‘A Mother’s Love,’ a facility consisting of approximately 4,800 square feet at Aspell Recovery Center, dedicated and designed to treat pregnant women with opioid use disorder, opened its doors to some very special guests, in April.
On Monday, elected officials took a walk through the facility, which houses seven women and four babies, at 103 Cedar Avenue.
“Think about this great facility for women and their babies … not only should this be a model, but think about if this were not here, if Aspell did not offer – what are the repercussions, what happens to these young women and their babies?” said U.S. Congressman David Kustoff (R-TN), “To me, this is a model that should be replicated all over the country.”
‘A Mother’s Love’ is a collaborative effort with Pathways, The Women’s Center, and Ayers Children’s Center.
The program goals are to safely detox pregnant women from opioids, thereby reducing the prevalence of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), provide integrated and holistic treatment for addiction and co-occurring disorders, and foster, promote, and support an environment of safety and healthy change for mother and baby.
The program was located in Humboldt General Hospital.
“We were pleased to have Congressman David Kustoff and State Senator Ed Jackson (R-Jackson) with us today,” Richard Barber said, “They are both huge supports of our mission and the population we serve.
“We wanted to update them on some things we’ve got going on.
“We just recently opened “A Mother’s Love,’ here on campus. Actually, it’s been in existence since April 2017, but we were fortunate in working with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse to secure funding to bring it here in Jackson on our campus to support moms and babies.
“Again, we’re honored to have Congressman Kustoff and Senator Jackson to have a walk-through and see how we are trying to enhance our services and serve the population we serve.”
Richard Barber is the executive director of Aspell Recovery Center.
Founded in 1979 by two recovering alcoholics, Bob Aspell and Charles Gay, Aspell Recovery Center is a substance abuse treatment center – alcohol and drugs – where residential and outpatient treatment plans are available – as well as transitional housing.
Aspell Recovery Center, which has 135 people on its campus, has 13 facilities on five acres and is building its 14th facility – a clinical building – at the corner of North Highland Avenue and McCowat Street.
(PHOTO: From left – Richard Barber, Dr. Ronald Kirkland, State Senator Ed Jackson, Steve Bowers, U.S. Congressman David Kustoff, John Nanney and David Green – Kirkland, Bowers, Nanney & Green are board members at Aspell Recovery Center)
