House of Restoration tackles addiction problems.

Harris Family Ministries has opened a door to new ways of dealing with the area’s addiction problem.

After five years of planning, Harris Family Ministries has opened the House of Restoration, a program designed to help women in addiction with up to two children as old as 10. The program capacity is currently two mothers with up to two children each residing with her.

“Our goal is to break the cycle of addiction so the children never fall into a lifestyle of addiction,” said Rev. Georgiana Harris, president and founder of Harris Family Ministries.

The program is closely modeled after the Teen Challenge Program, a holistic addiction recovery program that has been around for 52 years and has the highest addiction recovery success rate in the country.

For the past seven years, Harris has been working with the organization’s Philadelphia program teaching classes and counseling and is joining others affiliated with The House of Restoration in using the experience to further the newly opened program.

“Harris Family Ministries has seen the need for a program like this in Pottstown for many years. Our goal since our existence in 2008, has been to bring positive change to Pottstown and to eradicate addiction and violence from the Greater Pottstown area,” said a release issued by Harris Family Ministries. “There are many facilities for men and women, but very few for women and children, therefore many women never get help because they don’t have anyone to care for their children for a long period of time.”

The House of Restoration works on a nine to 12 month basis that is adjusted according to need. Programs include several aspects such as coping skills training, biblical courses, parenting classes and life skills studies.

“We look forward to taking steps to eradicate the drug epidemic in Pottstown one life at a time as we work toward restoring families and saving lives,” said Harris.

The House of Restoration will have an open house on Saturday Oct. 22, at its location at 832 E. Howard St. in Stowe.

For more information or to learn how to help, contact Rev. Georgiana Harris at 610-764-4984.