St. Monica’s was started by a group of women from the Episcopal church who started a halfway house.  Since 1964, our underlying purpose has been to provide recovery within a home-like environment to help empower women combating a variety of problems intertwined with substance abuse.  Our trauma-informed and evidence-based practices address the root cause of addiction and our team of highly skilled health professionals offer a compassionate, loving approach.

 

The women that come to St. Monica’s must be 19 years of age or older.  We know women in recovery provide unlimited value to herself, her family, her friends, her work and our entire community. Through gender-specific, trauma-informed care, St. Monica’s provides a safe place for women to come and get well – to make positive changes, gain new skills and discover strengths.  St. Monica’s has two houses that they use and recently they renovated one of them so it would have 8 bedrooms.  COVID-19 has made changes and they have had to do a lot of Zoom meetings with their clients, which is quite difficult.  They have been luck enough to go seven months without a positive case of COVID, but did have a small breakout, but are all fine now.

 

St. Monica’s offers a wide range of personalized services to women who are diagnosed with substance abuse and/or co-existing health issues, including: residential treatment, outpatient therapy, community support and training.

 

Because fees are assessed on a sliding scale, based on the income of each woman, her ability to pay, and availability of funding, we also accept donations to help with the women’s fees.  St. Monica’s does get some assistance from donations, state and Federal, because many of their clients are on Medicaid.  Today, they have a list of individuals who may have to wait 10-12 weeks to get in for treatment because of the COVID-19.  One way a person can help is go to their social media page and share the positive stories that you find with other individuals you know.

 

All residential programs have 24-hour staff coverage. An 8-week intensive inpatient (also referred to as residential) trauma informed substance abuse treatment program featuring a combination of treatment services that will meet each individual’s needs.  During this 8-week intensive inpatient treatment the clients do the cooking for the entire house and it is done inn family style.  It takes about 18 months to heal and they still make need the support longer.  This can involve family members and children.  Some clients come back after two years just for support or to be a support for someone else. After a comprehensive assessment and meeting with a therapist, a treatment plan will be created using a combination of the tools listed below including: Psychological assessments and evaluations; individual and group counseling; educational groups; parenting education for women with children; and spiritual assessments and counseling.

 

 

A comprehensive secondary residential substance abuse recovery program for women who have completed primary treatment and have been sober for at least 30 days. Our trauma-informed therapeutic community model features four phases as success is realized with treatment. These phases include employment and community re-integration upon graduation, relapse prevention and aftercare. Components of Therapeutic Community include: Individual and group counseling; educational groups; current psychological assessments and evaluation; parenting education and support for women with children including, visitation and reunification planning when appropriate; Spiritual counseling; and a strong focus on building a compressive relapse prevention/aftercare plan prior to graduation.

 

 

Specifically designed for pregnant and parenting mothers, this comprehensive secondary treatment programs provides the perfect setting for women with children or women who are about to deliver, who have completed primary treatment, and have been sober for at least 30 days. This trauma-individualized treatment includes assessing children and their needs and including them into the treatment plan. Which offers them Individualized treatment that includes assessing children and their needs and including them into the treatment plan; individual/group counseling; educational groups; on-site licensed early childhood program during program hours; children’s development testing, psychological assessments and evaluations; support and coordination with family drug court participation; birth plans; early care and education; quality, licensed early childhood center; and curriculum/environment which includes: Care for Kids, High Scope, Love and Logic, Beautiful Beginnings, and Child development journals.

 

 

Community Support -- Case management for outpatient clients who are waiting for treatment or inpatient services and/or women who have completed a treatment program and need community resources and support. This program is designed to provide contact and support for maintenance, sobriety, and self-sufficiency in community living situations. Community support provides home visits and resource referrals and is an integral part of long-term success.​

 

Complimentary Therapies -- Some of the unique and effective treatment therapies that we utilize include many that have been studied and labeled as evidences-based practices:  A trauma informed approach to all aspects of our organization; equine therapy-encompasses a range of treatments that involve activities with horses to promote human physical and mental health; and EMDR- eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a fairly new, nontraditional type of psychotherapy. It's growing in popularity, particularly for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD often occurs after experiences such as military combat; nurturing parent-the nurturing parenting programs are a family-centered trauma-informed initiative designed to build nurturing parenting skills as an alternative to abusive and neglecting parenting and child-rearing practices.

 

The Circle of Security® is an innovative intervention program designed to improve the developmental pathway of children and their parents. This program helps promote security. A secure attachment between child and caregiver is critical to a child's current and future well-being; Seeking Safety - seeking safety is an evidence-based, present-focused counseling model to help people attain safety from trauma and/or substance abuse; DBT - is a cognitive behavioral treatment that emphasizes individual psychotherapy and group skills training classes to help people use new skills and strategies to develop a life that they experience as worth living; Celebrating Families - is an evidence based cognitive behavioral, support group model written for families in which one or both parents have a serious problem with alcohol or other drugs and in which there is a high risk for domestic violence, child abuse or neglect; Gallup Strength Finders - developed by Gallup, Strength Finders helps individuals learn more about who you are and natural talents; and a Woman’s Way Through the 12 Steps.

 

They are starting a Capital Campaign so that they can add new services.  There referrals come from individuals, family members and in February 2021 they will be working with the Indian Center to do long-term abuse services for those who need it.

 

There are additional Groups provided for all programs that set us apart which include: Girls Circle; Yoga; Beyond Anger and Violence; On-Campus Therapy and Comfort Dog; Medical Aspects; Domestic Violence; Grief and Loss; Family Issues; Women's Empowerment; Recovery Skills; Spirituality; Family Education; Relapse Prevention; and Expressive Art.