As an expectant mother struggling with addiction, Jessica Compton didn't know where to go, or what she was going to do. That's when she found Clearview in Richmond -- a place where women can focus on beating their addiction and raising their children.
Doing homework with her son, Joseph, is a simple task Compton won't ever take for granted.
"My son is alive and he's happy and he's healthy," she said. "You know, I'm here now to be able to raise him and be the mother to him that he needs me to be."
Compton is grateful for six and a half years of sobriety, something she struggled with before her son was born.
"I was addicted to methamphetamine," she said. "I was clean when I got pregnant and I relapsed during that time."
"I was trying to get out of that lifestyle and it was just so hard because I felt like I didn't have a way out. I didn't have a place to go where I could get a safe start."
That's when she discovered Clearview Women's Specialty, a Sacred Heart rehabilitation center, which allows women to enter treatment with their children.
Children are watched by child care professionals while their mothers work on staying clean.
"Your children can come and they can go to school or they can be in a safe child care environment while you can come get the help and the services that that are needed," senior therapist Katherine McCloskey said.
"The children go with their mother as much as we can allow them. We want them be in groups by themselves so they can get the education, have a little bit of a break," women specialty program leader Charlene Stier said. "But, you know, they learn how to fix lunch for them just simple little things like that they wash their own clothes here they take care of their children."
Child coordinator Janie Dominek listens to the children and hears their stories.
"They see their mom being pushed down the stairs pulled down by the hair, beat up, they've seen the blood stuff like that," Dominek said.
At the program mothers learn how to care for themselves and their children.
"They come in here because they want their life to change, so they can look at now what is it I want in my life so the things I was doing to get me to where I am now, I can't continue those things," McCloskey said. "I need to learn ways new ways to do things in my life to get me to the goals that I now want."
Through all of its programs, Sacred Heart treated 338 pregnant women in 2018. In 195 of those cases, children were in treatment with their parents. The average stay at Clearview Women's Specialty is 15 days.
"We go up to at least 30 women and we've had as much as 19 children in here," Stier said.
"I think it helps them to see that they're not alone," Compton said. "It could be the difference between whether, you know, you give up or whether you preservere and push on."
Compton credits Clearview for getting her on her path of recovery. She said it was a life preserver thrown to her when she needed it most.
Sacred heart said when peopel go into treatment, they're separated from their children, but they need to learn how to be with them once they're done. By having mothers with their children at Clearview they believe it helps prevent relapses once they're out.
They also set mothers up with outpatient services when they're ready to leave the program.
Click here for more information on Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center.