ADA: House of Hope

An unassuming house in a neighborhood on First Street hums with the mission of those within: To provide Galveston and BrazoriaCounty women who lack financial resources with residential treatment for substance abuse, at no cost to the women.

The women of ADA (Alcohol and Drug Abuse) House engage in 30 hours weekly of group sessions along with individual counseling, occupational therapy, and daily 12-Step meetings. As part of their treatment plans, they complete individualized assignments designed to lead them toward recovery. After treatment, seventy-five percent of the graduates of ADA House report that their lives are good or better. Many return on Thursday evenings to share success stories and words of encouragement.

Over 2000 women have received treatment through ADA. These women are wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters. They are young and not so young. Some face complications such as a co-existing mental illness, HIV positive status, or Hepatitis C. Most have experienced domestic violence. In one recent year, 61% of them were homeless when they arrived at the house. 

Three women recently shared with me what ADA House means to them. Each said that ADA is first and foremost a home. “We have structure and discipline here,” one woman said. “We are here because we want to be. We choose to be. And we each face our private demons. We must deal with the deeper issues that led to our addiction, and we get a lot of help in doing that.”

All three women spoke animatedly of the healing that occurs as they build skills, return to school, secure jobs, create support groups for sobriety, find satisfying ways to use their time, and “learn coping strategies that we never had.” All three spoke of a community atmosphere. They talked about the chores for which they are accountable, the support of women who understand them, the groups in which they tackle personal issues, and the palpable fellowship among clients and staff. “There’s lots of love here,” one woman said. Another said, “I feel comfortable here. I feel safe. I can be honest because I feel trust, and I’ve never felt that before.”

One of the women said, “Before coming to ADA House, many of us were existing, but not living life. Our addictions took up all of our time. There was no room for friends, for family, for intimacy, for doing good works, for jogging or going to the beach.” Another said, “The counselors here help you to help yourself. I have really opened up. And I am dealing daily with feelings of deep shame and guilt. I still have a lot of work to do.”

Each of these women hopes to “give back” to ADA House. They all know that their best gift will be daily success. I left ADA with deep respect for the work that these women do. It was heartening to see hope growing strong in this modest house. Let’s be good neighbors and nurture that hope financially!

Suzanne M. Peloquin

Professor and occupational therapist

School of Allied Health Sciences, UTMB

ADA is a House of Faith

The front door of a white house on First Street opens from a green yard in a quiet neighborhood into a small space charged with a large mission:  To provide residential treatment for substance abuse, at no cost, to Galveston and Brazoria County women without financial resources.

Soon after they walk through that front door, the women of ADA (Alcohol and Drug Abuse) House complete individualized treatment plans that move them toward recovery. They engage in 30 hours of group sessions a week, along with individual counseling, occupational therapy, and daily 12-Step meetings.  After treatment, seventy-five percent of the graduates of ADA House report that their lives are good or better.  Many return to share words of encouragement and stories of success.

Wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters, some are challenged by co-existing mental illnesses, HIV positive status, or Hepatitis C.  Most have experienced domestic violence.  Over the past 20 years, more than 2000 women have received treatment through ADA. 

Two counselors recently spoke to me during a rare quiet moment. I asked what they would want people to know about ADA House. Both said that, foremost, ADA is “a caring place for women.” Although each counselor is familiar with other treatment facilities, both see “extraordinary work” happening at ADA. There, the belief is that “no one is without hope.”

Clients are not turned away from ADA. Even women with advanced cirrhosis of the liver have benefited from the program. “We are small enough,” the counselors said, “to offer hope to each woman.” Some women stay as long as 4-5 months. They work hard at their recovery, seven days a week. They receive support in all aspects of their lives, from reestablishing family ties, to restoring healthy living patterns, to making connections with community support networks, to learning new life skills, to landing good jobs and making meaningful lives.

The counselors spoke animatedly of the changes that occur in women’s lives. They noted the huge effect on a much larger community that even one woman’s success can have. They shared stories of women who “mended relationships” and reunited with parents and children, of ADA women who now hold responsible positions in the community, of women, successful in their recovery, filling vital roles. Because many of these stories are private, the public may not fully appreciate ADA’s reach. The counselors’ own stories of recovery are powerful.

If ADA is a house of hope for the women who receive treatment there, it is largely because the counselors who staff ADA have a fierce belief that there is every reason to hope. They believe in the capacity of women in recovery, and they believe in a higher power that helps them. Each day, that faith presses them to care about their clients deeply and serve them effectively. Let’s be good neighbors to the women of ADA House and reward that faith financially!

Suzanne M. Peloquin

Professor and occupational therapist

School of Allied Health Sciences, UTMB

ADA House is a wise investment

Working within a small house on the corner of First Street, individuals support the mission of providing residential treatment for substance abuse to Galveston and BrazoriaCounty women without financial resources. Because treatment occurs at no cost to the women, support for the mission of ADA House extends to financial matters.

Ellie Hanley, Executive Director, recently told me that it costs about $88 a day to sustain each woman in the program. This amount covers room and board as well as intensive treatment. Any islander who compares this figure to the cost of one night’s stay in a low-budget hotel has to be impressed, especially since the women engage in 30 hours of group sessions weekly along with daily 12-Step meetings and individual counseling.

How does ADA House get the funding that it needs? Two ongoing contracts, one through the Gulf Coast Center (MHMR) and one through the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) fund part of the daily cost. Funds from the United Way also help, but the amount that ADA House gets from the general pool has dwindled in recent years. As Ellie noted, the mission can’t be met with such monies, so she leads an effort to secure dollars through grants, donations, and fundraisers.

Anyone who has ever raised funds knows the challenge. It’s somehow less daunting to ask people to support rescue efforts or to manage a well-publicized crisis. Ellie said, “It’s not as if I can show people cute pictures of kittens or plans for a new building. I’m asking people to pay for day-to-day operations. People need to know that money given to ADA House restores lives and repairs families.”

The money is well spent. Over 2000 women have received treatment through ADA, each linked to families in local communities. Some women are challenged by co-existing mental illness, HIV positive status, or Hepatitis C. The success of even one such woman makes an enormous impact on other lives. One outcome study by the State of California reports that each dollar spent on such treatment has an average return of $7. Treatment expense is really an investment as opposed to a cost.

Even as they recover, the women of ADA House contribute to their communities. Because recovery in its full sense means recovering a productive and meaningful life, the women give time to community efforts. They help at the Jesse Tree’s food fair every other week. They have helped with the YMCA’s fund runs, with William Temple mailings and lunches, and with efforts to help hurricane evacuees through MoodyMethodistChurch.

If you work at the UTMB and give to the State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC), you can designate ADA House, listed as Alcohol/Drug Abuse Women’s Center, as a recipient using the code number 321001. Such designated donations have risen recently, and Ellie hopes that the trend will continue. Let’s sustain the hope. Call 763-5516 with a donation!

Suzanne M. Peloquin

Professor and occupational therapist

School of Allied Health Sciences, UTMB

ADA House is a community effort

Within a small but busy house on the corner of First Street in Galveston, caring individuals provide residential treatment for substance abuse to Galveston and BrazoriaCounty women without financial resources. Although intense work occurs in this house, Executive Director Ellie Hanley recently explained that the ADA mission is in many ways a community effort.

Although it is not common knowledge, the women establish many community ties as they volunteer for local agencies. Grateful to “give back”, the women distribute food at Jesse Tree Food Fairs. They help with mailings at St. Vincent’s and William Temple. They have given time to the YMCA’s Fun Run and served meals for the Mainland Count’s United Way. “It’s nice for the women to be on the giving side,” said Ellie. “It’s good to feel as if you’re making a contribution.” Gratitude is part of an attitudinal shift fostered at ADA, where each woman writes a daily list of things for which to be thankful. “With such tasks,” Ellie said, “comes hope for change and a vision of what to become.”

Noteworthy community events celebrate the life changes that the women are making. Around July 4^th of each year, parishioners from St. Michael’s in LaMarque sponsor a moving celebratory dinner for the clients, in honor of their newly-found independence. Grace Episcopal Church members also sponsor a dinner gathering during Advent. That time before Christmas is symbolic, Ellie said, of the spirit of hope and anticipation of good things that pervades ADA House.

ADA staff create many community connections by accessing needed services. The women benefit from the efforts of Physician Assistant students from UTMB who do health screenings at St. Vincent’s. Nursing and occupational therapy students work at ADA House to meet their educational requirements, offering help with mental health issues and daily life skills. Galveston County Health District workers offer weekly sessions on HIV, tuberculosis, and Hepatitis C. The Department of Assistive and Rehabilitation Services (DARS) helps with pre-work testing, resume writing, and job placement coaching. The Resource and Crisis center addresses problems with domestic violence and assault while also giving the women vouchers to use at their Thrift Store. The Family Service center offers a parenting class. And the GulfCoastCenter provides mental health services for several of the women.

Still other connections develop as citizens reach out to the women and staff. ADA benefits greatly from foundation funding. Board members invest time and energy. Members of the UnitarianChurch use a kiln donated by the School of Allied Health Occupational Therapy Department to fire ceramic work that is used in fundraising efforts. Other donors choose to remain unnamed, Ellie said, but their help is huge. Some individuals who value the work of ADA House simply step forward to meet a need. Dr. Lee Emory, for example, sees women with mental health problems free of charge while they wait to get established with GulfCoastCenter. Many others of us can find a way to support this fine community effort. Will you? Call 763-5516.

Suzanne M. Peloquin

Professor and occupational therapist

School of Allied Health Sciences, UTMB

Published September 6, 2006

If you look at Drusilla Waters today, you would not be able to visualize her as a homeless, strung-out mother of four who had to lie, steal and hustle for a daily dose of crack.

“I used every day,” said the 37-year-old Texas City resident. “That was all my life consisted of — getting drugs and using. I was homeless, lost my kids. It was just overpowering. It was like using (drugs) against your will. You don’t want to do it, but you do.”

Such was her life for nearly a decade. But about four years ago, she walked into the Alcohol Drug Abuse Women’s Center.

These days she is a housekeeping supervisor for a resort-hotel. She has a new car and just purchased her first house. She has also helped other former addicts get jobs where she works and continues to volunteer her time at the ADA Women’s Center.

And she has her kids back.

Waters credits the ADA Women’s Center with saving her life.

“It’s a God thing,” she said. “I am so blessed.”

Before Jan. 13, 2003 — the day Waters went clean — her life was anything but a blessing.

She married at an early age, dropped out of Texas City High School her sophomore year and was living a relatively simple life. At the time, her drug use was limited to alcohol, marijuana and occasionally pills.

But it progressed. Her husband — who supported her addiction — left her. At 18, Waters had four kids and was jobless.

Waters said the quest for drugs — mostly crack cocaine — consumed her life.

Family members moved in and took her kids, not that she noticed.

Along the way, Waters found herself tossed in jail several times and went into court-ordered rehabilitation and drug-abuse programs. None worked.

“That never stopped me from using,” said Waters, who had promised herself several times she would quit. “Once I started feeling better, I’d just go out and start up again.”

The bottom came in an abandoned house in east Texas City where she and others had been using.

Waters became ill just as police arrived in the neighborhood.

As her companions scattered, Waters walked to a payphone with money and some drugs in her pocket. She picked up the phone, intending to call her dealer.

Instead, she called a cab to take her to her mother’s home.

When she arrived at her mom’s home, she was surprised to be taken in. She flopped onto the couch where she remained for nearly a week.

She was nursed back to some semblance of health, not so much by her mother as by two of her daughters who were living with their grandmother.

She started to feel better but, unlike the many times in the past, she didn’t return to the streets to seek out crack.

“I just didn’t want to use that day,” said Waters.

By the end of the month Waters found herself at ADA Women’s Center, a drug rehabilitation and shelter center now in its 20th year.

Waters was among the 111 women that year who sought recovery through ADA House, which offers a combination of the traditional 12-step program and a deeper drug addiction-counseling program.

Last year, ADA House helped 153 women beat their addictions.

Program director Ellie Hanley and a staff of nine manage the center, which provides temporary housing, drug-abuse counseling and job-search assistance for about $88 a day per client. That’s less than it costs to stay in one of Galveston’s finer hotels, Hanley pointed out.

Those who come to the center first find themselves in a 35-day treatment program that includes 30 hours a week of group sessions, as well as one-on-one counseling. Eventually, the women transition to a program that includes seven to 10 hours a week of counseling while they look for work.

The program has a $380,000 annual budget.

“We have done a lot with a little for a long time,” said Hanley.

The program started as an idea of a group of church women in Texas City.

About a third of the center’s funding comes from a fundraising gala and the county’s two United Way organizations.

Waters is the first to promote donations to the United Way.

“They are making a huge investment,” she said. “They are saving lives. Not just me, but they saved my children’s lives and they are rebuilding families.”

+++

WHAT: Galveston United Way

WHEN: 11:45 Tuesday

WHERE: Moody Gardens, Frances Moody Ballroom, 7 Hope Blvd. in Galveston.

COST: $20

CALL: 409-762-4357

WHAT: Mainland Communities United Way

WHEN: 11:30 a.m. today

WHERE: Charles T. Doyle Convention Center, 21st Street and Fifth Avenue in Texas City

COST: $15

CALL: 409-948-4211

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By the numbers

Alcohol Drug Abuse Women’s Center

Number of women helped in 2003: 111

Number of women helped in 2005: 153

Number of methamphetamine clients in 2004: 1

Number of methamphetamine clients in 2005: 13

2005 budget: $380,000

Gulf Coast Center and state grants: $228,000

Mainland Communities United Way: $50,000

Galveston United Way and State Employee Charitable Campaign: $28,400

— Source: ADA Women’s Center