HOPE HAVEN INC

Hope Haven Inc., a foundation of recovery, provides life skills for chemically dependent adults and families within a supportive residential environment leading to independence. Hope Haven is dedicated to helping people in recovery rebuild their lives by providing them with the support services needed to achieve healthy recovery and economic independence.

Hope Haven is not a homeless shelter and we are not a permanent housing provider; we exist in that space between, working with residents who want to address their Substance Use Disorder and mental health while finding a path to upward economic mobility. At Hope Haven, we work with nearly 300 men and women each year who would otherwise overwhelm our shelters and housing first programs. Hope Haven follows the research-based model of a Therapeutic Community, where our residents are empowered to create their own Person Centered Plans and achieve attainable goals with the help of licensed counselors and strong peer involvement. Few recovery programs offer the long-term support needed to overcome barriers to sobriety, heal from trauma, and obtain employment; our residents can stay up to 2 years while they work toward independence. In addition, no other recovery program in Charlotte houses families together, including single mothers, single fathers, and two-parent households with children. Our Families Program also works in partnership with DSS for family reunification; we provide parenting education, supervised visitation, overnight visitation, and full reunification with children joining their parent(s) in residence here. Hope Haven is also a Mecklenburg County Recovery Court partner, reserving 14 beds at all times for residents participating in a positive alternative to incarceration. A court-appointed liaison works directly with our counselors to ensure residents are meeting the rigorous requirements of this program.

Hope Haven serves people struggling with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and other challenges; all our residents live below the poverty line and some have experienced episodic homelessness, over half have a co-occurring mental illness, and all have significant barriers to employment. For our residents, treating the SUD in isolation is simply not enough; we are licensed by NCDHHS as a Therapeutic Community, which allows us to treat the whole person.
1) Clinical Program for Single Adults - Residents work with a licensed substance abuse counselor to create a Person Centered Plan with measurable goals. Daily activities include: group and individual counseling, peer led 12-step meetings, and relapse prevention. Our on-site nurse practitioner can manage a variety of underlying medical and mental health conditions.
2) Clinical Program for Families - We offer parenting classes and wraparound services for families, including single mothers and fathers and two-parent households. We also partner with DSS for family reunification on-site.
3) Mecklenburg County Recovery Court Program - Residents participate in Recovery Court, a positive alternative to incarceration, with a court-appointed liaison who works with our staff to ensure residents meet the rigorous requirements.
4) Job Readiness Program - We provide vocational and life skills training, budgeting classes, and job placement services. Obtaining employment while at Hope Haven allows residents to practice the skills they have learned in a supportive environment in order to achieve independence.

We have not traditionally measured qualitative outcomes well, simply because we didn't have the technology and staff expertise. We hired a Director of Data and Process Management this summer who has already assessed our needs and identified solutions. We are investing in a new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) this fall which should be fully implemented by January 1, 2021. This system is designed specifically for mental health and substance abuse treatment centers, and has a built-in module called FIT (Feedback Informed Treatment). FIT refers to the practice of providing psychotherapy treatment that is informed by repeated administrations of patient-reported treatment outcomes. FIT was recently listed by SAMHSA as a recognized evidence-based practice. While we can create custom surveys, the system also includes several evidence-based evaluative tools used by mental health professionals nationally. We anticipate using two of those surveys in addition to customizing some of our own. They are:
DASS-21: Depression and Anxiety Stress Scales
RAS: Recovery Assessment Scale