Trailblazing recovery: bringing occupational therapy to moms in recovery
When a mother is healing from addiction, her recovery doesn’t happen in isolation, it happens alongside the joys and challenges of parenting. That’s why, with funding from the Indiana CTSI Community Health Partnerships Trailblazer Award, Nicki Cochran with Overdose Lifeline, in partnership with Victoria Garcia Wilburn, associate professor at the Indiana University Indianapolis School of Health and Human Sciences, launched a first-of-its-kind pilot project to explore how occupational therapy (OT) can help women in recovery rebuild their lives and strengthen their families.
The heart behind the project
The project took place at Overdose Lifeline’s Heart Rock Justus Family Recovery Center in Indianapolis, a unique residence where pregnant and parenting women in recovery from substance use disorder can live with their children (ages four and under) for up to two years in a safe, supportive, and sober environment while receiving wraparound services and in-house care.
The challenge: recovery while parenting
Many women entering recovery are also navigating motherhood, often while healing from trauma, mental health challenges, or loss. Conditions such as perinatal depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or post-traumatic stress can add another layer of difficulty during what is already a vulnerable time. Yet, traditional recovery programs may not always address the daily, practical challenges of parenting, bonding, and managing emotional health. The programs provided at Heart Rock are unique and critical to the long-term success of women, who are also parents, seeking recovery.
What occupational therapy adds
Occupational therapy focuses on helping people perform the daily activities, or “occupations”, that support their health and well-being. For new mothers in recovery and their children, that might mean learning new coping strategies, building confidence in parenting, supporting child development, strengthening their sense of self, or reestablishing healthy habits and routines.
In this project, occupational therapists (OTs) provided individualized sessions for 13 mothers and their children (ages 2 to 36 months) living in recovery housing. The OTs provided individualized sessions to:
- Strengthen the bond between mother and child
- Support mental and emotional health
- Identify and address developmental delays early
- Build health daily habits and coping strategies
Engagement findings
Improved parenting engagement: Moms reported feeling more confident in their parenting and more connected with their children. Therapists observed improved engagement and more positive interactions, along with developmental progress among children.
Better mental health awareness: OT interventions helped develop coping skills and self-regulation strategies, often in collaboration with behavioral health services. Many women learned coping and self-regulation skills to manage anxiety and trauma.
Healthy child development: Most children were meeting or exceeding developmental milestones, a sign that the communal recovery environment itself was protective and nurturing. For those showing early signs of delay, therapists facilitated early intervention referrals.
Strong staff support: Heart Rock’s team embraced the OT role wholeheartedly, calling it a “huge asset” to both the residents and the program as a whole.
Looking ahead
This Trailblazer Award-supported project demonstrated that occupational therapy can be a powerful, practical tool in recovery housing. It helps mothers heal, rebuild their sense of purpose, and give their children a stronger start.
With this pilot project complete, Heart Rock continues to offer OT services to its residents thanks to discretionary funding and are actively seeking new programmatic funding and research grants to continue and expand the program, and to bring this innovative approach to more families across Indiana.
