Becca began her work at Nexus in 1990 as a Program Director. Her responsibility was to design and open a Women and Children’s Program, which did not exist at the time. That same year, the facility relocated from a center in downtown Dallas to an 11-acre campus on La Prada Drive in east Dallas (where they still are today) to provide a wider array of services. After a few months, the board asked her to serve as the Interim CEO and in 1991 they hired her as the permanent CEO.
The new space enabled Nexus to become a leader in treatment for women by allowing children to accompany their mothers into treatment, a goal near to Becca’s heart. Nexus opened a program for adolescent girls and expanded the adult women program to 40 beds that same year. Recognizing there were no treatment providers who would accept pregnant or newly parenting women and adolescent girls, Nexus began filling this gap in 1994 and is one of the few providers to this vulnerable group in Texas. In 1996 the Women’s Auxiliary of Nexus was formed, which is now The Auxiliary of Nexus.
Becca said, “The most important thing for me at Nexus was to deliver quality programs; programs just as good as those offered at expensive, private treatment centers. In particular, I wanted low-income clients to have the opportunity to receive the care they needed to break the cycle of addiction, regardless of their ability to pay.”
To meet the needs of the children accompanying their mothers into treatment, the Crystal Charity Child Development Center was built in 1999 to house a nursery, pre-school classrooms, after school activity rooms, and a gross motor skills therapy room. In 2010 a portable building for research was added to further addiction science and assure that it was grounded in reality. Today the building houses their Recovery Support Services team. Pregnant and Parenting Intervention services were also added that year. In 2011 Nexus began providing onside medical detox. In 2012 the Carolyn Jones Waghorne Youth Hall was opened, expanding the adolescent program to 30 beds. In 2017 Nexus began offering medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to meet the demands of the opiod epidemic. In 2018 speech, occupational, and physical therapy became available to Nexus children with funds provided by the Crystal Charity Ball, and due to a request from the Department of State Health Services Negus began providing medication-assisted treatment to pregnant women.
Nexus was selected as a community-based treatment setting for the Clinical Trials Network, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and was one of the settings for UT Southwestern Medical School’s grant-funded community-based drug trials.
Nexus achieved Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation certification in 1995 and maintained it until 2006 when they became accredited by the Joint Commission (and continues to be) which is common for private centers, but rare in the nonprofit sector due to the high standards required to earn and maintain. In 2004 Nexus received a Woman of Influence Award for “outstanding influence in community service.” In 2013 the Caron Foundation gave Nexus its Community Leadership Award. That same year the Association of Substance Abuse Providers awarded The Auxiliary of Nexus (formerly known as the Women’s Auxiliary of Nexus) a Lone Star Award. In 2014 United Way of Metropolitan Dallas gave Nexus their “Heartbeat Award.”
In a nutshell, during Becca’s tenure, Nexus went from having an adult women-only program to having a full continuum of care for adult women, pregnant and parenting women with children, adolescent girls and their accompanying children in the Child Development Center. What an accomplishment!
Becca will miss her favorite moments at Nexus when former clients come back to tell her how their lives have changed since coming to Nexus and sharing their before and after photos.
In retirement Becca looks forward to spending more time with her grandchildren, swimming, studying Spanish and traveling.
Mission Statement: The mission of Nexus Recovery Center is to serve as a link to sobriety, independence, and dignity for low-income women and their families affected by addiction. We inspire hope, offer respect, and honor the unique differences of female addicts.
Based in Dallas, Texas, Nexus Recovery Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency that offers specialized substance abuse treatment services for adult women and adolescent girls, ages 13-17, as well as therapeutic treatment and care for their accompanying children in order to break the cycle of addiction. Founded in 1971, the mission of Nexus is to serve as a link to sobriety, independence, and dignity for low-income women and their families affected by addiction. Nexus has been accredited by the Joint Commission since 2006 and is the only treatment center in North Texas that accepts women and adolescent girls in the late stages of pregnancy and allows children to accompany their mothers into treatment. For more information, call (214) 321-0156 or visit www.nexusrecovery.org