The Horizons Program at the UNC School of Medicine is a substance use disorder treatment program for pregnant and/or parenting women and their children, including those whose lives have been touched by abuse and violence. Horizons started in the UNC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1993 in response to the epidemic of drug and alcohol use in the late 1980s. With so many families affected by addiction, there was a great need in North Carolina for a treatment and recovery program for pregnant and mothering women – one that helped to resolve the issues of drug use that are specific to women and their families, and one that kept those families together.
What began with a handful of patients in a single clinic is now a robust program with the full support of one of the top research universities in the country and its innovative health care system. Now, 250 women are touched each year – more than 5,000 since the program started – by Horizons’ integrated prenatal care and substance use disorder treatment, trauma-informed recovery practices, inpatient and outpatient treatment, career counseling, housing assistance, case management, family therapy and a 5-star child development center for our clients’ children. The research conducted at Horizons by Dr. Hendrée Jones is used around the world as a model for treating women and children with substance use disorders. Many UNC students in psychiatry, obstetrics, social work and nursing now rotate through Horizons as part of their education.
The UNC Horizons Program receives federal and state substance abuse treatment funds through SAMHSA and the NC Division of Substance Abuse Services, and service reimbursements.
Division Director, Horizons
Nurse Practitioner at Horizons, General Obstetrics and Gynecology
