Friday afternoon, Naomi’s House opened its doors to curious and supportive community members to see the home that will soon be housing women coming into recovery.

The 10-bedroom facility is officially open and will welcome its first tenants this coming Tuesday.

With five rotating “house moms,” Naomi’s House will be staffed all hours of the day by a Muskingum Behavioral Health employee.

Chris Wicker, Naomi’s House manager, was the first “mom” to jump on board to staff the house as a woman in long-term recovery. Wicker is a peer recovery supporter and an LPN who said she came from rock-bottom.

“I’m in recovery. I come from homeless in ‘95. … I was very blessed to have somebody, when I got out of jail to take me to their home and teach me how to become a human being,” Wicker said.

After being in recovery for eight years, Wicker said she wants to provide the blessings she received to other women in similar circumstances.

“You can be successful, just because you’re at the bottom doesn’t mean that you cannot (be successful),” Wicker said. “To have loved themselves, to have respect for themself, to get an education, to be able to become independent women.”

She continued on to note that the entire process of coming into Naomi’s House, and onboarding with MBH, was “all a God thing.”

The other house moms shared similar stories and desires to enrich the women coming into Naomi’s House as they’ve seen first-hand the life that comes before recovery.

The facility is a residential recovery home for women in early recovery, but not all of the house moms have eight years of sobriety under their belt like Wicker.

Full-time house mom Constance Marling said the past year has changed her life from being on the ugly side of addiction to being on the recovery side.

“A year ago I would’ve applied to live here,” Marling said.

Completing her treatment through MBH led Marling to seek out serving women through the organization as she said it had a great impact on her life.

Focusing on giving the women hope is important for Marling and reminding them that they don’t have to recover by themselves, but she said there are three fundamentals she’s looking to instil in the residents.

“That hope is real. That recovery is possible. And that they don’t have to do it alone, or they’re not alone,” Marling said.

Echoing Marling’s desire to give back to women coming from similar circumstances is house mom Sara Blake.

“Giving people hope because I feel like we’re really unique in that, you know, we’ve been here,” Blake said. “We are in recovery, early recovery … all of these people bring different things to your life and help you but when someone else has gone through it, it’s without parallel.”

Not only is Naomi’s House serving as an accountability agency for the women moving into the home, but it’s also keeping the house moms who are in varying stages of recovery accountable as well.

Blake said being able to work with Naomi’s House is a surreal experience for her and an experience that will constantly reinforce sobriety in her own life.

For many of the house moms the drive to join the staff of Naomi’s House came from transformations in their own lives, and people that helped them along the way, which led them to be a helper along someone else’s path.

Haley Clapper, another house mom, said she was blessed with an abundance of help and she’s ready to pass those blessings onto other women who are currently struggling.

“Really just give back what was given to me. I’m very blessed to have this opportunity to help people the way I was helped, especially in early recovery,” Clapper said. “And I really hope we can change these girls’ life for the good and encourage them to want to change their own lives as well.”

The final house mom, Tegan Drake agreed with all of the other women and reiterated all of their desires to serve other women, but she had a very similar experience in another recovery house.

“For me personally, so I lived in a house kind of like this and I know how much it helped me in the beginning of everything because I was a mom without my kids, too,” Drake said. “So, to be able to do for other women what other people did for me, you know, to me that’s like what it’s all about.”

Naomi’s House currently has three in-coming residents and a tentative fourth resident. There are still currently six spaces open for women in early recovery who need a home.

To apply or learn more about Naomi’s House, contact Muskingum Behavioral Health at 740.454.1266.

For more information on Naomi’s House read: From church to state: Recovery home reopening in the name of rebuilding lives