Wine Country Times

It was 2012 when Meghan Andrew’s father-in-law reported her to Child Protective Services (CPS). At the time, Andrew was heavily using drugs and alcohol.

“I had just lost my apartment and I was staying in a hotel with my 1-year-old daughter,” Andrew told Wine Country Times. “It was the best thing that ever happened to us but I didn’t know it at the time.”

Andrew landed at Women’s Recovery Services (WRS) where she became clean and sober after completing the four-month inpatient residential program.

“It was the first time ever that I truly believed there was some hope for me,” she said. “Prior to losing my apartment, there were many years that I was a functioning alcoholic. I worked and bought a house but it didn't last. By the time I landed at Women’s Recovery, I didn’t think I was capable of being a productive member of society.”

After the four-month treatment program, Andrew moved into WRS transitional housing without her daughter for 13 months.

“There were many women who had their children there but I chose to have my daughter stay with my sister because once I got to the program, I realized that I needed the time to focus on myself,” she said. “I had been drinking and using for 20 years.”

Of the women who died last year due to drug abuse, 8.4% were Californians, according to a United Health Foundation study, and WRS is among the 14,809 residential treatment centers in the U.S., according to Statista. WRS is different in that it specializes in treating drug addiction in mothers and pregnant women.

Since completing the program, Andrew has stayed sober and has reunited with not only her infant daughter but also her son, who was 11 at the time.

“He didn't want to talk to me because he had lost respect for me,” Andrew said. “Every night I would call him and leave messages but he wouldn't pick up my calls. After a month he finally picked up and decided to visit. He liked the shift that he saw in me living at WRS. After I left residential treatment, he would come to the sober living house where I stayed and spend a night with me there a few times a month.” 

In addition to providing pregnant women and mothers with a safe place to live and recover, WRS also creates a case plan that includes helping them navigate Child Protective Services, the court system and probation departments, state agencies that often require residential treatment.

“Their transitional house set a solid foundation for me,” Andrew said. "Without that 13 months of structure, I don't think I would have stayed clean and sober. What I did there was learn how to live with others and maturely handle disagreements and situations that would come up. Then I started to go back into the workforce and meeting weekly for couples counseling with my daughter’s father, who was doing the same program but at a men’s facility. We eventually moved back in together and have been staying clean and sober ever since.”