Mission & Vision
The Gilead House, Inc. is a free outreach program for chemically addicted women and their children. We service women from our facility and women are seen every Tuesday at the Howard County Jail.
Women have the opportunity to participate in, group counseling sessions on Monday mornings or evenings. They may also schedule individual counseling sessions or have home visits. All clients agree to be drug tested during the twelve-month period that they are participating in the program. In order for a lady to graduate from the Gilead House program she must have 42 documented contacts through group attendance, individual sessions or home visits over a twelve-month period. She must also be drug free for the last three months of the twelve-month period.
In 2005 the Gilead House has started a program in our local youth detention center. Staff goes into the facility once a week to conduct groups dealing with drug and alcohol related issues. This group also spends a considerable amount of time discussing how to make proper life choices.
The Gilead House, Inc. has several educational community outreach programs. The Gilead House, Inc. takes a number of recovering addicts to speak to teen and adult groups such as churches, parents, Kiwanis, Rotary, Home Builders Association of Howard County, etc.
We have been very successful at educating teens about the consequences of drug use in relation to the law, relationships with friends and family, financial, and their own future. Our program consists of having our recovering addicts share their stories, small group discussions, a story of a 17 year old boy that died and the affect that his death had upon his friends, family and community. The program ends with each child spending 30 seconds in dark silence in a body bag. We have also discussed the consequences of teen sex, the physical affects of doing drugs, and the reality of jail. After going through this program the teens have several useful tools to help them make better decisions.
The Gilead House, Inc. also has a program for parents. This program helps parents identify drugs and paraphernalia. It is also geared to inform parents of warning signs that their children may be experimenting with drugs. We also explain to the parents about the importance of tough love and how enabling (bonding them out of jail, making bill payments, taking care of children) actually allows the child to prolong the addiction.
In 2005 we project that the Gilead House will work with over 250 women through our jail program and 350 women through our facility. We expect to present to over 300 teens through our program with the local youth detention center. At our current rate of public speaking engagements we anticipate reaching over 4,000 adults and teens in our community.