Victoria program is changing lives by helping pregnant women deal with substance-abuse issues. HerWay Home, run out of the James Bay Community Project, started in January 2013, said program co-ordinator Amanda Seymour.
鈥淩eally, our goal is help women improve their own health, so that they have healthier pregnancies, healthier births, so that children can stay with their moms and that the moms can quit or reduce their substance use,鈥� Seymour said.
One hundred women benefited from the program in 2016.
A current participant is Aurora, who was 22 and newly pregnant when she was encouraged to try the program by her sister, who raved about her experience with it.
鈥淚 felt kind of shy and I didn鈥檛 know if聽I聽would want to,鈥� she said.
But she relented and decided to show up, and has been going ever since.
鈥淗onestly, without HerWay I wouldn鈥檛 have made it this far, I don鈥檛 think,鈥� Aurora said.
鈥淎s capable as I think I am as a mother, I definitely need this resource more than I聽can put into words.
鈥淓specially as a single mom it can be difficult to find help.鈥�
She said she is doing well in recovery, and can talk to other mothers about addiction concerns.
鈥淣o one鈥檚 going to understand the situation I鈥檓 in except another recovering mom.鈥�
HerWay Home offers additional services, as well, Aurora said.
鈥淭hey helped me fill out my sa国际传媒 Housing application, which seemed really daunting to me because I didn鈥檛 know how to answer a lot of the questions.鈥� Sarah, 27, said she was steered to the program by an addictions counsellor.
鈥淚 was a couple of weeks pregnant when I went to treatment and so I needed the supports when I came out.鈥�
Program staff members have also helped her in other ways, Sarah said.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have any family or a vehicle, so the support worker actually drove me to my midwife appointments.鈥�
An evaluation report on HerWay Home shared another participant鈥檚 view of the program: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a priority shift from money for drugs to money for rent and food and life and children.鈥�
The report said the program is filling a 鈥渃ritical niche鈥� by working with high-risk women, and has welcomed 50 per cent more women than was expected at the outset.
HerWay Home was favourably compared in the report with other successful programs 鈥撯�� Sheway and Maxxine Wright Place on the Lower Mainland, and Breaking the Cycle in Toronto.
Seymour said that most women come to the program when they are pregnant, but some connect when they have infants.
Referrals and word-of-mouth provide a steady flow of clientele.
鈥淲omen can just come in, they can come in through a drop-in group, they can call us,鈥� Seymour said. 鈥淥ften it鈥檚 people in the community like other agencies that hear about us.
鈥淭hey might call if they come into contact with a woman and ask us to go meet with her.鈥�
HerWay Home was created using a number of other initiatives as models, Seymour said, and it was a long time in the making.
鈥淭he community spent years working on it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was led by a public-health nurse at the time, Betty Poag.鈥�
Poag brought together community agencies, Island Health, the Children鈥檚 Health Foundation of Vancouver Island and researchers to help develop HerWay Home, Seymour said. The concept is beginning to expand across the country, she said.
One major positive coming from the program is that it can be a key to preventing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, Seymour said.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e able to prevent one incidence of a child from having fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, it鈥檚 a lifetime of that child living with that condition.鈥�
Reducing the need for children to be placed in the care system is another good outcome, Seymour said.
鈥淭he more we can keep families together and keep them healthy, our hope is that those kids can do something different with their lives,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey may not end up in the same situation when they have kids.鈥�
Plans call for HerWay Home to move this year to Saanich Neighbourhood Place, along with the Young Parents Support Network, to be part of an early-years hub.
