Putting Lives Back on Track and Keeping Families Together

HAVEN MOTHER’S HOUSE I and II

The Haven Mother’s House I and II provides intensive residential substance abuse treatment to 26 women. Women who receive services through the mother’s house must either be pregnant or have an infant in their care. The Mother’s Houses provide a stable, safe, and drug free environment to allow women to overcome the behaviors that led them to a lifestyle of addiction and crime. Clients are given an opportunity to learn different ways to cope with their feelings and are taught how to make appropriate choices. Many women do not seek treatment due to the fact that they are fearful of what will happen to their children. At the Haven Mother’s House operates with the philosophy that it is critical that a mother be with her infant as she progresses through treatment. The Haven children are the heart of the program and allow the mother to experience love, care and parenting in a substance free environment.

Women are taught lifestyle skills and are expected to manage their environment. A typical day at the Mother’s House consists of waking up and being ready for their day at 6:50 a.m. Clients eat breakfast with their children and then take their children to an on-site specialized day care. They then attend substance abuse groups, including groups which help them to cope with their traumas and they receive cognitive therapy skills. They then go to the daycare to eat lunch with their children. Their afternoons are again spent focusing on overcoming their addiction. From 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. the clients spend time bonding and attaching with their infants. From 8:30 to 10:00 p.m. clients attend one final group and then it is off to bed! Clients meet with a counselor one time per week to discuss their treatment goals and are provided with mental health treatment if necessary.

THE HAVEN-HARMON HOUSE

The Haven-Harmon house is our newest facility (opened September 2006). It serves 23 women and up to 10 infants and allows the Haven to expand services to mothers, infants, and those with co-occluding substance abuse and mental health disorders. It is dedicated to Dr. Robert Harmon who was the Medical Director and treating psychiatrist at the Haven for ten years. He implemented infant mental health services and started the Doula program at the Haven. He was devoted to training and education as well as direct service provision. His mission is carried on by the Harris team who we continue to collaborate with today.

BABY HAVEN

The Baby Haven provides specialized daycare for infants whose mothers are in residential substance abuse treatment at The Haven. The staff believes that their job as childcare providers is to support mothers in treatment to strive towards enhancing their children’s physical, emotional and cognitive growth. In order to allow mothers to attend treatment groups, the daycare is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and provides care for up to 15 infants. The daycare is unique, however, in that mothers come to the daycare to feed their children lunch and are allowed to bond and interact with their children. During this time, mothers receive nutritional guidance from staff and are able to meet individually with staff to address their children’s issues and receive parental guidance. In addition, mothers participate in a weekly parenting education group and a parent/child interaction group. These groups are facilitated by the infant mental health team which consists of a licensed psychologist and a post-doctoral fellow. Each child is provided with developmental assessments at six month intervals. The daycare staff assists each child in meeting and exceeding their developmental milestones.

THE HAVEN DOULA PROGRAM

The Haven’s Doula Program is the first of its kind and The Haven is recognized nationally as an official Doula replication site of the Chicago Health Connection (CHC). The Doula Program pairs pregnant women from The Haven Mother’s House with successful Haven graduates who have given birth and are in recovery. Following training in the Chicago Health Connection Community Doula Model and The Harris Doula Child Development Curriculum (ages 0-3), three Haven graduates were employed as doulas. A doula’s relationship with the mother begins as soon as the trained doula is matched with the mother and continues up until the child’s second birthday. The doula begins regular contact with the pregnant woman; accompanying her to prenatal care visits and helping her develop a birth plan. The doulas also provide a series of sessions focused on education about labor and delivery. The goals for the doula are to develop a trusting relationship with the mother, to help her to advocate for herself in the health care system, to prepare for the hospital labor and delivery experience, and ultimately to prepare for her new role as a parent. When labor begins, the doula is available to the mother, helping her determine if she is actually in labor, and supporting her through labor, delivery and the initial postpartum hours at the hospital. In the immediate postpartum period, the doula reviews the events of labor and delivery, reassures the new mother about her child’s condition, provides breastfeeding support, and facilitates bonding and infant care. During the later postpartum months, the doula continues to visit the mother on a regular basis. She helps provide support and ideas for appropriate developmental play, assists with transportation to medical appointments, links the client to outside resources, and provides recovery support. Extensive research projects are underway regarding the success of the doula program and outcomes for the infant, the mother, and the doula are being collected.

DENVER WOMENS CORRECTIONAL FACILITY THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY

The Haven operates “Challenge to Change” a 72 bed therapeutic community behind the prison walls at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility. This program is a modified therapeutic community that is specifically designed to address the issues of a female offender related to substance abuse, mental health, and criminal behavior. The program utilizes Seeking Safety and SSC. Other issues addressed include relationships, family, and parenting.