NEWS

GAAMHA opens innovative recovery home for mothers with children. Here's what they offer

Gardner News

PETERSHAM — The Greenwich Housing Center is the first sobriety home program that focuses on reuniting recovering mothers with their children in the North Central Massachusetts area.

The recovery program established by the Gardner Athol Area Mental Health Associate, opened its doors to families last month and it is already hosting two families in the facility. The Greenwich staff are expecting to receive more families in the next few weeks.

Michelle Dunn, Assistant Vice President of substance use disorder services, said GAAMHA has a history of supporting women addicts with housing but unfortunately when a woman had children, they did not have the resources to assist the families.

"There are a handful of family residential recovery programs in Boston but nothing like that in this area," Dunn said. "Instead of taking the kids and mother to Boston, away from their family and friends to get the support they need, we can now give them the resources they need to be successful in their community."

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Most of the 30 rooms are joined by a door. There is a bed and a crib in the mother's room. The crib can be transformed into a toddler's bed if needed. Eileen Foley, Greenwich program director, said it's important for children and mothers to be reunited following this traumatic time to aid in healing and recovery.

Requirements to live at the Greenwich Housing Center

Recovering mothers who want to join the program have to prove a minimum of six months sobriety to qualify. A weekly route urine drug test is required for all mothers to continue living at the facility.

The mothers are not required to find employment, but they are highly encouraged to volunteer, work, or pursue an education. The families accepted to the housing center are not required to pay rent or expenses. Families can live in the center up to two years.

It is not the GAAMHA staff who decide who is accepted into the housing program, but the Institute for Health and Recovery who is the organization referring families to treatment and determining who is admitted to which programs, Dunn said.

The mothers are expected to work with one of the two case workers to create a rehousing plan as soon as possible. The rehousing plan is the first step for recovering mothers to become fully independent and healing their families.

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What the housing center has to offer

The Greenwich program is in a newly renovated North Quabbin Region outpatient clinic in Petersham. There are 30 single rooms, and some are jointed for bigger families. Up to 15 families can be hosted if each family uses two rooms. The first floor is ADA compliant with one bedroom and bathroom designed for a mother or child with a wheelchair.

There is a fully equipped kitchen with two fridges, two stoves, and plenty of storage and counter space for the mothers to prepare meals for their children. In the kitchen there is a small playroom for mothers to place their small children while they are cooking. Children under eight years old are not allowed in the kitchen area. The staff will provide food essentials, but families can also choose to purchase their own food.

Safety is their number one priority, Dunn said. The staff have placed Narcan (an overdose reversal medication) in every room and every floor in case of an emergency.

The main kitchen is on the first floor. The second and third floors are equipped with kitchenettes for the mother's convenience.

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Services offered to recovering families

The Greenwich House Program Director, Eileen Foley said the staff are planning several workshops to teach the mothers how to cook, clean, budget, garden, mindfulness and anything else that they need to know to continue their sobriety.

"We have tons of flexibility with the resources we have available, and we plan to use them to provide whatever these families need," she said. "This is a learning opportunity for us because we know have worked with single people."

The focus of the workshops is to not only prevent relapsing but to guide these mothers into become contributing members of society, Foley said.

On the third floor, there is a communal living room where families can gather to watch movies or spend time with each other. There are also two homework stations with computers in the space where children can do their schoolwork.

During the recovery process, children of addicts get lost in the process and this housing program is to build the kids back up and help them heal, said Dunn.

"We are giving these women the opportunity to get their feet back on the ground," she said. "These area has a good list of resources to help these family stay together."