Mending Hearts, a drug abuse recovery program in Cape, nearly a year old

The gleaming hardwood floors, gauzy curtains, scattered candles, leather sofa set and brick fireplace in the three-story house at 219 N. Henderson Ave. mirror the ambience of a bed and breakfast or a day spa.

The women who live at Mending Hearts Recovery haven't come for manicures, though. They have applied to enter the substance abuse recovery program, many times as a last resort.

Co-founders Karen Daugherty, her daughter Stacy Sullivant and Vicki Moore renovated and refurbished the house and opened their doors in December.

Browsing pictures of what the house looked like when they started, peeling plaster on the walls, Daugherty laughed. "We had roaches this big," she said.

Furniture accumulated from years of moving and changing apartments, plus donated items, furnished the five-bedroom house.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.comClaudette Rager of Cape Girardeau has been a resident at the Mending Hearts Recovery House in Cape Girardeau since February. Mending Hearts has been open for one year helping women with alcohol and substance abuse issues.

Sullivant said she was determined that the decor match. She wanted the house to feel like a home, not a recovery center, but still keep the focus on healing.

Both Daugherty and Sullivant have a long history of substance abuse; in fact, they can remember a time when they used drugs together. They both worked at Vision House before deciding to open their own halfway house and focus on their own ideas about recovery. Both women are certified as recovery counselors by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

They receive funding from the Access to Recovery grant program, administered through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but survive largely on donations from area churches and families.

Mending Hearts pairs with Gibson Recovery Center Inc. to provide a well-rounded approach to substance abuse recovery, with Gibson handling the court-ordered counseling and Mending Hearts offering faith-based mentoring and other services dedicated to preparing women to live on their own.

For the $75 a month the tenants of Mending Hearts pay as rent, they receive help in managing their court cases, one-on-one and family counseling, financial planning services, transportation and help setting up medical and dental coverage.

"A lot of them haven't been to the doctor's in forever," Sullivant said.

The theory is that if women learn to take care of themselves, they'll be better prepared to live on their own when they graduate the program.

Mending Hearts admitted its first tenant in December, and she recently graduated. "She's done a lot of changing," Sullivant said.

Under the house rules of Mending Hearts, all tenants must maintain a job, pitch in with preparing meals and clean up after themselves. If they relapse into substance abuse again, they're out.

In just under a year, two women have relapsed.

"A lot of tears have been shed here," Daugherty said.

While the women at Mending Hearts will assist with helping them find somewhere to stay, they won't take the risk of one woman's relapse affecting another's chances at recovery, Sullivant said.

One side effect of the road to recovery is that a lot of the women reconnect with family members estranged through years of trouble with the law and drug use.

This Thanksgiving, Claudette Rager will share a Thanksgiving dinner, prepared by the women of Mending Hearts, with her daughter. She hasn't seen her daughter in six years.

Rager said her rapport with the people at Mending Hearts helped her overcome the recent death of her son.

For Teddy Griggs, her time at the recovery center was an answer to a prayer -- actually, to multiple prayers.

The moment she heard about the place, she wanted to try it, but the house was full at the time. Griggs said she prayed frequently that a spot would open up, though she was hesitant at the thought of entering another institution.

Her three DWIs had landed her in the women's prison in Vandalia, Mo.

Still, Griggs felt confident that one of the 10 spaces at Mending Hearts would open up for her. One did.

"I got here, and it was this homey atmosphere," Griggs said.

Having recently completed the Mending Hearts program, Griggs has found more of a permanent place there, fulfilling a public relations and administrative capacity.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

388-3635