A North Texas nonprofit is welcoming something especially meaningful this holiday season, seven newborns celebrating their very first Christmas.
At Nexus Family Recovery Center in Dallas, the babies are spending the holidays alongside their mothers, who are working to overcome addiction in a safe and supportive environment. The nonprofit has served families in Dallas for more than 50 years.
“It’s a really special time for both our clients and our staff to help celebrate them and make this a really warm and nurturing environment for the holiday season,” said Heather Ormand, president and CEO of Nexus. “Depending on what your family traditions are, if you’re estranged from your family, there’s just a lot of extra strain and emotion that comes up with the holidays. So being able to welcome people here and make this a really loving and caring place is so, so important to us.”
Nexus is the only facility in North Texas where women can bring their children into treatment, and one of only seven in the entire state. The center offers trauma-informed, family-centered care designed to heal the whole family, providing everything from detox to aftercare under one roof.
Nexus welcomes mothers in their third trimester of pregnancy. This year’s group of newborns is a welcome sight for Ormand, who was once a mom in recovery herself.
“There’s a beautiful saying in recovery: Let others love you until you can love yourself. And so that’s really what our staff is doing because some of these moms may still feel shame or guilt or remorse over the holidays that they’ve missed or that they haven’t been actively present in their kids’ lives,” she said.
In 2022, Nexus served more than 3,300 women and 200 children. Its mission is to remove barriers to treatment so that mothers can focus on recovery while staying close to their children.
“We want to surround them with care and hope and resilience and let them know, you are on the right path. We are here. We have got you. And this is going to be the beginning of so many more wonderful things to come,” Ormand said.
The Nexus campus fills with holiday events to promote connection and normalcy, including ornament painting nights, a Christmas party for kids, food trucks and a warm holiday meal on Dec. 25.
“We have lots of events scheduled here on campus that replicate or mimic the activities that we all go to with our families in the community,” said Ormand. “On Christmas Day, we serve all of the clients a really special meal and through a generous donor—chef to the shelters. Having that communal table like so many of us do with our family, maybe this is their chosen family—their recovery community and the staff here that love them so much.”
Ormand is also advocating for systemic change. On Friday, she is scheduled to testify before state health officials considering a proposal to increase funding for recovery centers that house both parents and children. Currently, state reimbursement rates cover treatment only for the mothers—not their children—even though nonprofits provide childcare and family services.
The proposed change, introduced by Sen. Royce West during the most recent legislative session, would allow reimbursement rates to include children in recovery programs.
“All of that has been privately funded for years, and so this is really, really helpful and helps provide support for those kids that are so desperately needed,” Ormand said.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is expected to review and possibly approve the change in early 2025.
For more information or to get involved with Nexus, visit NexusRecovery.org.
