![\"A](\"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/05\/Screenshot-2023-05-09-at-8.53.41-AM.png\")
Cleveland founded Casa Mia with Kevin Downey, PhD, who serves as CEO of Crosspoint Inc. It has offered behavioral health care, recovery support and transitional residential services for more than 50 years.<\/p>\n
The School of Nursing and Crosspoint provide safe, supervised group living arrangements for pregnant and parenting mothers and their children at Casa Mia, located in a comfortable, two-story, brick home in San Antonio\u2019s Monte Vista neighborhood. The home\u2019s capacity is 20 women and children. Crosspoint\u2019s staff supervises life at the house and provides recovery-focused case management while the women attend treatment programs offered by community partners and work toward sustained recovery.<\/p>\n
The mothers are encouraged to visit their babies in the hospital, where the newborns may stay for weeks if they experience neonatal abstinence syndrome or withdrawal symptoms. The symptoms may include inconsolable crying, seizures, weight loss, difficulty eating, vomiting and diarrhea.<\/p>\n
The mothers learn to practice kangaroo care, a comforting technique in which they hold their babies against their bare chest. In earlier research, Cleveland found that this practice can reduce neonatal abstinence syndrome symptoms, support on-demand breastfeeding and promote mother-baby bonding.<\/p>\n
Mothers also can reunite with older children through increased visitations, leading to overnight stays at Casa Mia. Some preschool children eventually move in full time.<\/p>\n
Casa Mia partners closely with local programs that offer a community approach to helping mothers recover from substance use disorder by attending a 13-week series of parenting and life skills classes. One of those programs, which Cleveland helped disseminate statewide, is the Mommies Program that promotes the use of successful medication-assisted treatments, such as buprenorphine and methadone.<\/p>\n
A mother\u2019s progress is defined individually but is typically focused on establishing and maintaining recovery, securing a continuing source of income, obtaining stable housing, and regaining or maintaining custody of her children, Cleveland explained.![\"A](\"https:\/\/magazines.uthscsa.edu\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/05\/Screenshot-2023-05-09-at-8.57.54-AM.png\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our most successful mothers moved into Casa Mia in November 2018 and progressed so quickly that she was reunited with her 7-month-old son that Christmas,\u201d Cleveland said.<\/p>\n
That mother has thrived in her recovery, now living independently with her son, Cleveland added. She moved into her own apartment with her son and has completed the education needed to become a peer counselor in one of Crosspoint\u2019s women\u2019s recovery programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince it opened in 2018, Casa Mia has provided housing for 80 adult women and 51 children,\u201d Cleveland said. \u201cTen of our residents have given birth while living at Casa Mia and at least 34 moms have regained custody of their children. Residents who graduate from Casa Mia are eligible to return if they encounter challenges in their recovery or housing status, and five women have done this so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s like a family\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n
Garcia, who lived at Casa Mia with her newborn daughter for seven months, said that while she was pregnant, she worried she would lose custody of her child. When a caseworker with Child Protective Services told her about Casa Mia, she saw it as a chance to change. Keeping her baby became her goal, and Casa Mia played a big part in stabilizing the young family.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiving here is not easy,\u201d Garcia said at the time. \u201cThere are a lot of restrictions. A lot of times I didn\u2019t want to do this anymore. But since being here I haven\u2019t had cravings [for drugs]. I have Eliana. I cannot imagine a day without her. We all have chores, and we all help each other with advice and child care. It\u2019s like a family.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Garcia began working, Eliana went to the child development center at the Healy-Murphy Center. Working in partnership, the center and the School of Nursing provide a variety of services for their clients. While the center provides child care for Casa Mia residents, the School of Nursing provides nutrition and health education for pregnant and parenting teens who attend high school or take GED classes at Healy-Murphy. The School of Nursing also runs a pediatric clinic for teen parents and their children.<\/p>\n
With Casa Mia\u2019s capacity holding at more than 80%, Cleveland knew she needed a bigger place. She received $3.8 million in fall 2020 from Texas Health and Human Services to move Casa Mia to a new women\u2019s wellness campus being built by Crosspoint on the city\u2019s East Side at 1500 Semlinger Road. The new facility, expected to open in 2024, will double Casa Mia\u2019s capacity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a similar women\u2019s campus in Houston for mothers and babies to recover together, but ours will be the first in the state to offer an on-site [neonatal abstinence syndrome] nursery and primary care clinic designed and operated by our School of Nursing,\u201d Cleveland said.<\/p>\n
Educating nursing students<\/b><\/p>\n
Casa Mia has positively impacted nursing students such as Neal Hungerford, who has since graduated. His work-study assignment was to support the School of Nursing programs at Casa Mia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish that more nursing students could come here. This is a real eye-opening experience,\u201d he said. \u201cIt makes you a better nurse. You\u2019re definitely more compassionate.\u201d<\/p>\n
There also is a clinical rotation for nursing students led by Martha Martinez, MSN, RN. Nursing students, for example, have taught the mothers how to make sensory toys for their babies. Through the activity, the mothers learn what to expect regarding developmental milestones. In an effort to continually improve the program, the School of Nursing keeps statistics on the success of the program and conducts exit interviews with the moms as they move on to their new lives.<\/p>\n
Expanding the model<\/b><\/p>\n
In September, the School of Nursing received its Texas Department of State Health Services funding to work with national nonprofit partners to start similar programs in two other Texas cities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Fort Worth, we are partnering with the WestCare Foundation and in Corpus Christi with Dimas Charities. Initially, the School of Nursing will be involved in helping them start their programs to ensure fidelity to the Casa Mia program model. Going forward, there may be potential for expansion of our role similar to the campus model here in San Antonio,\u201d Cleveland said.<\/p>\n
Guided by the voices of mothers<\/b><\/p>\n
The inspiration for Casa Mia came from mothers who are involved with the Bexar County Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Collective, a collaborative that Cleveland founded and chairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to see their ideas become a reality and for this program to be so successful,\u201d Cleveland said.<\/p>\n
To learn more about Casa Mia, visit CasaMiaSanAntonio.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Casa Mia is one of only a few recovery homes in Texas that gives mothers with substance use disorder the opportunity to recover with their children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":11629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,257,271],"tags":[274],"ppma_author":[284],"class_list":["post-11628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-school-of-nursing","category-spring-2023","tag-addiction"],"yoast_head":"\n