One of the most painful parts of living through a rock-bottom experience is being unable to imagine what good could possibly come of it. When a woman finds herself alone, under-resourced, facing the ravages and chaos of addiction and even responsible for a child in the midst of it all, the path forward looks murky at best and hopeless at worst. Carleah Summers, Founder and CEO of Andrea’s House, understands how this feels because she’s been there. And yet she has become an example of how life’s most heartbreaking experiences can be transformed–through time and healing–to serve others and drive purpose in ways we rarely can foresee.
“I always say it was my biggest blessing to get pregnant,” Summers says. Her sobriety journey started when her son was 10 months old, 20 years ago this coming March. Even as a new mom (and up-and-coming journalist), she found herself in a difficult season-one that tested her strength and willpower in every way. When life began to spiral and she faced the reality of losing what mattered most, her mother came to take possession of her son. That was the point when Summers made a shift that would change everything.
“Losing my son was my wake-up call,” she says. “I turned to God and prayed for His help, and was admitted to treatment the very same day."
From then on, she poured herself into recovery without looking back. On the way, she gained the support of a few strong mentors: Carlton Hill, a graduate of and now leader at the Frederick Rescue Mission’s Changed Life Recovery Program and her own aunt, Andrea Hawley Ferguson. Summers says her aunt’s encouragement, love and practical help was invaluable, and that she simply could not have sustained sobriety without her.
Five years into her recovery, she realized she wanted to work in the field that had already given her so much. After getting her addiction counseling degree, she got a job at the Mountain Manor Treatment Center in Emmitsburg and started to notice a problem she wished she could solve.
“After people go through inpatient addiction treatment, there often isn’t enough outpatient support. We see a lot of recidivism. I saw very clearly on my own journey that it was really hard to go through the follow-up counseling and continue the recovery process while I was also juggling my child. There especially was not enough support for single mothers and families,” she says.
As she continued her counseling work, Summers says, “God placed a dream on [her] heart.” She wanted to create a transitional housing program for women with young children to heal from addiction in mind, body and spirit.
“People thought I was crazy,” she says. “But in March 2019 we founded Andrea’s House.” The facility is named, of course, to honor her beloved aunt, who passed away from breast cancer shortly before it opened.
Today, Summers says, Andrea’s House has just celebrated serving its 100th woman – who incidentally gave birth to a baby during her recovery stay.
“It’s not lost on me that our 100th woman has literally become a symbol of new life,” she says. “It has just made that milestone all the more special.”
The transitional housing facility on Butterfly Lane continues to grow in even more exciting ways–beyond serving its core mission of housing, compassionately caring for and healing women and families. Summers is soon to open an addition to the space, the Building Bridges Childcare Center, which will allow the women attending their programs to have safe and accessible childcare while they attend counseling or go to work.
“Family is so important to us and many of our women have no other family to fall back on during recovery,” she says. “We created Andrea’s House specifically to feel like a family environment, a place of compassionate holding that women can turn to for security and continued support even after they graduate from the program.”
Summers is also also celebrating the launch of her consulting business, Andrea’s House Consulting. This new outlet will allow her to take all her hard-earned knowledge launching and operating her unique transitional facility and advise others who are doing the same.
"It's amazing, the gap that exists in recovery housing for single mothers," she says. “There are very few other facilities like Andrea’s House in the United States. We recently helped to open Destiny’s House in Virginia and we’re working with another nonprofit in Indianapolis.”
Best of all, for Summers, she says she never could have imagined the extent to which she is “no longer living in her pain,” and that she is using what once felt like impossible challenges to show other women the power of hope and faith. It’s humbling to think “how many destinies,” she says, can be attached to persevering and transforming our worst experiences. As the Biblical hero Joseph said to the brothers who betrayed him: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good–to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” AndreasHouse.org