Bloom House – Residential Treatment Center

RECOVERING OUT LOUD MEANS LETTING MOMS-TO-BE KNOW THAT INTERVENTION CAN START DURING PREGNANCY AND CAN KEEP NEW MOMS AND BABIES TOGETHER.

BLOOM HOUSE
Beth Hall Roalstad, MSW
Executive Director, Homeward Pikes Peak

Homeward Pikes Peak helps pregnant and parenting women in El Paso County access housing, mental health care, recovery resources, and economic stability. They do this through sober living homes, permanent supportive housing, and clinical programs provided by licensed staff. In support of their mission, their newest Residential Treatment Center, Bloom House, is opening this October.

Beth Hall Roalstad, MSW, Executive Director of Homeward Pikes Peak, explains that Bloom House is especially exciting because it is affiliated with the state’s* Special Connections Program* which allows a pregnant mom and, eventually her baby, to recover together.

Special Connections provides treatment for pregnant and parenting women who are Medicaid eligible in order to maximize the chance of a healthy birth and to provide needed postpartum treatment services in order to improve maternal and child health outcomes

At Bloom House Residential Treatment Center, mother and baby will reside together while treatment for substance misuse is received. It is the only residential treatment center of its kind in Colorado Springs and El Paso County. Beth explained, “Bloom House will serve up to eight pregnant and parenting women at any given time, including services for those with disabilities. Each client will receive case management and guidance to continue treatment and growth through Homeward Pikes Peak’s Project Detour, a sober living and transitional housing program.”

This was an answer to “What is missing” in treatment

“Homeward Pikes Peak has been providing specialized women's services outpatient treatment since 2010,” Beth said. “When I joined in 2017, I asked what we needed to serve women better in this community. The answer was that we needed a home to help pregnant and parenting women who also needed transitional housing or sober living. So, as a first step, we first created the Bloom House Sober Living Home in 2017.”

“As we worked also to be certified by the Colorado Association of Recovery Residences, we realized that some women also needed a higher level of care to support long-term recovery. Outpatient treatment and supervised housing weren't quite enough,” Beth explained. “So, in 2019, we began working with community stakeholders, representatives from El Paso County Department of Human Services, the hospitals, foster care systems, and childcare programs. And we decided that we would pursue creating a residential treatment center in Colorado Springs.”

Beth and her team found two Victorian homes in downtown Colorado Springs that were previously used for the Department of Human Services and were now empty. They acquired them with grant funding and began the process of remodeling these homes to make them beautiful and nurturing. “We never wanted this to feel like a hospital or a hotel,” Beth said. “Bloom House will be a place moms can relax and receive the care they need. We’ve even named every bedroom after a flower and we're hoping that helps personalize it for moms and is inspiring to them in the rest of their recovery journey.”

Beth said many community partners have come alongside this project, from the funding community to other nonprofit organizations including Peak Vista, The Phoenix, Springs Recovery Connection, Catholic Charities and other nonprofits that serve families.

“We are also proud that this is part of the Integrated Care for Women and Babies project out of CU Anschutz,” she explained. “We maintain a trusted relationship with Peak Vista's OBGYN women's clinic, so that our clients who are already receiving Medicaid have an easy transition between maternal health, prenatal care, and the substance misuse treatment that we will be providing for them.”

This is the only residential treatment center for women who receive Medicaid in El Paso County. Prior to Bloom House, a woman identified as needing this level of care had to go to Denver or Pueblo.

“There is a huge need for what we are doing and we’re going to want to serve everyone,” Beth said. “We want to make sure that we deliver the highest level of care before we grow but we hope that down the road there will be a second house. At Homeward Pikes Peak, we really believe that congregate living, women coming together and creating a community of support, is critical to them as they enter long-term recovery.”

A full continuum of care and support.

Beth says their goal is for women to stay at Bloom House for 90 days to six months. Then, since they also have a women's sober living program that's CARR certified, moms could be discharged from the residential treatment center to the sober living home, and then they can go to their outpatient treatment program. “We really have this internal continuum of care within Homeward Pikes Peak,” she explained. “It’s really rare that we have those three legs of this recovery solution for women in our community.”

“Our moms in recovery need grace and support. And we all need to remember that parenting is tough work. We all need to pause and ask for help sometimes. HPP is here to help moms move forward with their lives and address their issues to be stronger and better for their babies in the future.”

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