Maryah Harris, left, of Indianapolis, plays with Play-Doh with her daughter, 3-year-old Heavenly, at the Volunteers of America Ohio & Indiana Fresh Start Recovery Center in Indianapolis. RYAN TRARES | DAILY JOURNAL
Volunteers of America Ohio & Indiana grant
What: A $2.8 million grant to support the “Enriching Early Childhood Education” initiative at Volunteers of America’s Fresh Start Recovery Centers. The centers offer mothers who want to start recovery from substance use disorder a chance to stay together with their children during treatment.
Who gave the grant: Lilly Endowment
What will it do: The “Enriching Early Childhood Education” will expand the educational and developmental services as a way to benefit children of mothers receiving treatment.
Information: voaohin.org/locations/family-focused-recovery
Looking back, it’s clear two lives were saved.
Maryah Harris has no doubts about it after entering Volunteers of America Ohio & Indiana’s Fresh Start Recovery Center. She was trapped in the vice-grip of addiction when her daughter, Heavenly, was born three years ago. She wanted to start recovery, petrified of having her daughter taken away and committed to being the best mom possible.
Few residential recovery facilities allow children to accompany their mothers. But Fresh Start offered Harris an opportunity to get sober while her daughter stayed with her.
“I am so grateful,” the Indianapolis resident said. “If it wasn’t for this place, I wouldn’t have my daughter today. And I wouldn’t be sober. Those go hand-in-hand.”
Harris is one of Fresh Start’s participants whose life has changed through the program. The family-focused residential addictions treatment program focuses on helping mothers recover from opioid and other drug addictions, while ensuring the healthy development of their children.
In December, Volunteers of America Ohio & Indiana received a $2.8 million grant from Lilly Endowment to support its “Enriching Early Childhood Education: A Fresh Start” initiative.
The funding will allow Volunteers of America to expand its delivery of comprehensive educational, developmental and enrichment services for infants and toddlers at the four Fresh Start Recovery Centers in Indianapolis, Columbus, Winchester and Evansville.
“It will help us enhance our early childhood services for all of our residential treatment centers,” said Cassandra Pohlman, program director of children’s services for Volunteers of America of Ohio & Indiana. “We know that this model has been proven to increase positive outcomes long-term, and so our early childhood education initiative is only going to support and grow that model that we currently have.”
Volunteers of America Ohio & Indiana is part of a national nonprofit, faith-based organization dedicated to helping people rebuild their lives and reach their full potential. The group offers a wealth of evidence-based programs for the most pressing needs in the community, helping veterans, homeless individuals and families, men and women returning home after incarceration, and those recovering from addiction.
Fresh Start Recovery Centers are a key program within the organization.
The program focuses on residential and outpatient treatment services for mothers who have a substance-use diagnosis. Participants can get addiction and mental health treatment services, as well as working on parenting skills development.
Staff also focuses on establishing early childhood skills for the children of those participants.
“We know that mothers really have a barrier for seeking treatment with their children. To overcome that barrier, we’re the only program in the state that offers to have mothers bring their children with them,” Pohlman said. “Being able to provide early childhood services that are developmental, educational and enriching for the children is going to set the foundation for their whole life.”
Volunteers of America staff helps them connect to housing options, plan for aftercare, get family and couples counseling and connect to community resources, among other services.
David Storvick has seen the impact up close. As co-founder of the Greenwood-based 148 Ministries, he and his team have been working with the Fresh Start program for years. The ministry helps people struggling with addictions to change their lives using physical fitness and faith.
Each week, they come to the Indianapolis and Evansville centers to offer fitness sessions, counseling and more. They offer a fun workout for the participants, bring in some good food and host a faith-building activity, whether that’s a worship service or a discussion.
From Storvick’s perspective, the program is vital in helping mothers reconnect with their children.
“What we see time and time again is, one of their main priorities is to restore their relationship with their children,” he said. “When they’re able to have their kids in there with them, the whole dynamic changes for them, as far as their recovery goes, because that part of restoration has been taken care of.”
Harris became involved with Fresh Start when Heavenly was born. She had drugs in her system when she gave birth, requiring the child to go to the NICU at the hospital. At that point, she was steered toward the program as a way to break free.
“I desperately wanted to do everything in my power to be the best mother I could be, and not let her get sucked into the system,” she said.
She enrolled in the Fresh Start program, and once Heavenly was healthy enough to leave the NICU, she joined her.
“That was the only chance I needed,” she said.
Inside one of Fresh Start’s classrooms, Harris and Heavenly sat on the floor and made differing shapes with Play-Doh. They looked at books and played games. On a piece of paper, 3-year-old Heavenly connected a set of dots to spell out her name.
While Harris has worked on her recovery at Fresh Start, staff members have helped Heavenly with educational and behavioral issues. They’ve worked with the little girl on being around other people and controlling her behavior. Harris learned coping skills and how to best work with her daughter to remedy those issues.
“They’ve done such a wonderful job,” Harris said. “They watch her while I’m in group (counseling) so I get my recovery, while I work on that side of it.”
With the grant from Lilly Endowment, Volunteers of America will be able to increase those benefits. The “Enriching Early Childhood Education: A Fresh Start” initiative will allow the organization to implement a three-year plan aimed at transforming early childhood care for young children who are affected by their families’ substance use disorder across Indiana.
The grant will also allow the organization to hire additional staff and invest in more staff education.
“We know that ages 0 to 5 is foundational, so we’re providing them a curriculum, daily structures at all four of our facilities will support that learning,” Pohlman said.
Since learning that they had received the $2.8 million grant, Volunteers of America staff and leaders have been extremely excited about the potential that lies in front of them.
“It’s epic. It warms my heart,” Pohlman said. “We’ve had a strategic plan to develop our early childhood services. This grant will allow us to do that over the next three years.”
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