Child care needed for mothers seeking help for addiction

Women with mental health and addiction issues are knocking on the doors of the Substance Abuse Foundation Inc.’s (SAF) Marina House treatment facility for help.

However, many of them have had to delay the start of treatment because they do not have a support system to adequately care for their children while they are at the New Castle, St John residential facility, according to Senior Mental Health and Addiction Counsellor with SAF, Letitia Wiltshire.

“There is a 100 per cent huge demand for our services and that has actually increased post-COVID. The issues are still there with regards to our women and the child care challenges a lot of them have. Yes, they may need the help with their addiction but they also do not want to leave their children,” said Wiltshire who explained this was why Marina House has previously partnered with the Women of Purpose organisation to provide the resources to allow a mother to have her child with her while accessing treatment.

She appealed to other agencies and charitable organisations to assist women in this position who were seeking to beat drug, sex and gambling addictions.

The counsellor stressed that a significant aspect of the healing process for mothers seeking addiction counselling was having the peace of mind that their children were being well taken care of.

“The women also need the assistance of their family members and those community members who are open to fostering a child for a period of time. We know that it is a big ask of the community; a lot of people would not feel comfortable engaging children who are not their own. But at the end of the day, it takes a village to raise a child and if one of us is sick then, unfortunately, the child can also eventually be sick. When one person with an addiction is sick, it impacts several other persons within that family, so you can do the maths.

“We have a facility that houses 16 women, so if you do the maths and you multiply that by seven, you see how many people are impacted by just one woman not being able to get the help that she needs,” she said.

Wiltshire spoke about the issue during an interview with the media on Tuesday, following the launch of the Rotary Club of Barbados’ Save, Spend, Thrive: Empowering Women Through Financial Wellness initiative, at the Christies Conference Room at the Barbados Light & Power Company, Garrison, St Michael.

“We have dealt with women who have substance abuse issues, women who have challenges with sex addiction, there are women who have challenges with gambling,” she said, noting many women had reached out during the COVID-19 pandemic when they were going through “a depressive phase” and “coming out of COVID, it is still there”.

“So we also deal with self-esteem issues and we are also helping persons with depression. Whatever the need is in terms of mental health we are there to provide that assistance,” the SAF counsellor said.

Wiltshire also noted that given the reported increase in domestic violence cases during the COVID-19 pandemic, Marina House had housed several women waiting to be admitted to the shelter for battered women.

“We would never turn our backs on someone who needs assistance, regardless of what the challenges are. We are going to try to help them to fill that gap until they can get to where they need,” she said.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb