Serenity Place offers home for hope, healing

Healing the whole family: That is the goal of Serenity Place, a residential-treatment facility for pregnant women and young mothers battling substance-use disorders.

It is one of the few centers nationwide where women can bring infants or preschool-age children with them as they undergo treatment. Data shows “women being with their children are more likely to come to treatment, and they’re more likely to stay,” says Rebecca Maddox, CEO of the Phoenix Center of Greenville.

Its efforts are supported by fundraising and volunteer-recruitment nonprofit The Family Effect, which strives to reduce addiction as a leading cause of family collapse and harm to children.

The center will soon be able to help more women, thanks to a newly constructed villa on the Serenity Place campus. The housing helps women transition from treatment to the community, preventing their return to addiction-contributing environments.

Generous supporters funded the new villa’s construction. Like the three existing duplexes, each side has three bedrooms and two bathrooms shared by two women and their children.

Families call the villas home while the mothers participate in the LOTUS program, the next step in recovery for Serenity Place graduates. LOTUS participants must be employed, in a job program or pursuing education.

They work with a counselor and case manager to continue to meet their recovery goals, participate in one of the community self-help groups introduced to them in residential treatment, and get support from hired peer-support specialists, “who must be in recovery for at least three years,” Maddox says.

“Their job is to share their experiences,” she adds. “It’s just such a beautiful thing to see somebody who previously was struggling with substance abuse, and they’ve gotten to a good place. And now they can help someone in a place where they once were.”

Circle of Friends, a licensed day care center on-site, cares for Serenity Place’s and LOTUS participants’ 6-week-old to 6-year-old children.

“It’s a huge resource,” Maddox says. “It becomes a nonissue for getting employment or going to school. Lack of child care can be a barrier.

“One thing that is so important about this program is that not only are the moms getting care, but the children have their own services,” Maddox adds. “They are not just learning about ABCs, colors and things like that. Our staff is also helping moms identify delays or other conditions that may be related to substance abuse.”

To learn how to join Serenity Place in this work, visit familyeffect.org/serenity-place-womens-residential. To stay up to date on what is happening at Serenity Place, its current needs and ways you can get involved, please follow The Family Effect on Facebook and Instagram. If you or someone you know needs treatment, contact the Phoenix Center’s helpline at 864-467-3790.