Addicted Women Get Place to Heal : Recovery: Two homes run by Toberman Settlement House will offer a constant, reassuring presence during rehabilitation.
Lydia has been getting high since she was 7, when she took her first drink to erase the pain of being sexually molested by a friend.
At 9, she popped pills and sniffed glue. By 16, Lydia--who asked that her last name not be used--was shooting heroin and experimenting with “every kind of drug you can imagine.”
This week, after 22 years of drug abuse, Lydia will try a new kind of high: sobriety.
Through a new program offered by the Toberman Settlement House in San Pedro, Lydia will move into one of two rehabilitation homes for drug-addicted women. The two three-bedroom duplexes will provide dormitory-style housing for 10 women who need a constant, reassuring presence to fight the temptation of drugs and the pain of withdrawal.
“I can’t wait until this place opens up,” said Lydia, who will be moving into one of the homes this week. “These people will be able to relate to what I’ve been through, and give me support that will help me out.”
Toberman Settlement House, an 88-year-old nonprofit organization funded primarily by the Methodist church and the United Way, was originally built as a refuge for new immigrants. But over the years, Toberman has evolved to meet the needs of its Barton Hill neighborhood and provides a variety of counseling services.
The idea for the homes for women was suggested about four years ago when Toberman directors James Davis and Howard Uller noticed that there were five times as many women as men seeking drug counseling through their center. They attributed the disparity to the rising drug problem in the largely minority Barton Hill community and the lack of affordable rehabilitation facilities for women.
“Basically, many people see drug abuse as a male problem,” Davis said. “We found that the males have more availability (to recovery houses) than women. It’s just that way.”
Uller, Toberman’s executive director, began raising money for the project last year and has collected more than $80,000, mostly from private agencies.
Each of the modest stucco homes in a working-class neighborhood near Harbor-UCLA Medical Center will house five women and one staff member.
At the homes, there are piles of donated clothes to be sorted, furniture to be assembled and an ailing refrigerator that needs to be replaced, but live-in coordinator Patricia Fredzess thinks the kinks will be worked out soon.
Most of the donated furniture is mismatched, but Fredzess plans to put the women to work keeping the homes clean. Smoking is prohibited for safety reasons, and smoking one cigarette will earn a week’s worth of doing dishes.
“These women have asked me to keep them busy while they are here because they will have free time,” Fredzess said.
Fredzess says that although things will be tough at first, there will be rewards for the women who make it through. Beauty workshops are being planned to build self-esteem, and parenting classes will help the women deal with problems about their children. Bake sales and garage sales are also in the works to help the women earn some pocket money for a trip to Disneyland and to supplement the estimated $80,000 a year it will take to run the houses.
Last week, five women moved in, and the rest are expected to move in this week.
“My job is to help the women by getting them going in the right direction,” said Fredzess, who says she had a drug problem in the past. “I have a deep desire to see these women succeed instead of being the failures that they think that they are.”
An average day for the women will include breakfast, followed by morning chores and a group session to explore how they became addicted to drugs and how they can break the habit. Each woman will be given a daily evaluation of her progress.
Toberman follows the 12-step counseling program, pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous, that stresses reliance on a higher power for strength and support. The addicts will follow the 12-step program through daily counseling after they leave the homes.
“Rehabilitation takes a lot of discipline,” said Davis, a Vietnam veteran and former drug addict. “It is a state of mind you have to deal with in order to change.”
After lunch, the women will complete more chores, then have one-on-one counseling. The rest of the evening is free time.
For the first month, the women will not be allowed to leave the grounds, have visitors or use the telephone, a tough measure that Davis says is necessary because drug suppliers may try to contact them or bad news from home may cause a relapse.
“Addicts play a lot of games when they are trying to get what they want,” Davis said. “We are trying to get them back in touch with themselves and feeling good.”
Residents will also be randomly tested for the drug to which they were addicted and other substances.
In the second month, the women will be given a bit more leeway and will be able to leave the grounds with the stipulation that they will be tested for drugs when they return. Visitors will be allowed in the living room but not upstairs. Children will not be allowed to live with their mothers.
Most of the women receive a general relief grant of about $320 a month from the county. About $270 a month will go to Toberman to pay for food and housing, and the women can use what’s left for toiletries and personal items.
Most residents will live at the homes three to six months, but they will be able to stay longer if needed to feel secure about their sobriety, Davis said. “We don’t give up on anybody,” he said.
The homes opened Nov. 4 without fanfare, but there will be a small dedication ceremony later this month. “We don’t want to be celebrating while people are sick from withdrawal inside,” Uller said.
If all goes well with the homes, Uller says, Toberman may try to open other centers, possibly for men.
As for Lydia, who is estranged from her family, the home will provide a much-needed sense of security and hope.
“My family does not understand about my drug problem, but the people I live with will know where I am coming from,” Lydia said. “It’s nice to know that someone will always be there to help you. We will be like family.”