BY NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star
Saturday, Dec 27, 2008
Three years ago on Christmas Day, Emily was holed up in her trailer, high on meth, avoiding reality.
And ignoring the family members knocking on her door.
“Ignoring the phone when it rang. Trying to forget that it’s the holidays.”
Two years ago on Christmas, she was in prison.
But this Christmas, she and baby Isaiah are safe in the protective arms of St. Monica’s, a Lincoln agency that offers addiction treatment for hundreds of women and has two programs specifically for mothers and children.
Emily’s focus is on her baby, who is rarely out of her arms and hasn’t been out of her sight since he was born 10 weeks ago.
Meanwhile, this Christmas, the staff at St. Monica’s are making plans to open another two homes for mothers and their children, with a $1.5 million, three-year federal grant from the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Service Administration.
Lincoln is one of 16 communities across the country receiving grant money for substance abuse programs aimed at pregnant and postpartum women.
Next Christmas, the Lincoln agency will be serving almost 30 families in four homes, doubling its efforts for pregnant moms and children, said Mary Barry-Magsamen, executive director of St. Monica’s Behavioral Health Services for Women.
Two existing programs — Project Mother & Child, and New Beginnings — were also started with federal SAMHSA grants, said Barry-Magsamen.
The women get a home with their children, addiction and mental health counseling, help with parenting skills, and time to get their lives and families put back together.
With the new grant, the agency will be able to hire a part-time pediatric nurse to focus on babies and pregnant moms, a part-time child psychologist to assess the children, and an additional early childhood staffer to work with moms on parent and developmental issues, said Barry-Magsamen.
Emily, on the advice of staff, is working on self-soothing for Isaiah. Rather than hold Isaiah all the time, Emily sometimes puts him in his bouncer. When he gets fussy, she approaches him but doesn’t touch him.
“Then I walk away, but stay in eye sight. That way he can learn to self-sooth and be OK.”
New programs at St. Monica’s will try to target more pregnant moms so they can deliver healthier babies. And they will work more with families of the mom and child, so there is a stronger support system when they leave the program, Barry- Magsamen said.
This Christmas has been a family affair for Emily and Isaiah, who rode the bus to her parents’ rural home hundreds of miles from Lincoln.
Emily opened presents — lots of little baby baby clothes and toys — and ate turkey and ham and dressing and pies at an assortment of relatives’ homes during the day.
And she visited another child, the daughter born while she was in prison — the daughter she gave up for adoption after a relapse.
Emily is grateful for the opportunity to change her life and for the people who are making that possible.
She decided months ago to wait for a spot in one of St. Monica’s longer-term programs.
“I just decided I didn’t want short-term treatment. I wanted to change. I was having a baby, and during my last relapse I lost my daughter. I wanted a fresh chance with Isaiah.”
She goes down the gratitude list:
The judge who gave her a stiff $300,000 cash bond for a theft charge (she had been caught driving a stolen car), then offered her one way out: treatment.
She’s thankful for her parents, including an “awesome” step-mom, who gave her another chance to be a good daughter.
And she’s grateful to the St. Monica’s staff who are helping her build a future — she’s starting community college in January — and helping her learn to raise a healthy little boy.
“They let you just focus on your baby. I love that.”
Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.
