

Ashlynn knew that night it was time to go for help. Somehow, she made it home after a night of binging, but did not remember how. It had been days, weeks and months- actually 10 full years of drinking. Waking to a drink and drinking throughout the day had become her whole focus. She was missing her life. She was missing her daughter’s life.

Although she had been to treatment before it was just to appease her family. This time, Ashlynn made a decision to go for herself. She decided on Santa Maria’s Jacquelyn house while her daughter, Avery, was safe at home with her mother and aunt. Although Avery was a loved little girl, Ashlynn knew that regaining her own health would improve her daughter’s life as well. She was determined to prevail and learn to live in recovery.

Aslynn was assigned an amazing counselor who helped her understand things about her past, slowly and surely. She remembers, “At each session I cried and without being rushed, I was guided with grounding tools to recognize the hurt that was buried, way back. I quickly learned to allow those feelings to rise and then move forward. The other sessions and groups on recovery made a huge difference. Within 90 days, I had the tools to move to Paschall House and have Avery join me.”

Ashlynn continued her recovery work with guidance and support from her coach, Amelia Murphy. She attends meetings three times a week where she has found a small, tight-knit group of women in recovery. She has a sponsor and is completing her step work. Thankfully, Ashlynn was honest with her employer about her health struggles and they allowed her to take advantage of FMLA and then return to her job. Since returning, she has been promoted and has a bright career future.

The women living at Paschall and working to rebuild their lives embraced both Ashlynn and her daughter, Avery. The residence at Paschall is peer- led sober housing based on the Oxford House model. It allows the women who live there to build independence, constantly honing their recovery skills. Avery also received many services to assist with the transition and is flourishing. Today, she is a vibrant 7-year-old, attending second grade. Mother and daughter are close and loving, living through their first year of residence together since Ashlynn began her healing, bonding in new ways.

Says Ashlynn, “Santa Maria literally changed my life, but I had to be ready for those changes. It required that I be willing to do what was necessary for myself, including opening up and being interactive and honest about my life. If I didn’t speak up, those things that had held me in bondage to drink would have continued. I did everything in my power to participate, to change and to be a better me.”

She realizes that she must keep that mindset and continue to build her own “recovery capital.” With those choices, her life continues to fall into place. The tools and support she received at Santa Maria give her the structure and stability to venture out on her own.

SHE IS THE FACE OF RECOVHERY.

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Texas Veterans Commission’s (TVC) Fund for Veterans’ Assistance (FVA) presented over $6.2 million  in grants to 23 organizations in the Houston and Gulf Coast areas for providing services to approximately 6,100 veterans. The grant award presentation took place virtually.

The TVC Commissioners approved these grant awards in May as part of an overall grant program providing 147 grants to organizations across Texas. Grants totaling $33.4 million for 2021-2022 will serve an estimated 30,000 veterans.

Funding for these grants is generated primarily by the Texas Lottery Commission’s games designated for veteran support. Other sources of funding for the grants come from individual donation options on drivers’ licenses, licenses to carry a handgun, outdoor recreation licenses for hunting and fishing, and vehicle registrations.

We look forward to providing these services to our community in 2021-22.

Pictured above at our main campus are (left to right): Courtney Wilson -VIEWS Program Manager, Nadine Scamp -CEO and Carmen Jones -Sr. Dir. of Operations and Housing.

Veterans in need of assistance can find the organizations providing help in their area and how to contact them at https://www.tvc.texas.gov/grants/assistance/

 

We are seeking an individual (s) with strong organizational and creative skills to assist with the planning and presentation of children’s’ and family celebrations at our Bonita House location. The perfect volunteer candidate will be able to demonstrate the following:

• Ability to create planning timeline and stay on schedule
• Basic design skills for creating flyers and other internal marketing materials
• Integration of cultural competency in planning celebrations
• Exhibit personal skills that provide a warm a welcoming environment to all
• Coordinate with other volunteer individuals and groups, including their skills and enthusiasm
• Work closely with staff to present celebrations that align with our mission and protocols

Celebrations are all year round, so it might be a great idea to find a friend to share in the role. It is a full calendar of major holidays, children’s birthdays, school functions and other fun experiences in our community. Contact Marcia Chaney by email or calling 832-236-8611.

In concert with the 32nd National Rally for Recovery, Houston and the State of Texas celebrated the 11th annual Big Texas Rally for Recovery (BTRR), on Saturday, September 18 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. There was great music, comedy, storytelling, dance, and recognition —all with Houston’s famous hospitality. Dignitaries from the national recovery movement, public officials, and people in recovery, families, community supporters, speakers, and friends of recovery all joined the celebration to inspire and replenish the passion for recovery. There was a large youth area with plenty of positive fun and family-friendly activities.

Our very own, Senior Director of Recovery Support Services, Amelia Murphy, received the Recovery Champion Award, for serving her peers with more than 25 years of sobriety and leadership. Others honored were Devon Anderson with Justice Forward, Leonard Kinkaid, with Houston Recovery Center and, Mary Covington with RIC Court. We are proud of Amelia and all the incredible people that stood alongside her on this glorious evening, proving that recovery is possible.

The SMH team is honored and humbled to have participated at the 2021 National Big Texas Rally For Recovery, to celebrate and help spread the word about recovery treatment and prevention programs at SMH.

 LaNisha’s story starts with trauma. When she was just two years old, her father was murdered; later her mother whom for years suffered from addiction to substances was incarcerated. Once moved to live with her grandparents and younger sibling, she was again faced with continued violence, drug abuse, neglect, and gambling on her grandparents’ side, followed by repeatedly being molested by a family member. Living in such an unsafe environment caused LaNisha’s spirit to sink and feel despair.

LaNisha grew up fast and learned to escape the home whenever possible to avoid chaos and when she could not, she assumed a “caretaker role” in order to protect her little brother.

At school, she became the “class clown” and started to hang out with the “cool kids.” She began to cultivate a life on the streets with much older kids that led her to destructive behaviors. At age 12, she began driving to the grocery and liquor stores for her grandparents. At age 13, she got a job to have some money to escape. Without parental supervision LaNisha started to use marijuana when she was 14 and found she liked how it made her feel.

Every now and then, there were some glimmers of hope, rays of promise. She became a devoted percussionist in the school marching band, symphony and jazz ensemble. In addition, she played a skilled game of basketball on the school team. Being there after school meant she did not have to face what was going on at home. But that all ended when she could no longer maintain the physical demands required as a member of her school basketball team without coughing, so she gave up her basketball and shrugged it off.

Then, her mother was released from prison and did not return home. “All I could think was, why did mom not come for me and my brother? I was so angry with her. The pain was unbearable. Eventually, mom got married and moved to another town, which then added another level of frustration and feelings of abandonment.”

Remarkably, through it all, she graduated high school and applied for college. She was accepted by Texas Southern University. With no guidance, she headed to Houston. It felt like freedom and party time again. She began to try the full array of street drugs and within six months her use of drugs was at full throttle. She quickly spiraled downhill, began lying to her family and asking for money beyond her student loans to support her new habits.

In time, she moved in with eight friends, focused only on getting money, by any means necessary, to fuel her addiction. They were quickly evicted. LaNisha says, “Then it was beyond manageability. I started committing crimes and selling drugs to eat. All my focus was on feeding my drug habit. The next seven years, my addiction took over and destroyed my life.”

In 2009, her grandmother passed away and she was once again in such a haze that it was hard to find the compassion for the one person who had provided a place for her to live. She felt alone and defeated. She spiraled into a deep depression with thoughts of suicide and psychosis brought on by heavy drug use.

During this time, LaNisha was unaware that her mother had been participating in a 12-step recovery program. Subconsciously, her mother was paving the way for her daughter to follow her path. After realizing the deep trouble that her daughter was in, her mother stepped in and arranged for a mental health assessment to be performed for LaNisha.

The recommendation was traditional rehab. She knew that LaNisha would need more than just 60 days of treatment. While attending a rally, her mother heard Amelia Murphy, Director of Recovery Support Services at SMH, speak on the importance and benefits of building a recovery community. She knew she wanted that for her daughter, so they sought help and waited for a bed to become available. Santa Maria was exactly where LaNisha needed to be.

Comforted and welcomed at Santa Maria, LaNisha was hopeful. She entered feeling afraid but with a new-found feeling of optimism and an even stronger feeling of relief. There was no limitation of what she was willing to try. Without this help, only death loomed before her.

She quickly began to feel a sense of integrity, accomplishment, and healing. She assembled her “village” that included her counselor, her sponsor, her coach, her director, her therapist, and others from the SMH staff. “The old saying, it takes a village, was true for me, and each individual had something I wanted. I learned to uncover, discover and recover.”

Soon LaNisha moved into transitional housing and went back to college. Here she felt inspired to do more, and with much encouragement from recovery coaches, LaNisha moved towards becoming a Peer Recovery Coach where she could now pave a way for others, as her mom did for her.

As LaNisha transformed and found she was now a woman of her word with much love to offer, she knew what she had to do. She understood she had a calling to serve as a coach to the many women at SMH who were going through the very thing that brought her darkness into light. LaNisha knew she could be funny, charismatic, motivating and most importantly felt confident as a contributing woman to society. She learned to steer clear of people who were not determined to change destructive patterns and instead surrounded herself with likeminded influencers. She recalls, “Treatment in itself could be a stagnant stale process, but my peer SMH coaches included love, encouragement, and support groups to make this the formula for the success of this program. The women and staff at SMH are amazing and I am forever grateful to journey with them.”

Upon reflection, she believes the turning point was a profound lesson on boundaries and establishing her own identity. “I found a new outlook on life and shaped my own path to recovery.”

Today, LaNisha continues to serve and lead as a coach at Jacquelyn House. Her testimony serves as an inspiration for all women to RISE UP. 

Back to School is right around the corner, it is that exciting time of year when children all over the city get ready to go back to school, and our kids at Santa Maria are no different. They are enthusiastically waiting, maybe with a bit of nerves, and wondering if all their friends will be there on the first day of school.

Unfortunately, our kids experience something else too… NEED!!

As their mothers have chosen to embark on the journey of RECOVERY, they are also not able to provide backpacks, school uniforms and new shoes to their children because of lack of employment or resources while they are in recovery. But there is hope, and this year you can be the reason for one child being completely equipped and excited about their first day at school.

MAKE A GIFT HERE

We are excited to welcome Baylor College of Medicine addiction psychiatry fellows to Santa Maria. The fellows will be assisting with our detoxification and medication assisted treatment programs as well as providing additional integrated psychiatric services. The program provides an opportunity for fellows to provide integrated mental health and substance use disorder treatment while at the same time building their capacity to meet the specialized needs of women and diverse populations and understand and address the larger social context, social determinants of health, and health disparities affecting our population.

Family and Community Literacy Workshops and Resources

Read and Rise program is back, at SMH, and our residents are enjoying every word of it.

The Read and Rise program provides families with hands-on strategies for building literacy at home, reinforces the fact that parents are their child’s first and most important teacher, and builds text-rich environments by providing take-home books, and other parent resources for families who participate in the program.

Special shout out to our very own SMH volunteer, Pattie Holacek, for her efforts to lead this class.

“When I grew up, no one read to me, we did not have books in the home and so I did not know how important reading to a child was. I am excited to know this because I am a stay-at-home mom and I can read all the time during the day. My kids love it. They are learning to recognize the animals in their books and the sounds they make, it is so cute!” 

~Read & Rise, Program Participant

On the last day of class, each mom makes a book using the letters in their child’s name, add other objects that start with the letter of their names, and then draws an illustration to go along. Making it a personalized gift that is fun and can be read over and over to their child.

Santa Maria Hostel (SMH) is honored to have been awarded the Houston Methodists’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program grant award.

Houston Methodist has designed the award to continue a keen focus on addressing social determinants of health which impact social minority groups such as women, people experiencing homelessness, older adults, the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants and more. By directing funding to programs designed for these groups, the resources can identify and uncover the unique challenges faced by the various social minority groups. Once uncovered, especially designed programming can address the root causes of these health inequities which can lead to poor outcomes. Santa Maria’s awarded funding focuses on women who are struggling with substance use disorder and have criminal justice involvement.

Amelia Murphy, Senior Director of Recovery Support Services will direct the DEI program. It will be staffed with capable peer recovery support specialists equipped to dismantle the unique barriers their participants face. For many years, SMH has worked closely with reintegration of women after incarceration, on our campus, directly in the jails and prisons and in the courts.

 

 

We thank Houston Methodist for their forethought and leadership in the area of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. We are proud to be selected as one of their partners in this effort.