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the recovery process.

The women spend their days doing meditation and other exercises, such as drawing a stick with a positive word on it and being asked to use that word throughout the day. The program keeps the women engaged from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day.

Every week, there are 26 AA meetings, where women in social detox interact with women who are in a variety of stages of recovery, from one week out of the house to decades of sobriety. Last year, there were 19,000 visits from women for AA meetings at the house, providing opportunities for peer-to-peer mentoring. They also can receive visits from family and their children during the two-week period.

Trader Joe’s and the North Texas Food Bank donate food for the women to cook for themselves. They come from all walks of life, creating a diverse recovery community.

“There is a trust there,” says executive Las Kroencke, who is a recovering alcoholic herself. “That is what makes it so attractive and why so many thousands of women flock here. I can just tell them what I did.”

Development manager Lauren McElroy, another former Maggie’s House client, says, “Alcoholism is the best thing that ever happened to me.

Now I have a purpose every day. I can help people in a way that other people can’t.”

After finishing social detox, David kept coming to meetings and stayed connected to the community there. She didn’t realize that the people were volunteering to give time to the house. “I was overwhelmed by how much people wanted to help and give just because they loved it,” she says.

Over time, she learned about her disease and will be four years sober this summer. “I was confused for a long time and thought I wasn’t smart. There was shame, guilt, and I was disappointing people. Maggie’s House really taught me the truth,” she says. “I am not drinking because of things that happened. I learned that I drink because I am an alcoholic.”

She soon began volunteering to stay at the house to stay overnight and receive intake calls. Six months later she was hired as program director. She oversees the social detox program, manages staff and the volunteer peer recovery programs and schedules workshops and classes.

David enjoys the collaboration among the staff and seeing women get help at Maggie’s House, but she knows that some women still fall short after leaving. It isn’t a perfect place, but it has become a recovery home for thousands of women who have learned the essence of the recovery process. “At first I didn’t understand the importance of all the steps,” she says. “Now I can turn around and help the next person.”

For more information, visit magdalenhouse.org.

My mom has been diagnosed with dementia and our family is planning for her care. Why should we consider moving her to a memory care community?

A: There are many reasons. Living in a community offers socialization as well as physical care. Being around other people, taking a class, attending a performance – these are activities that have significant physical, social, spiritual and emotional benefits for the person living with dementia.

To learn more about memory care at Fowler, call 214.827.0813 or go to www.fowlercommunities.org

Our Neighborhood

By PATTI VINSON