RICHMOND, VA – December 30, 2025 – Today marks five years since the doors opened at the Healing Place for Women, welcoming our future of walking alongside women as they move from crisis to stability, from isolation to community, and from survival to possibilities.
From the very beginning, this program was created to meet our neighbors where they are. We strive to offer not only safe, stable lives in recovery, but a trauma-informed, community-centered environment rooted in dignity and unwavering support. Here, the path to recovery is not rushed or one-size-fits-all. Instead, each of the more than 800 women we’ve served is supported in building a strong foundation for long-term recovery and a life full of light.
Through this journey, the Healing Place for Women has become a true home for many; a space where women can rebuild, heal, and rediscover their strengths. Through peer support, structure, and compassionate care, participants are given the time and tools they need to focus on their recovery while addressing the challenges that often accompany it.
This impact goes far beyond the walls of the CARITAS Center. When women are given the space to heal, families grow stronger, children reunite with parents, communities become healthier, and lives start again in a bright, new beginning. Staff, volunteers, and peers create a culture where women are not seen for their pasts, but for their potential. Small moments like shared meals, honest conversations, and milestones celebrated together add up to a profound change.
The Healing Place for Women fills a critical gap, ensuring that women experiencing substance use challenges and homelessness have access to opportunities for recovery designed specifically with them in mind.
As we celebrate this milestone together, we also continue to look to the future. The need for low-barrier recovery services remain urgent, and our vision continues to grow: more support, more opportunities, and more women finding their way home – to themselves and their futures.
Thank you to everyone who has made these past five years possible: the women who trust the work and continue forward everyday, the staff and volunteers who show up with heart, and the donors and supporters who believe in second chances.
Here’s to five incredible years of healing – and to many more lives touched in the years ahead!
To learn more about the Healing Place for Women, please visit https://caritasva.org/the-healing-place/.