On Oct. 3 Nexus Recovery Center broke ground on a new building as it kicks off an $86 million campaign, dubbed Recovery Rising, to expand capacity and fund the renewal of its aging campus in East Dallas. Treating women with substance-abuse disorders while also caring for their children up to age 12, the agency is mostly lodged in a former men’s college that was built in the 1950s.
The two-story dormitories have steep stairs that are challenging for kids and pregnant women, and none of the buildings were designed for medical care, explains CEO Heather Ormand. “The buildings here are so old and not structurally safe for our clients,” she says. “We want to have a safe and fully functioning campus, and we are designing structures for confinement with dignity and safety in the front of our minds and not to make do.”
Nexus has commitments for $8.35 million so far, including $4 million from the Doswell Foundation and $1 million from the Stallings Fountain. The first step is the 10,000-square-foot Doswell Medical Building at the front of Nexus’s 11-acre property.
Due for completion next fall, the $6 million center will house an expanded admissions area, a medication dispensary with a waiting room, 16 detoxification beds with an adjacent nursing station, group counseling spaces and medical facilities. Nexus currently has 12 detox beds.
Substance abuse has climbed to an all-time high, Ormand notes. “There are a lot of underlying mental-health disorders that people are self-medicating,” says Nexus CEO Heather Ormand.
A significant rise in anxiety and depression driven by the COVID-19 pandemic boosted drug use along with the easy availability of cheap fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, which are sometimes added to other street drugs. “We’ve seen a number of women who thought they were taking Xanax they got on the street but it had fentanyl in it,” Ormand says. “Even marijuana and meth are being laced with it, because it’s so highly addictive that [dealers] get a built-in clientele. The women smoke a little weed and test positive for fentanyl, and they are shocked. The withdrawal symptoms are excruciating, and it takes 10 days or longer to get through it.”
About 30% to 40% of Nexus clients undergo treatment for opioids, 28% for meth/amphetamine, 24% for alcohol, 9% for marijuana, 2% for other sedatives and less than 1% for PCP. Nearly 80% bof them are impoverished with incomes below $25,000, and many have been sexually trafficked.
“Trafficking and drug use go hand in hand,” Ormand says, as the substances are used to subdue and control victims. “These women have been failed so many times along the way to get to this point.” Clients come to Nexus in a variety of ways, from walk-ins to referrals from judicial programs, specialty courts and the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.
The Doswell Medical Building represents the first of five phases that will replace six of Nexus’s buildings and renovate the other two. Because the campus spans 11 acres, the agency can construct new structures before demolishing old ones and maintain all services during the process. “In every phase we will increase capacity,” Ormand says.
Set to start in early 2025, Phase II focuses on facilities for pregnant and parenting women, who may be housed with as many as three of their children for up to 90 days of treatment. “It will be a one-story building with larger rooms and more natural light,” Ormand explains. “It will be a game changer in how we deliver services.”
The third phase will be for adult women aged 18 and up who are not actively parenting and may reside at Nexus for 30 days. Phase four will renovate outpatient and administration spaces and the final phase, due to begin in 2029, is a community center for ongoing recovery support, job readiness training and connections with key community partners, such as housing agency Family Gateway.
“We want to make it easier for our client to access services without having to go all over town for housing and childcare and health care,” Ormand says. “We can provide treatment, but they have to have their basic needs met with food and shelter when they leave.”
Due for completion in 2031, the project will increase annual capacity to 5,000 people. In the fiscal year that ended in August, Nexus served 2,895 unduplicated individuals, including 210 children.
The adult racial breakdown was 59.1% white, 20.6% Black, 19.3% Hispanic, 0.6% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 0.2% Asian/Pacific Islander and 0.2% two or more races.
All services are provided at no cost to clients, supported by state block grants with donations making up the shortfall. “Our rates have not been adjusted with the state in about 10 years,” says Ormand, who recently testified in Austin about the discrepancy between funding and actual costs. “We have continued to privately fundraise to maintain capacity and the integrity and quality of care.”
Nexus keeps staff hourly wages in line with a minimum living wage and pays the full cost of health insurance, Ormand points out. “It’s not an easy job working with women who are going through treatment, and half of our staff are also in recovery themselves,” she explains. “It’s a difficult environment for them, so we want to make sure they have medical and mental health coverage to take care of themselves and their families.”