New non-profit role for Nelson-Lastra
Consultant for RYAN Healing Center program for moms & kids
A Cape Coral resident who has dedicated her life to helping others has taken on a new role with a nonprofit organization in North Fort Myers.
“Honestly, it started with my own upbringings,” said Jennifer Nelson-Lastra, who also is a Cape Coral councilmember.
Bearing witness to the resilience by women in her own family during challenging situations is where helping others stemmed.
“I realized at a young age that it is really important to be resilient no matter what you go through as a person – regardless of if you are male or female,” Nelson-Lastra said.
As a single mom herself in later years, she relied on strength, courage, and resilience to get herself through some challenging times, one of which was with her daughter’s mental health issues.
“All of that prepared me for what is next and what happens next. My way to really help fellow women that have had struggles or didn’t have the same foundation I did, or the same female role models. I want to give them that opportunity to really learn to become resilient and face their challenges head on,” Nelson-Lastra said.
She has stepped down as the executive director for Dress for Success Southwest Florida, an organization she helped get out of the negative financially. She quickly got the nonprofit out of their location through the kindness of the landlord and moved into Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida for free for a year and a half.
“We had to dress women in the Goodwill stores because we didn’t have a boutique. A year ago, I was able to secure a space through Guiding Grace through Meg (DeLuca). We worked on building the programs back over the last year and getting our boutique set, so we can dress women. Through the process of all of that, we are finally in the black,” Nelson-Lastra said.
Her board of directors asked what it would look like if Nelson-Lastra worked part-time. As she was putting together a proposal, she was approached by RYAN Healing Center founder Judy Regner.
“She asked me to come visit with her and I explained what Dress for Success does,” Nelson-Lastra said.
She learned that RYAN (Regenerate Your Authentic Nature) Healing Center is a faith-based recovery center for women and their children.
“They live in this beautiful ranch-style home. The property itself is very peaceful. I had explained I would be happy to get her women dressed and ready – it went on from there. She had asked me if I would consider taking on a 12-month consulting contract with her organization to help raise money and get some community awareness,” Nelson-Lastra said. “The opportunity really spoke to me – it’s another avenue where I can help women, and support women who want to get their children back.”
This next step is “almost full circle.”
“Now, I am helping women who have struggled through recovery for whatever reason and lost their children as a result,” Nelson-Lastra said. “The faith-based, I believe, is what makes it such a success.”
The Dress for Success board is happy for her, as they know her heart and how much she loves wanting to help women become successful. Nelson-Lastra said she is still helping the organization – helping them connect dots, referrals and helping them when she has ideas.
“The board is running the organization with the help of volunteers and going to regroup and figure out what is next. They are still dressing women,” she said.
Now in her new role with the RYAN Healing Center, one of her goals is to help get the home updated to provide more space to serve women in need. Nelson-Lastra said Regner has been very blessed to have donors to support the mission and the home.
“I am going to help her diversify some revenue, and help her apply for grants – federal, state and local to support the recovery (of women),” she said.
RYAN Healing Center founder Judy Regner said the organization opened its first home in 2017 with one mother in the program in South Fort Myers, which quickly grew to a second home to house mothers and children, which also quickly filled.
“We just started getting more mothers because there really is nowhere for mothers to go in Southwest Florida to get help they need for substance abuse and alcoholism,” she said.
Both homes were sold and property in North Fort Myers was purchased. The property has separate units for mothers and kids, and for those who are either single, or do not have their children with them.
The idea to start the nonprofit organization stemmed from 35 years of sobriety for Regner.
“When I got into the program of recovery it was very difficult for me,” she said. “I went to three different treatment programs; it was 30 days. You are supposed to go ahead and get better. It wasn’t that easy. Eventually, I ended up getting sober without going into a treatment program, which was really what I thought I needed.”
Her life changed when she went to an alter at church and accepted God into her life.
Regner helped other women with their journey to reach sobriety for many years before starting RYAN Healing Center. The passion ignited from the lack of places for women, let alone mothers, to find help.
“My own daughter had a problem, and I tried to get her help. The industry was really worse off when I got help 25 years earlier. That is what really caused me to really want to do this,” she said, as there was nowhere to take her daughter while seeking help.
RYAN Healing Center provides a place where ladies can come and learn about recovery and everything they need to make it long-term, as well as a relationship with God. She said the program integrates faith-based and secular recovery.
“We set them up with the community support system that is already out there, so when they leave the program there is a built-in support system,” Regner said that allows them to succeed in life, their community and in their recovery.
The program helps with life skills, stabilization through employment requirements within 30 days, and a holistic approach to treat anxiety, and mental health.
The holistic approach is very important to Regner, as medically assisted treatment, she believes, does not give those with addiction complete freedom and prolongs the inevitable goal to come off everything.
“We do not take people on medication because we really believe that they really need to stabilize before they determine if they have a mental health issue,” she said.
Through all of this, she said the women take a spiritual walk in their faith to learn more about God and who God created them to be.
“The mission is to see these ladies regenerate into the wholeness in which God created them. They didn’t sign up to be addicts and alcoholics,” Regner said.
There is room for four mothers and their children, and 12 beds in the other home.
Most of the women who come to RYAN Healing Center come from jail, from the streets, or from other programs. She said when they leave jail, they do not have a lot of opportunities for renting, as most have felonies, and do not have high-paying jobs.
“There is not a place for them to go in a healthy way,” Regner said.
To continue to expand their reach, she said the hope long-term is to have a tiny home village on their North Fort Myers property. This would give the women more independence and an opportunity to save additional money to go out on their own.
“Everyone is required to commit to a one-year program, minimum. Mothers generally stay for two years because it takes them that long,” she said, due to children being reunited through DCF, which can take longer to stabilize the family unit.
The center offers parenting classes and coaching to help.
“A lot of these ladies weren’t necessarily the mothers they should have been before they came to the program,” Regner said.
There are a number of ways for the community to help the nonprofit organization - through monetary donations and volunteerism. There are also sponsorship opportunities to help the women, as there is program fee for the first one to two months, which covers a third of the expenses.
For more information, call 1-855-792-6911, email info@ryanhealingcenter.com, or visit ryanhealingcenter.com.