Project Hope for Women and Children was founded in 2018 in Huntington, WV through funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) Pregnant and Parenting Women grant and Ryan Brown funding from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. Funding was given to the Division of Addiction Sciences in the Department of Family Medicine at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine to develop the family-centered treatment program in partnership with the Huntington City Mission, which provided the initial space and supportive staff. The facility has 17 single-family unit apartments with two or three fully furnished bedrooms for each new family. Graduates are allowed to take their furnishings to their new apartment.
The program provides a stable and supportive environment for women and their children so they can work toward long-term recovery, develop healthy parenting skills, and build safe family relationships. As a comprehensive treatment facility for women and their children, Project Hope provides onsite peer and residential support, life skills training, and mental health services. The individual approach to treatment also includes educational support services, career development, nutrition, exercise support, parenting and relationship courses, spiritual care, and financial education. Priority is given to women who are currently pregnant and using substances followed by those with children. Residents are offered all pathways to treatment including recovery utilizing medication, a focus on Alcoholic Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, and religious or spiritual involvement. Project Hope is a fully licensed behavioral health center that operates at an American Society of Addiction Medicine level of 3.5 and 3.1.
Although long-term, trauma-informed, evidence-based recovery is the priority of Project Hope, the program also works with each client on a parenting or reunification plan. This may include advocating with the court, assisting with supervised visitation, and working on family therapy. As one client reported, “I would never have figured out the legal things I needed to do without my staff at Project Hope and that means I wouldn’t have my kid back. They took me to court and explained the program to the judge. They told me to trust in the process while fighting for me. Now I get to be a mom.” Project Hope is based on the belief that women can and do recover especially when given the chance to be supported as a parent while in a structured environment.
Upon graduation, clients are offered the opportunity to continue their treatment at Hope House, which is transitional housing, and through the Provider Response Organization for Addiction Care and Treatment (PROACT) in Huntington. Graduates are also encouraged to receive community-based family services through Healthy Connections, which provides family navigation and Peer Recovery Support Specialist services in the community to pregnant and parenting families. Both PROACT and Healthy Connections are part of the continuum of care that Marshall University’s Division of Addiction Sciences provides. Project Hope also works closely with community partners, including but not limited to Mountain Health Network, Legal Aid, Huntington City Mission, Goodwill Charities, Catholic Charities, and Lily’s Place.
Since welcoming the first family the day after Christmas in 2018, Project Hope for Women and Children has successfully graduated more than 80 families from the six-month program. When provided with the opportunity, many families can be reunified and on the path to long-term recovery.