KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Healing House has helped people dealing with substance abuse for more than two decades.
They are expanding their mission to include entire families in the healing process.
The organization is building a new Family Enrichment Center. The facility will support individuals in recovery, and will also add a support program for loved ones affected by addiction.
“We pretty much lost everything to our addiction, including our children, our home…everything,” said Claudia, who has been helped for about a month by Healing House.
She and her husband, Dustin, have battled substance abuse before.
“We were kind of feeling hopeless in a way,” Dustin said.
They found help and hope at Healing House.
“I don't know where we would be right now without Bobby Jo," Dustin said. "She’s like a mom to us."
Bobby Jo Reed started the organization to help people who were dealing with problems that she once dealt with.
“To see them transform into entirely different people. Family members call me and say, ‘I don't know what you did, but this is a miracle,’” Bobby Jo said.
A miracle they are hoping will spread with the new facility. They say the expansion will grow Healing House’s annual reach for substance use disorder care from 335 to nearly 500 individuals.
“We've always been able to serve the individual suffering from substance use disorder," Bobby Jo said. "But we know this disease affects everybody in the family.”
Dustin and Claudia, who are expecting their fourth child, understand how that healing might impact their family.
Their three children are in foster care.
“It breaks my heart when my children have to leave,” Dustin said.
Claudia said she thinks about the future and what it can bring for her family.
"Being able to have family time with our children and make good memories together,” Claudia said.
Hope materialized in a building.
“Healing is not just for the person who suffers from the disease; we want the entire family to receive healing,” Bobby Jo said.
The first phase of construction will take a couple of months and cost more than $1 million.
The plans for the building include a space for personalized individual counseling sessions for emotional and psychological healing, professionally facilitated group therapy for peer support and shared recovery, and family counseling to assist in rebuilding trust and healing within family units.
While working on themselves, Claudia and Dustin say the wait is worth it.
“It’s just an amazing feeling, something I haven't felt in such a long time,” Dustin said.
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KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
