CENTER OFFERS LIFELINE FOR WOMEN

When women enter the Harbor House Halfway House, many of them are
essentially homeless, lacking in life skills and hope.

The 120-day program, with 60 days of after-care, helps change all
that. Sixty-one people participated in the program during the fiscal
year July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008. The program provided 3,426
nights of residential treatment.

The halfway house provides residential substance abuse treatment for
women who have been victims of domestic violence. Their children also
stay at the house. They attend school or watched by staff while their
mothers are in counseling. The remainder of the time, the mothers are
responsible for their care. Harbor House, a division of Personal &
Family Counseling Services of Tuscarawas Valley Inc. at New
Philadelphia, has operated the halfway house since March 2006. "Most
of the women have stayed with relatives and friends and worn out their
welcome," said Marilyn Henry, PFCS chief executive officer.
"Typically, they have no income, home or medical care, so we try to
help get them established. We teach them preventative health care, how
to do a budget, make nutritious meals and to prepare a resume and fill
out job applications."

The women aren't stereotypical teenage single mothers, either. The
average age ranges from the late 30s into the early 40s.

"Ninety percent of them are victims of domestic violence who used
drugs and alcohol to try to cope with the pain of it all," Henry said.
"Harbor House, the domestic violence shelter, kept seeing this pattern
over and over again, so it became clear there was a need to establish
a treatment program."

The halfway house has been operating at 90 to 100 percent capacity and
obtained national accreditation by the Council on Accreditation of
Services for Children and Families.

Eleven women in treatment delivered babies born drug-free.

"They were healthy babies as a result of the women being in a recovery
environment," Henry said. "These women brought their babies back to
the halfway house after delivery into a supportive environment with
appropriate services. If they weren't in this program, that would not
have happened. Most of them had no prenatal care before entering the
program."

Henry said one of the most important issues is for the women to
develop a sober support system of at least three people because most
of them have been hanging out with others using drugs and alcohol. By
the time they leave the program, all of them develop the support
system, including one who is their sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous.
All women are required to attend at least three AA meetings each week.

"Our program is abstinence-based, and all of the women are drug and
alcohol-free when they leave the program and for the 60 days that we
monitor them afterward," Henry said. "Some of them haven't used any
drugs or alcohol since entering the program, and that's now about 2
1/2 years ago."

Eighty percent of the women are employed when they leave the
program.

"A lot of times, people will see that someone has completed a
treatment program but wonder what they've really accomplished," Henry
said. "They don't see all of these positive outcomes of sobriety,
housing and employment.

"Our program provides 2 1/2 hours a day of group treatment four days
per week. Participants get at least an hour of individual counseling
per week. They also get case management to learn daily living skills,
seek medical care and other services, which varies from one to five
hours per week. They're getting a lot of help."