On January 5th, we proudly announced Stephanie Lewis as our new Director of the Adult Treatment Program. Stephanie joined Samaritan Inns in November and served as the interim Director until now.
Stephanie brings a wealth of experience to Samaritan Inns’ mission. Her work spans across the East Coast and even down to New Orleans, where she developed The Katrina Advocacy Program for Lutheran Social Services. Her work includes homelessness, mental health, substance abuse, disaster relief, prison outreach, and several other social services and advocacy efforts.
Stephanie has been an advocate for people since she was a teenager. She prefers to work with those that others may deem as problematic. “People they say are not compliant,” she shared, “Nobody has ever stopped to ask them who they are, what their name is, what’s going on, what are your thoughts, and if they want us to be a part of their treatment. If you do all of the above, you’d be surprised how cooperative people can be. That’s what I do.” When a new client comes to our program for intake, she introduces herself as Stephanie, not clinical director, just Stephanie. Then, she offers them food and water to serve their immediate needs.
What drew Stephanie to Samaritan Inns was our mission. How we make housing a vital element of the recovery process. She also appreciates the spiritual twist. “I see people who are deeply spiritual who haven’t been able to express that [in treatment]. Here you allow it. You look at the whole person,” She explained.
Stephanie hopes to bring more continuity to our program. She shared how clients constantly are going outside to doctor’s appointments and she’d like to shift that to having doctors come here. She hopes to offer more group activities and peer counseling sessions, in order to empower residents to shape their recovery and the program as a whole. “They know themselves more than we ever will,” she said.
Through listening to the residents, we added chess to their free time activities. “They like to play chess,” she shared, “So I went and got a chess board. A lot of residents play. That means they have to think. She also wants to add yoga, aroma therapy, and other wellness activities to help serve all of the needs of our residents.
Thanks to Stephanie Lewis, our program is already improving. We see more caseworkers and other outside agencies coming in to serve our residents. We see our residents creating changes that they want to see in our program. We are grateful to Stephanie for her service so far and cannot wait to see what is to come!
