Charlotte alcohol and drug recovery program hopes to expand with help of city

Dove's Nest, a facility in Charlotte that helps women deal with alcohol and drug problems, is hoping to expand seven fold in the next three years. Dove's Nest gets a couple thousand phone calls for help each year, but the program can only accept a dozen women at a time. The Charlotte Rescue Mission which operates the program is hoping to change that with $1.5 million grant from the Charlotte Housing Trust Fund. City Council members will hear details of that request tonight before making a final decision later this month. Lynn Swisshelm with the Charlotte Rescue Mission says Dove's Nest has had a higher success rate than many other shorter recovery programs. "One-hundred-twenty days is very helpful for these women. To have the time to build trust, to really look at the root issues in their lives that have held them in these cycles of addiction," explains Swisshelm. The Charlotte Rescue Mission is hoping to break ground on the 90-bed facility in 2012. The building would cost $10 million altogether. Dove's Nest has raised about a quarter of that through donations.