Samaritan Inns

Combating Homelessness & Addictions. Rebuilding Lives.

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You are here: Home / Archives for Clark Inn

Meet our Samaritans: An Interview with Gwendolyn Mayfield

October 27, 2017 by Justin Feltman

fullsizeoutput_b77Gwendolyn Mayfield joined the team at Samaritan Inns as the Childcare Center Director this June. She has over 30 years of experience in childcare and a deep passion for creating a safe and fun learning environment for each child, as well as establishing holistic relationships with their parents and family. We asked her a few questions about her experience thus far.

Tell me a little bit about each of the kids at the Clark Inn and the dynamics and relationships you’ve developed with each of them.

Well my first was Brendan. His mom graduated. She was a very supportive parent and Brendan was very curious and independent but yet…what would you say…he wasn’t excited about others getting my attention. He was pretty much like, “This is my Gwendolyn!” He started out with other kids but for three weeks it was just him and me doing everything we can. Brendan was very smart. Mom must have been reading with him because anything I taught him he was just going to the next level. [For example] Geometry; I sat down with these different kinds of shapes and put them together to show him how you can make different things with the shapes by putting them together. He made some things I hadn’t even thought about.

fullsizeoutput_b5dRight now we have Miracle, who is my oldest, and she will be five in January. She is very bright. Her brother Messiah does everything his sister does. He lives for his sister. Just recently he’s started to get a little bit independent; just a little. Just enough so that I can get him to sit down and focus on his art, or whatever activity we are doing, and he sticks with it instead of following her.

My littlest one is Kahlie! She’s so feisty. So smart. She knows lots of words. Sometimes she’ll say words I didn’t even know she knew. But all of them are sweet hearts. I love my little ones, I really do! But I love it when I see them getting to the next level. Leaving the anger behind.

You had a graduation this past weekend. Can you talk about what it’s like to see the moms and their children graduate?

Oh, it was so nice. Everyone got up to share something special. It was so emotional; to hear she stuck to her goals and what she wanted to do to get through the program…and that she made it through. She told me exactly what she wanted Brendan to learn and she told me anytime his behavior is not cooperative to let her know and she did follow up on that.fullsizeoutput_b42

I met her family: her mom, her sister, and I think some little children who were probably her nieces and nephews. They all had a warmth that you feel when you meet them, and I was like “Wow!” I had to do a letter for her and it was easy to write because she was so supportive the whole time. She would buy special snacks every now and then; she would bring them over. She was really thinking about us and her child when she was here.

The graduation was just awesome. I don’t know everybody’s situation, I just know them through their children. But that bond is just so good. I could tell they really care about me and they’re just very respectful and I could tell I was in the perfect place.

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Filed Under: Child Development Center, Meet our Samaritans, Staff, Women with Children Program Tagged With: Child Development Center, Clark Construction, Clark Inn, Meet our Samaritans, Staff, Women with Children Program

Miss Teen DC United States Partners with Samaritan Inns’ Child Development Center

June 20, 2017 by Justin Feltman

Earlier this month, Micaela Leroux Burch, Miss Teen DC United States, joined her school for a Dinner Fellowship at Lazarus House for our Adult Treatment Program. Recently elected to her school’s Service Board, she wanted to gain first hand experience with the programs and populations they’ll be serving. Upon learning more about our mission and the Women with Children Program, Micaela wanted to make our mission her mission.

IMG_4627Micaela is a 16-year-old rising senior at the National Cathedral School for Girls (NCS). Micaela believes strongly in the core values of excellent work, personal courage, personal conscience, and service to others. She is passionate about helping children learn, the earlier the better. Micaela’s academic and career interests dovetail with her service activities. She plans to conduct research and practice in psychopathology and the arts. She is interested in understanding the role that the visual and performing arts play in brain development, cognitive growth, and emotional intelligence. Micaela’s goals include master’s and doctorate degrees.

IMG_4591Because of her passion for early childhood development, the Child Development Center at Clark Inn seemed like a natural fit for her passion. “I appreciate that there is a program for the kids, not just the moms. I also like that it takes them out of harmful situations.” She shared that the treatment over imprisonment is also something she would like to see more of around the country. With Samaritan Inns, she hopes to learn more about how to understand this early phase of life and advocate for them. “I think that the support they have for the children ties into my interests in art and interactions [that] make a great foundation for growth.”

This week, Micaela brought joy to our children as she came, in her crown and sash, to deliver games, puzzles, and books, including her own childhood favorite, Peter Rabbit. These generous gifts are are greatly appreciated, as kids immediately put them to good use.

Nationals for the Miss Teen United States will be taking place the first week in July down in Orlando, Florida. We will certainly be rooting Micaela on from DC and can’t wait to see her, and our Child Development Center, grow together.

For more information on Miss Teen DC United States, please contact Regina Burch at reginaburch@usa.net or visit her on Facebook.

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Filed Under: Development, Fundraising, Men’s and Women’s Treatment Program, Volunteers, Women with Children Program Tagged With: Adult Treatment Program, Child Development Center, Clark Inn, Development, Dinner Fellowship, partnerships, Volunteer, Women with Children Program

Interning with Samaritan Inns!

June 7, 2017 by Justin Feltman

This Fall, Samaritan Inns is fortunate enough to have a few extra hands on board with our Adult Treatment Program. Shawn, an undergraduate Social Work student at Eastern Mennonite University, and Theresa, a graduate Clinical Pyschology student at Institute for the Psychological Sciences at Divine Mercy University, are interning with us this Fall and into the winter.

Shawn

IMG_1333Shawn hails from Culpepper, Virginia. He came to Eastern Mennonite University, unclear of what his area of study should be but knew his end goal. “I always wanted to help people.” At first, Shawn was Pre-Law, but found it was not for him. Then, he joined their Global Peacemaking Program. But finally, he settled in on Social Work, a field he’s been passionate about ever since.

To finish his degree, he, along with 14 others from EMU, are staying here in DC, while working full-time at internships throughout the city. Shawn loved the environment and people of Samaritan Inns and was excited to get started.

Working side by side with counselors, our patient intake, and monitors, Shawn is able to get a lot of hands on experience on what it is like to work in the field of substance use disorders. Shawn’s passion for the work shines through, as he always tries to do more than what is expected of him.

Shawn loves what he does at Samaritan Inns. He truly feels like he can allow his true self to shine. “The person that rolls out of bed is the person at work.” He loves interacting with the clients and getting to know their stories. At first, he felt that, since he is a young college student, his age would be a challenge. But, as he had a few conversations, the age gaps begin to disappear.

As Shawn wraps up his undergraduate program, he shares that his ultimate goal is to work with juvenile populations, to help youth the way he has helped many clients at Samaritan Inns, listening.

Theresa

IMG_1327When she first started looking for internships, substance use disorders were not an area of interest. She joined Samaritan Inns, thanks mostly to Judy, the Director of Treatment Programs, and the positive staff and work environment. “It has a good spirit. It sounds like a silly thing to say but there’s such a good atmosphere here,” Theresa shared.

While here, she’s grown passionate about the work and mission. According to her, she’s not alone in that experience. Many in her program found working with substance use disorders to be a fascinating and rewarding field.

On a day to day, she co-leads a psychological education group with JoAnne, the Director of the Adult Treatment Program, individual therapy, and, soon, she will be doing child therapy at the Clark Inn as well.

In her studies, Theresa’s primary focus is people recovering from trauma, such as child abuse and domestic violence. From her time here, she’s discovered the common thread of such traumas with substance use disorders, inciting a curiosity with how to address this on multiple levels.

Theresa excelled in the classroom but this was a big step for real life application. “The big difference so far just how intensely real people and their experiences are. Like, when you get to hear their stories, it’s so profoundly amazing,” she shared.

Like Shawn, Theresa will be graduating with her Master’s this year. She plans on returning to the St. Louis area. Before coming to Samaritan Inns, she wanted to work with children and adolescence, but, her experience here, has opened up a variety of interests for her.

 

Time will tell what the future will hold for both of our interns. We truly appreciate their service at Samaritan Inns and would welcome the opportunity for their return in the future!

Filed Under: Adult Treatment Program, Internships, Staff, Women with Children Program Tagged With: Adult Treatment Program, Child Development Center, Clark Inn, Health and Wellness, Interns, Staff

Creative Care for the Children of The Clark Inn

April 29, 2016 by Justin Feltman

IMG_8928Samaritan Inns has over 30 years of experience helping men and women in the District of Columbia recover from drug and alcohol addictions. The new Women with Children Program at the Clark Inn marks an opportunity for Samaritan Inns to help a new population that has been critically underserved for decades: addicted mothers and their children.

While the recovery of each mother in the Women with Children Program is of vital importance, their children need our help too.

With the overall goal of creating a safe, sober, and holistic family unit, Samaritan Inns opened the Child Development Center at the Clark Inn, licensed by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE). Focusing on the earliest ages of development (zero to five years old), the young children who accompany their mothers to the Women with Children Program are in great hands.

IMG_9261Kelly Williams, the Director of the Child Development Center, has implemented a Creative Curriculum that gives the children the opportunity to learn things independently.

“The goal is for them to put in their own ideas and think about it. It’s more so about them getting the opportunity to have a lot of hands on activities and to think about what they want to do,” Kelly said.

The children engage independently and with each other through arts and crafts, dress up, writing, puzzle solving, and more – but it’s not just play time. Through these activities, children are able to express their individualism and explore new and exciting ideas as well.

“It’s not just play,” Kelly said. “The children learn different things from play with each creative curriculum activity. From math and science, to social skills, to proper exercise, techniques, and so on.”

IMG_2171Within the Creative Curriculum, Kelly makes sure our program fits each child’s needs. “Because child A is not going to be like child B,” she explains, “They’re not going to have the same needs. So you have to teach each child like an individual.”

As crucial as the development of the children in the Child Development Center is, Kelly benefits from working with them too. “I love working with children,” Kelly said. “I get to see the changes in them. They brighten up your day. If anything else is going on in your life, they just know how to give you that perfect smile that will make everything okay.”

For Kelly, the most rewarding aspect of the work she does at the Child Development Center is fostering growth within each child to prepare them for their future. “You get to mold them,” Kelly shares, “Just to know they are having positive social skills is rewarding to me.”

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Filed Under: Capital Campaign, Child Development Center, Programs, Staff, Uncategorized, Women with Children Program Tagged With: Campaign for Hope, Child Development Center, Clark Inn, Staff, Women with Children Program

New Life at the Clark Inn

February 12, 2016 by Justin Feltman

IMG_0021
Jeremiah wrapped in a quilt donated by the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George.

When Samaritan Inns launched the new Women with Children Program last summer, we hoped to address the difficult choice many mothers in our community face: their personal health or the care of their child.

Since the program opened, mothers of preschool and grade school-aged children have no longer had to make that choice and can receive treatment at Samaritan Inns while continuing to live with their children.

In an even greater time of need, on January 9th, we received a mother in her last month of pregnancy. She came to seek help on her journey towards recovery and give her son the best life possible.

But it hasn’t been easy. “I was looking at the other mothers here and just couldn’t wait to have mine,” she shared.

On January 31st, he was born. His name is Jeremiah, meaning “Yahweh has uplifted.” She returned from the hospital, elated with her new son. She’s been a true asset to our Women with Children Program. 

Judy Ashburn, Director of Treatment Programs, shared, “She’s a great mother. She takes great care of her baby.” This extends into her meetings and counseling classes. “She gets along with all the other residents and staff. She’s a really good listener,” Judy added.

This is Jeremiah’s mother’s first time in treatment. “It’s been an adjustment. But, I’m here for a reason,” She said. Her reason goes beyond herself but also for Jeremiah.

In D.C., there are about 1,000 homeless families. Roughly one third of people who are homeless struggle with substance abuse. May Jeremiah and his mother not just bring new life to our programs, but, to our city, in desperate need of the hope that he and this program may bring. 

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Filed Under: Capital Campaign, Featured, Staff, Uncategorized, Women with Children Program Tagged With: Campaign for Hope, Child Development Center, Clark Inn, Health and Wellness, Staff, Women with Children Program

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Samaritan Inns
2523 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009
Tel: Development 202.667.8831 · Treatment Program 202-328-2833
Fax: 202.667.8026
 
 
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Samaritan Inns
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  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Mission & History
    • Parable of the Good Samaritan
    • Stories of Hope
    • Letter from the President
    • Leadership
    • Board of Directors
    • Advisory Board
    • Our Partners
    • Financial Reports
  • Our Programs
    • Adult Treatment Program
    • Transitional Living Program
    • Long-Term Recovery Program
    • Women with Children Program
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Volunteer Opportunities
      • Beautification Days
      • Dinner Fellowships
      • Your Talents
      • Worship Service
    • Tournament of Hope
    • Campaign for Hope
      • Campaign Goals
      • Initiatives
      • Leadership
    • Monthly Giving
    • Planned Giving
    • Wish List
    • Shopping with Us
    • Work with Us
  • Media
    • Blog
    • Video Library
    • Media Coverage
    • Newsletters & Press Releases
  • Contact Us