Our Vision

Did you know:

Exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) is significantly associated with depression and drug addiction in adulthood?

Conversely, a child who is exposed to drugs before birth and/or lives in a family with the trauma of addiction, may have many ACES, which affect brain development, physical health, mental health, and problems with development and learning.

Susannah’s House works with children from chaotic families dealing with substance abuse and may have (ACES) abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, violence, incarceration or separation from parents in their history. We offer loving childcare while mothers are in treatment, along with therapies that treat their trauma with Child Parent Psychotherapy and Parent Child Interactive Therapy.

Our therapeutic children’s center, being built on the property near our recovery housing, Dragonfly Therapy Center, and our main Susannah’s House building will be able to support these activities for 60 children. We’ll be able to offer these services for the children of the moms in our Women in Recovery program as well as infants and children in the Knoxville community who may have received drug exposure before birth. These children may be in foster care or adoptive homes. Each of these children need special interventions to address past trauma so they enter school ready for success. We provide that special help in the form of trauma responsive early childhood education that seeks to reduce the effect of ACES from birth through age five with emotion regulation and resilience skills training.

National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs has found that high quality early childhood programs can yield a $4 – $9 dollar return per $1 invested. The stock market will go up and will go down; but investment in the life of a child can never be lost.

The therapeutic children’s center will be 4,000 sq. ft. and include four classrooms, two child therapy rooms, offices, a kitchen, bathrooms and a beautiful common area for eating and programs, along with a playground. Construction cost for the building is $2,000,000. A capital campaign is in process. Click the DONATE button at the top of this page to find out how you can help end the cycle of substance misuse and help our most vulnerable children have a Hope and a Future.