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POWER to Get Through the Holidays, and Every Other Day 

The holidays, with parties and family celebrations, are a difficult time for those in recovery for substance abuse problems.

            For the 23 women who are currently in the halfway house operated by Pennsylvania Organization for Women in Early Recovery (POWER), learning to deal with these difficulties is part of the program, which helps them to learn to successfully navigate everyday life without drugs or alcohol.

            “Holidays are a hard time for some of our ladies,” says Dennene Kappel, a Recovery Support Coordinator at POWER House in Swissvale. Thursday, the house staff held a holiday party because “this gives them something positive to focus on.”

            “Last year was the first time we did this,” says Kappel. POWER staff “contributed all the money we would have used for a gift grab bag and lunch at a restaurant,”  and the pooled funds were used for party expenses and gifts for residents.

            The residents of the house spent the day Wednesday baking cookies and other treats, and each decorated a stocking with her name, which were then filled with gifts by provided by the staff. A special gift for each stocking came this year from one of the graduates of POWER’s program, to show appreciation for the recovery process she began with the program.

            Women come to POWER House and other POWER programs in many different ways, some voluntarily, some through the court system and some through referrals by Children and Youth Services programs. One of very few programs nationwide specifically designed for women, POWER also focuses on reuniting women with their families and children, “to reduce the incidence of addiction in future generations.”

            According to their website, POWER’s “unique continuum of care is designed to reflect the lives of women,” recognizing that the disease of addiction often results from trauma or from other “concurrent” mental or physical illnesses.

            Residents of POWER House can visit regularly with their children, and are permitted to have them visit overnight as well. “It’s a motivator for them,” says Kappel. “Women often haven’t seen their children, and are surprised to find they can see them, sometimes as soon as the next day.”

            The house, which formerly served as a convent for the Sisters of Saint Anselm Roman Catholic Parish, provides each resident with a small, individually decorated room of her own.

            “We have a campaign called ‘Make Our House a Home,’ and receive donations to decorate each room,” says POWER Associate and Development Director Madelon Edelstone. “A $1000 donation can be used to upgrade all the furnishings in a room.”

            “For many women, this might be one of the nicest spaces they’ve stayed in,” says Edelstone. “And we want it to be that way.” Edelstone says the generosity of Robert Levin, President of Levin Furniture, has enabled the staff to do more with less.

            Another generous donor is Lora Sigesmund, who, with her husband Perry, operates Perlora Furniture Stores. “Through her generosity, we replaced the industrial furniture” in the den/TV room common area with stylish sofas, chairs and conversation groups.

            According to Kappel, this room is an important part of the social lives of house residents. “The rooms are kind of small,” she says. “So some weekends, the moms and kid all pile in with blankets and pillows and have a kind of pajama party.”

            A “Serenity Room” is also available for use by all the residents. “It’s a quiet place where she can read or meditate or talk with others,” says Edelstone.

            Showing off her Christmas decorations on a tour of the house, one resident says “I love my room!”

            Another resident, Anna, says “I love POWER! I can’t say that I love the structure, but I get so much support from staff and my peers.”

           Anna arrived at POWER to begin the six-month treatment program over three months ago. “I had an excellent job, and hurt my back. The doctor prescribed Vicodan for 90 days. I had never abused drugs before, but I found out it helped me forget” other issues.

            “I have a 9-year-old child at home, and I have bills. I turned to heroin because it was cheaper.”

            Her son, who comes once monthly for an overnight visit, says with her mom. “I never took him with me, or did drugs in front of him, but he knew. The God of my understanding has not only kept me safe and healthy, he’s watched over my son.”

            “POWER has helped keep me on the straight and narrow in a loving way. I couldn’t have more gratitude.” Anna will spend Christmas day at her mother’s home, with her son.

            Another resident, Susan, says she was sent to rehabilitation for 90 days, but “didn’t feel I was ready to go out there without more structure and learning.”

            Addicted to alcohol, then also to crack cocaine, Susan was arrested for criminal trespass when found sleeping in an abandoned building. “I had a place to go, but I didn’t want to go back there, because they didn’t smoke crack, and I might want to get high–er.”

            Susan says she didn’t start using crack until her children, all grown now, were old enough to care for themselves, but “I had to have my beer every day, all day long. I ‘maintained,’ and made sure they had everything they needed, but I wasn’t there emotionally.”

            Susan is still in contact with her children, who live in Ohio and in New Jersey, but “all three relationships that were real [with men] were abusive.  I wasn’t doing too well with men, so I went for comfort elsewhere:” To alcohol and drugs.

            Susan was a patient at another rehab facility in York, Pennsylvania after a 34-day stay in jail while waiting for a placement. “I met a girl there who recommended POWER,” she says. “I didn’t know it was a six-month program until I fell in love with my room” and a staff member told her that was a good thing because of the duration of her stay.

            “There are days when I would have left. It’s not easy living with a bunch of women with different characteristics,” Susan says. “You start thinking about ‘Can I do it?’ It’s hard to not fall back into the same patterns. You have to change everything.” One important aspect of her recovery, she says, is to learn “I’ll have to face consequences on my own, but I am stronger and stronger every day.”

            Diane has nearly finished the program at POWER, but will be leaving at the end of the month for another transitional housing facility. “I have gotten more from this than any other program I have been in.”

            Addicted to alcohol as a result of domestic violence, her disease worsened with the loss of her daughter two years ago to a heart-related ailment. Diane is now trying to recover so she can reclaim custody of her grandchildren from foster care. “I was in [another halfway house] but focused more on my grandkids than my recovery.”

            Diane says the POWER program is “more independent: Structured, but not structured. The people her build you up, they tell you [that] you can do stuff.”

            Originally from Westmoreland County, Diane is currently looking for housing within Allegheny County. “Allegheny County schools have more support services for kids who need extra help.”

            With the help of POWER counselors, researching school districts and potential residences is one of Diane’s current projects. “One of my favorite things I ever did was being a mom.” On the upcoming anniversary of her daughter’s passing, Diane says “One of my supports will take me out to celebrate her own 10 years of sobriety,” rather than mourn her daughter’s death.

            “I put myself in this situation,” says Diane. “I’m not gonna give up until they’re coming with me.”

            POWER is “a simple program for complicated people, and I qualify,” says Coleen, who has been at POWER for three months as a result of her heroin addiction. “I got arrested with a lot of heroin,” she says of charges for possession with intent to distribute, “but that’s how much I was using.”

            Coleen, who lost her own father to the direct effects of alcohol abuse, has participated in several other recovery programs. “POWER is a lot different.”

            “The other places kept you in a bubble. Here, you build your own foundation,” says Coleen, who didn’t start abusing drugs until she received a BS in Marketing from a local university. “I can ‘do treatment,’” she says, “but the hard part is living. I have a family who loves me, and the day I don’t want to do it for myself, I do it for them.”

            “Dealing with my childhood, and my dad” through counseling at POWER, she says, “have opened me up. They really want you to be better, and it’s up to you. Recovery is and must be the number one priority in my life. It took me this many years to get here, and I have to work at it for the rest of my life.”

            Coleen says she plans to become active with an alumni group currently forming for POWER House “graduates.”

            “Six months here is a gift. It’s such a blessing. How many people get that kind of time to work on themselves?”

            “I know what it’s like to walk into a place like this,” she says. “I learned why I was meant to go through this, and I don’t regret the bad stuff.”

            “For the first time in my 31 years, I’m finding out who I am.”

            For more information on the programs of Pennsylvania Women in Early Recovery, visit their website at http://www.power-recovery.com/about.html. To refer a woman to POWER for help with substance abuse problems, or for a confidential outpatient treatment assessment, call 412.243.8755, ext. 314.

The names used in the story above have been changed to protect the confidentiality of POWER House residents.

By Nancy Hart

nancy@urbanmediatoday.com