Amanda Hall is Manager of Women’s Services at The Healing Place. She has been on staff for more than two years and is an alumni. Amanda is currently pursuing a degree in Human Services and will then go on to study Social Work. She is also in the process of becoming a Registered Peer Support Specialist.

Are you from Louisville? If not, how did you end up here?
I am originally from a very small town in Eastern Kentucky.

Why did you want to work in recovery?
Recovery, specifically The Healing Place, completely transformed my life. I am thoroughly convinced that recovery works and I want desperately to help others through their journey.

What is your favorite part of the job?
I am fortunate enough to be a witness of miracles every day. I see women arrive broken and hopeless, and I am privileged enough to see change. I witness family relationships mend, children get their mothers back, women become productive members of society, and women begin to finally love themselves. This is truly one of the most gratifying jobs I have ever had.

What is your least favorite part of the job?
When a woman loses her battle to the disease of addiction. It is truly heartbreaking. The families that I talk to after the loss is also emotionally gut wrenching. Addiction and alcoholism is such a devastating disease. To know the potential and amazing personalities of these women and to watch this disease take them away is painful.

How has The Healing Place made a difference in your life?
The Healing Place has completely changed my life. I was oblivious to the fact that recovery was possible. I thought that I would always live in the self made prison of addiction. Without this place I’m sure that I would not be the woman that I am today. The dreams I have of completing college, my financial independence, the relationships that I have restored with my family, my self-respect, integrity, and sobriety would not exist if The Healing Place wasn’t here when I needed it. The Healing Place has not only made a difference in my life. It has made a difference in the lives of all the people that I love and come in contact with on a daily basis. I finally have the ability to love, dream, and hope for a better future. I will forever be in debt to The Healing Place and it will always hold a special place in my heart.

The recovery community has ignored nicotine addiction for years justifying smoking with the old excuse that we can’t expect people to quit everything at once. The Healing Place can no longer ignore this considering that smoking kills far more people than illegal drugs or alcohol. More than 80% of the addicted population smokes and nicotine is the ultimate gateway drug. Most individuals with addiction smoke cigarettes long before they take their first drink of alcohol, pill, or hit of marijuana. Nicotine raises dopamine in the brain just like all drugs of reward.

At The Healing Place we always talk about being part of the solution so beginning June 16, 2016 we will become smoke-free for clients and staff with the exception of our detox units. We will not tell clients to quit smoking, but they will no longer be able to use tobacco products on Healing Place property. We will offer smoking cessation classes and nicotine replacements for any client or staff member interested in quitting.

Smoking will still be allowed in our detox units. Detox is a community resource and we want as few barriers as possible to someone walking into our doors. Once an individual is here and the drugs and alcohol are out of their system then they can make a decision about applying for our program. We stopped supplying cigarettes to our detox units on April 4, 2016.

One study showed that overall, 48% of non-tobacco users maintained sobriety at 12 months compared to only 14% of tobacco users. Quitting smoking at the same time as alcohol and other drugs does not increase rates of relapse into non-nicotine chemical use. Addicts/alcoholics in and out of recovery are at high risk for tobacco-related death, greater than 50%.

We have to pay attention to the science and research that has shown for the past twenty years that quitting smoking is good for sobriety. The Healing Place serves over 740 clients each day and I want each one of those individuals to have the best chance at sobriety possible. We believe The Healing Place’s non-smoking policy will greatly increase those chances.

Gulliver SB, et. al. Smoking cessation and alcohol abstinence: what do the data tell us? Alcohol Research & Health, 2006; 29(3): 208-12.

Guydish J, et al. An international systematic review of smoking prevalence in addiction treatment. Addiction 2015; doi: 10.1111/add.13099

Stuyt E. Understanding the impact of tobacco on recovery. Circle Program. Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo.

You can’t turn on the news today without hearing about the heroin problem plaguing our community. Overdoses, deaths, public health risk, and crime are all on the rise. Every family, business, and civic arm of our city is impacted in one way or the other. The Healing Place is the region’s largest open access recovery program. The ever growing demand for our services has exceeded our ability to meet the need with our current facilities.

The new description “open access” has been used recently to describe our service, which made me wonder what that phrase really means. I discovered that at The Healing Place, it means that we try to remove the barriers to recovery. The Healing Place is an outreach program open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Because we do not charge our clients for services, they are not going to be turned away if they don’t have insurance or the ability to pay privately. Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge McKay Chauvin once described The Healing Place as “someone’s best, last chance”. 

Unfortunately, due to the overwhelming number of men showing up looking to get a bed here at The Healing Place, this access is now limited. In fact we are turning away more than 300 men each month. We have placed as many men here as we can and our physical space has reached maximum capacity. On a day like today, when we turned 12 people away because we do not have beds available, that does not seem very “open” to me.

Our Capital Campaign to expand the Men’s Campus on West Market Street has really started to pick up momentum thanks to the generosity of our supporters and community leaders. Individuals, businesses, and foundations have come in with cash and pledges of more than $1.5 million in the first quarter of 2016 alone. Recognizing that our program is a valuable community asset, the Louisville Metro Council voted 25-1 to invest $620,000 in our expansion efforts. This matching grant from the city combined with our recent success securing funding in the private sector has put us ever so close to breaking ground this year. Once we break ground, the expansion will be done within 24 months. The expansion will double the size of our Detox and add nearly 200 beds to the long-term recovery program.

So… back to open access. Right now we serve more than 250 clients daily on the Men’s Campus, most of whom would not be able to get the help they desperately need anywhere else. We provide housing, clothing, food, and a nationally-recognized recovery program and return family members, workers, and productive contributors back to the community -- all at no charge to the client or their family.

We have had a lot of fundraising success recently and that momentum carries a lot of energy with it. I believe the energy is centered in vision of doors opening, allowing access to those that so desperately want a better life. Breaking ground this year is going to be a wonderful accomplishment, but shovels in the ground pale in comparison to our open doors.

Ridley Sandidge is the Manager of Outpatient Services at The Healing Place. He has been on staff for three years and is an alumni.

Are you from Louisville? If not, how did you end up here?
No. I came from Florida because I have family here

Why did you want to work in recovery?
I never even considered it until I spent some time at The Healing Place. It’s the only thing I’ve ever done that’s truly made me happy.

What is your favorite part of the job?
My favorite part of the job is seeing people change before my eyes and their lives improve.

What is your least favorite part of the job?
My least favorite part of the job is seeing people continue to do what they’ve always done and lose everything that has ever been important to them.

How has The Healing Place made a difference in your life?
The Healing Place has taught me that helping other people is the key to happiness.

We are humbled and grateful for everyone's support of our important mission.

The night got off to a great start with a $20,000 challenge grant from Kosair Charities. During the dinner, we were thrilled to announce that the Yum! Brands Foundation had awarded $25,000 to The Healing Place thanks to alumni Nicholas Price and his team of volunteers at the Pizza Hut Help Desk. 

Every month, Nick and his team raise money to be able to serve pizza to our clients. The news got even better when Executive Director Laura Melillo announced that the Yum! Brands Foundation would be donating an additional $25,000 if those in attendance accepted the challenge to match that amount. The crowd delivered, easily matching that gift as well as the $20,000 gift from Kosair Charities.

At the dinner we also honored this year's Celebrate Freedom Award recipient, Dare to Care. Executive Director Brian Riendeau accepted the award, which recognizes individuals and organizations who go above and beyond to to further our mission to reach men and women suffering from drug and alcohol addiction, provide the tools for recovery, and restore productive lives.

The Healing Place serves more than 730,000 meals every year and in the past five years, Dare to Care has donated 136,842 pounds of food to The Healing Place -- a value of $2,090,686.30!

Reggie Ezell is Clinical Supervisor at The Healing Place. He has been on staff since 1995 and is an alumni. Reggie is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC) and a CADAC II. 

Are you from Louisville?
Yes

Why did you want to work in recovery?
For purely selfish reasons. Working in recovery was a way to increase my chances of staying sober. It filled the void that was left from giving up old places, people, and behaviors. As a result, it replaced the emptiness in me with a purpose (helping others).

What is your favorite part of the job?
Seeing the hope as our clients begin to believe in themselves and teaching others the concept of The Healing Place approach to social model recovery.

What is your least favorite part of the job?
Even though we have a high success rate (75%), it is the reported deaths from active addiction of former clients of The Healing Place who, for whatever reason, did not achieve the long-term sobriety they sought. On a different note, people who look at political correctness above the primary goal and that is changing the quality of an individual's life no matter the path.

How has The Healing Place made a difference in your life?
The impact of The Healing Place has been the foundation in my relationship with my family, my employer, my peers, and my community. Through my journey as a client and then as an employee, I have been able to establish myself as a person of character and integrity.

On February 9, 1983 The Healing Place Chairman and process founder Jay Davidson began his journey in sobriety. Jay, who began his drinking career at age 13, had become a fully functioning alcoholic and Major in the United States Army with a family. Jay may not have fully realized the damage he had inflicted on others and himself until a General told him to get “get help” or he would be discharged from the Army in disgrace while losing his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. Jay took this warning to heart and immediately began six months of intensive outpatient therapy (IOP) three days a week. Through this process, a new connection to a higher power, a fellowship, and strong support – Jay was able to rehabilitate his life to a former state of success.

My journey in sobriety began a little differently. Like Jay, I was using drugs and alcohol at a young age and by the time I was 20 I was using hard drugs. As I became an adult, I was a multiple felon, indigent, and certainly had the inability to successfully function in society. A judge had ordered me to The Healing Place to complete a long-term residential recovery program where I would have extensive accountability and develop coping skills to one day become a productive citizen.

I had little to nothing when I came to The Healing Place. I was incarcerated during warm weather and released during the dead of winter. The pickings in the clothes closet at The Healing Place were very sparse. My first major dose of humility was, in an effort to stay warm, wearing women’s stirrup pants that had somehow made it to the men’s clothing closet. I was embarrassed by this but had to admit to myself that I was a homeless man who was going to have to do whatever was necessary to climb out of the dark hole of addiction. Through the process, a new connection to a higher power, a fellowship, and strong support – I was able to rehabilitate my life through a transformation, building from the ground up.

Both Jay and I had hit what we consider to be rock bottom, but we each required a different modality of treatment to effectively accomplish our mutual goal: long-term recovery.

There certainly is no cookie cutter method for recovery from drugs and alcohol. The largest demographic of the substance abusers (60%) is functioning. This means that they are able to maintain employment, support themselves and their family, and seemingly have a life of normalcy to those they interact with day to day. Many of these people are beginning to face consequences of their drug and alcohol abuse but have not gotten to a tipping point. In comparison, The Healing Place serves the indigent substance abusers which are a much smaller portion of the overall demographic. Even so, The Healing Place turns away hundreds of men needing services each month due to lack of bed space. This is alarming when you realize that the majority of substance abusers are not receiving services.

The Healing Place will now operate a recovery program for those who are still functioning in their lives. Recovery on Chestnut is a reasonably priced private pay facility which offers a long-term program. The program includes a brief stay in a residential setting for the first phase and the remainder in an outpatient setting. We will work closely with employers, families, and other agencies to provide the full ranges of services needed. This is a very exciting time in our community as we prepare to address the many layers of recovery in our neighborhoods.
 
For more information about Recovery on Chestnut, call me directly at 502-333-9908 or send me an e-mail. I can do a consultation and give you a tour to see if Recovery on Chestnut is right for you.

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For the past eight years, I have been with Jefferson County Public Schools as a health educator at Iroquois High School. Each day presents an interesting challenge; however Iroquois is a place where you receive daily appreciation for your dedication to education.

Several years ago, at the request of JCPS Practical Living Administration, the health and physical education professionals were encouraged to form their own district-wide professional learning communities (PLCs) to better align our curriculum to national standards. This also gave us a chance to share and improve our approach to our chosen field. I was fortunate to be involved in the initial phases of forming our high school health education PLC. We meet monthly and communicate often through various other media. Our group has really made a significant impact on improving the daily instruction in the health curriculum throughout JCPS.

At our monthly meetings, we share information on any outside visitors that we have had visit our classrooms. There is a special group of visitors that we all hold in the highest regards – our friends from The Healing Place.
The visits clients from The Healing Place make to various JCPS high schools have become a central part of the health curriculum at many campuses. We are deeply indebted to the many young men and women who have taken time from their schedules to offer their experience, strength, hope, and wisdom to our students.

Personally, the topic of addiction is central to my philosophy of health education. My personal experience makes this an endeavor to which I am committed. My son is an addict who was a client, peer mentor, staff member, and now contributor to a similar program in Missouri. Because of his experience, he is now a successful restaurant manager. I could not be prouder of him. My niece met a tragic early death as a college student in an incident that was related to addiction and recreational drugs. I am convinced that addiction is the central disease of our time and it shows no signs of fading anytime soon. It is imperative that we equip our students with the knowledge and ability to recognize and address these issues individually and among their peers.

When clients from The Healing Place are scheduled to come to Iroquois, word circulates quickly. That’s when some of my former students start asking if they can come back to my class to hear the speakers from The Healing Place. I cannot begin to express how much the visits mean to the kids in my classes. The days after the visits are often very emotional and lead to many significant discussions in my classroom. I have students come by daily asking for help with some issue involving addiction. They would not feel free to do this if they had not been exposed to the courage and insight of the clients from The Healing Place.

Here is a typical thank you letter that I receive:

Coach Ward,
Having the people from The Healing Place come talk to us means a lot to me because I have family members who are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Having them talk to us helps me deal with not becoming like that. Listening to how drugs and alcohol changed their lives makes me want to help friends and family who have an addiction and it helps us understand why they do what they do.

I have had the opportunity to attend The Healing Place’s annual Celebrate Freedom Dinner and it has to be one of the premier events in Louisville. It is always a thrill to see clients who have shared with my classes celebrate their success. The entire city of Louisville is indebted to The Healing Place.

The Healing Place will continue to be a valuable part of the health curriculum in JCPS for years to come. I am so happy that they choose to share their experience, strength, hope, and knowledge with the students of JCPS. The entire community is respectful and grateful.

If you would like clients from The Healing Place to visit your school, business, or organization please click here to submit your request.

Do you bleed red or bleed blue? Take a walk through the halls at The Healing Place and you will find plenty of red and blue to go around. Like much of the city of Louisville, THP is divided between Cards and Cats. Chairman Jay Davidson’s office is all red -- from his door down to his computer keyboard. It’s all Cards all the time. Men’s Program Director Steve Hanks bleeds Kentucky blue. The walls in his office are blue and there’s UK gear as far as the eye can see.

Rivalry time is a fun time for us at The Healing Place. You get to hear all the trash talk and the reasons why the Cards will beat the Cats or the Cats will beat the Cards. For the past several years, we have taken the fun of the rivalry and turned it into a way for fans to support their teams as well as help men and women suffering from addiction.

This year’s UofL-UK Challenge kicked off the Monday before Thanksgiving, just days before the Governor’s Cup. From then until the Battle of the Bluegrass on December 26th, Cards and Cats fans used their donations to support their team. Each vote was a $5 donation to The Healing Place. Going into the basketball game on December 26th, the Cards held a slight lead.

In the weeks leading up to the basketball game, a bet was made. If UofL won the challenge, Steve Hanks said he’d take a pie to the face; if UK won, Cards fan Jason Norwood, a friend of THP, said he’d take the pie. They wanted to raise as much money as possible for The Healing Place.

Going into the basketball game, the Cards had a slight lead. Donations were pouring in throughout the game with the lead going back and forth. Every time the Cats went ahead, the Cards made a comeback. When the final buzzer sounded at Rupp Arena, Kentucky had won the basketball game, but Louisville had won the challenge for the second year in a row.

The real winner was The Healing Place. The challenge raised a total of $1,630 -- an amount which allows 13 men and women to go through our detox.

On January 5th clients, alumni, and staff packed the room for 3pm class to watch Steve pay up on the bet. Steve ended up with 3 pies to the face, thanks to a challenge he made during the game. Because Kentucky won the game, Jason let Steve throw a pie in his face anyway.

Watching Steve get covered in pies is hilarious, no matter where your team loyalties lie.

We want to say thanks to Jennifer at Bake My Day for providing the UofL and UK pies.

This time of year is always best for reflecting on the past – past challenges and past accomplishments. For The Healing Place, we crossed some significant hurdles and have some things to feel proud of!

The year started with us reflecting on our celebration of 25 years in business. With that behind us, it was time to think about the next 25 years! We began a serious effort to raise the money for the Capital Campaign to rebuild the Men's Campus. We had hoped to be able to begin demolition of old buildings in 2015 but that didn't happen... and that's okay. While the community needs more beds and more services, things will come in their own time. We have made significant progress in the Capital Campaign but we want to make sure that we have enough money raised to offset the potential debt – and so we trudge along. Hopefully, we can begin work in 2016!

Last year also saw some changes administratively for the agency. We now have an extremely exciting team working with us to grow and expand in the future while keeping our core principles in place. As we think about growth, we must always stay true to who we are and what we do – helping those who continue to suffer from the disease of addiction.

We also hosted our first Heroin Symposium this past fall and it was a great success! We are hoping to have an annual symposium in the fall that focuses on addiction and various aspects of addiction. We already have great ideas for this year so keep an eye out for information about that.

Our biggest challenge remains trying to find a way to meet the need that it is presented to us every day. This past year saw us turning away as many as 300 men a month who desperately need our help. The problems just continue to grow as does our frustration to keep up. We will continue to work to find creative solutions to overcrowding and plan for expansion. We will keep those still suffering in our hearts and prayers.

Maurice Ludwick is the Director of the Brady Center. He has been on staff since 2011 and is an alumni of The Healing Place. He is currently enrolled in school to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

Are you from Louisville? If not, how did you end up here?
My family moved to Louisville when I was 8 years old. We have lived all over this city, but spent a lot of time in Portland. Louisville is my home; this is where I’m from.

Why did you want to work in recovery?
While going through the program at The Healing Place, I started to recognize the value in helping others. I genuinely feel that I am fulfilling a purpose in life that was not present before.

What is your least favorite part of the job?
Many of our clients need multiple attempts at beginning in a life of recovery. No one can predict how many times it will take a person to “get it.” In my time here, I have seen people come back from impossible situations, but it starts to weigh on you when someone loses their life to addiction and will not ever have another chance. It can be just as hard to work with someone that does have that chance, but takes it for granted.

How has THP made a difference in your life?
My whole life has changed since I showed up here five years ago. I am a better son, brother, and father. My confidence is stronger than it has ever been and I am capable of so much more than I ever thought possible. Today I have a strong connection with God that I never had before and a sense of purpose in my life. I am truly grateful for The Healing Place and everything it has done for my family.

Audrey came to The Healing Place in 2012. “I was at the lowest point in my life,” says Audrey. “I owe my very life to the Women’s Healing Place. They took me in, fed me, clothed me, and provided shelter until I had completed all 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and I was ready to face the world again.”

Audrey has worked at Humana since 2013 and is a Customer Care Specialist. She is also Humana’s 2015 Volunteer of the Year. This year, Audrey logged 169 volunteer hours in the Humana Volunteer Network. For being named Volunteer of the Year, she received a $10,000 grant to donate to the organization of her choice. Her choice: The Healing Place.

“Receiving the Volunteer of the Year award for 2015 has been such an honor. It is a privilege to be an employee at Humana and their belief is giving back to our community makes us better employees,” Audrey says.

“I was taught that giving back is what continues to keep me sober and sober minded,” Audrey says. Every month she teaches 3pm class at the Women’s Campus. “To see these ladies grow in becoming the women God always intended them to be is very rewarding and heartwarming. When I see the light come on, my heart and soul glow!” Audrey is also helping her son Mark and his church (Memorial Methodist Church in Elizabethtown) with the church’s 3-month-old recovery program.

“The Healing Place saved my life not once, but several times and for those gifts I am truly humbled and grateful.”

Congratulations Audrey!

Cory Moneymaker is the Director of Health Services at The Healing Place. He has been on staff since 2009. Cory is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC).

Why did you want to work in recovery?
I love working with the clients. In this field, and especially at The Healing Place, you get to see people change so much. Individuals can have a complete 180 degree turn in their time at The Healing Place. Getting to see this transformation is why I love working in the recovery field.

What is your favorite part of the job?
My favorite part of the job is being able to help people deal with serious medical conditions. It is a miracle to watch clients use their program to stay sober when faced with serious problems.

What is your least favorite part of the job?
My least favorite part of the job is watching someone graduate from the program and fearing they will relapse and return to detox.

How has THP made a difference in your life?
The Healing Place has completely changed my life. It has given me the confidence to work with people that are completely different than I am. The Healing Place has provided me with the opportunity to grow as a person and a professional.

Most clients arrive at 10th and Market or 15th and Hill due to a lack of options. Their parents are fed up with their horrible decisions due to addiction, the probation or parole officer is sick of the positive drug screens, or maybe the significant other wants the problem resolved so they can get their relationship back to where it was. No matter what the reason, The Healing Place will accept them with open arms. We offer more than just a solution to addiction and alcoholism; we offer a solution to life’s problems.

After completion of our four to six month program, we offer a continuing care service. While the client is in continuing care, they are able to work and begin to pay back the debt that is owed to society. We have hopes that all of the clients maintain their sobriety while gaining new responsibilities. A couple of these responsibilities include paying rent and attending support groups to maintain their high standards of accountability.

Education is almost a necessity for success. Without getting too political, we (America) have begun to make it a very difficult path for a recovering alcoholic/addict, who more times than not is also a felon, to re-enter the workforce. Something that cannot be taken from anyone is a college degree. We want all of our clients to have things that cannot be taken from them, such as sobriety and education. The Healing Place allows clients to attend classes to prepare them for a GED if necessary. We also offer to pay for their GED tests. The Healing Place’s Continuing Care Department believes that through sobriety, education, and life skills clients will be able to contribute to society rather than fall back to a pattern of taking from society. 

The Healing Place implements a program of spiritual growth into individuals’ lives. The numbers of success speak for themselves. Although maintaining sobriety through our long-term residential program can be easy, the true test comes once a client begins to live life outside of The Healing Place. The Continuing Care Department can assist tremendously in clients’ sobriety and life through contracts that guide them through their days. Structure is a necessity for positive lifestyles for a recovering alcoholic/addict, and that is what our continuing care does so well. A normal, routine day is easy to get through for someone who does not suffer from the disease of addiction. For a recovering addict there can be danger around every corner and sometimes it comes unannounced. That is why we must have structure and a routine of spiritual growth so that when these problems do arise we do not get ready, we stay ready.

The best part of Continuing Care is witnessing clients get through all of life’s day-to-day issues. It is very gratifying to watch someone who was completely pitiful and hopeless, grow into a happy and hopeful man or woman while conquering life’s issues and their addiction.

Alan Engel is the retired Executive Director of the Jewish Community Federation, a position he held for more than 22 years. He serves on The Healing Place’s Board of Directors. Alan joined the Board in 2013 and is a member of the Development Committee and the Campaign Leadership Council, which is tasked with raising money for the expansion of the Men’s Campus.

Are you from Louisville? If not, how did you end up here?
I’m a native of Ohio. I moved to Louisville in 1988 to become the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Federation.

What attracted you to serve on The Healing Place Board?
I met Jay Davidson when we both served on the Board for the Coalition for the Homeless. We kept in touch and when I retired, he came knocking.

How do you feel The Healing Place impacts the community?
The Healing Place offers individuals the opportunity to face their addiction directly and assume responsibility for their behavior, thereby giving them a chance to change their lives, re-engage them with their family, find employment, and become active and productive members of the community.

Share a personal experience from your time on The Healing Place Board.
About two years ago, a friend asked for help with his son. The son came to detox two days later. He went through the program, graduated, and got a job. His time in the program made me feel proud to be associated with The Healing Place.

Every day, we are forced to turn away 10 to 30 men who want our services simply because we do not have enough beds for them. In the month of July, we were forced to turn away 500 men who were desperate for our solution. Someone asked me not long ago where these men went. It saddens me that I really do not have a good answer, at least one that I can accept. These men are going to the streets, sleeping in homeless camps, or under bridges. They are clogging up our overcrowded jails and running up indigent services at hospitals and social service centers. What makes this even more difficult is that every day I have the privilege to watch our clients restore their lives and become productive citizens. What if... What if we could offer this same solution to more men?

In 2014, we launched a $24 million Men’s Campus Capital Campaign to expand the Men’s Campus and almost double the number of beds available. To date, we have raised $5.4 million. These gifts have come from our leaders in our community: foundations, companies, and individuals. They have invested in this project to have powerful impact on the lives of countless men eager for a new lease on life. This goal will be achieved through a combination of tax credits, mortgage loan, and philanthropy.

The generosity of our supporters has turned desperate optimism into reality. Each day as the goal gets closer, I am motivated a little more by the vision of the beds we will provide and less by the beds we cannot. Ann Lindbergh once said “one can never pay in gratitude; one can only pay in kind somewhere else in life.”

As I head into another holiday season, blessed beyond measure, I once again have a lot to be thankful for. My “what if” has turned into “when we do”. Like that little kid counting the days until Christmas, I still have enough “what if” left. I want to thank everyone who has supported the Capital Campaign. I hope that all of you will be filled with gratitude when The Healing Place is able to provide more recovery services to the thousands in need.

If you would like to join in this effort please contact me: 502-618-1579 or doug.scott@thehealingplace.org.

Austin Smith is the Director of Continuing Care at The Healing Place. He has been on staff since 2011 and is an alumni.

Are you from Louisville? If not, how did you end up here?
I’m from Evansville, Indiana but moved to Louisville in 2009.

Why did you want to work in recovery?
Completing The Healing Place as a client in February 2011 has been the biggest achievement of my life, bigger than my college degree. Working in recovery, it is gratifying to see clients’ lives transform for the better.

What is your favorite part of the job?
I have been sober for more than five years and the best part about that is showing clients, through my actions, that being clean and sober is not only possible but enjoyable. 

What is your least favorite part of the job?
The most difficult part of my job is finding out that clients who have been at The Healing Place multiple times later overdose and die.

How has The Healing Place made a difference in your life?
The Healing Place has given me hope, sobriety, and a purpose and it continues to do that for any and all individuals seeking the same thing.

Tara Conner is the 2006 Miss USA and Miss Kentucky. Eight months after winning the Miss USA crown, the Russell Springs, Kentucky native completed 30 days of treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. She has since celebrated eight years of sobriety and now tours the country sharing her experience, strength, and hope to raise awareness about the disease of addiction and show that long-term sobriety is possible. She will be the special guest speaker at Heroin: About Face presented by The Healing Place on Wednesday, October 28.

What is your History with addiction?

My life was a perfect storm for addiction to manifest. Alcoholism and mental illness run in my family on both sides. I started using at 14 after a series of life circumstances. My Grandfather passed away, my parents divorced, and I was under a lot of pressure as a student athlete. I had my first drink on a cheerleading trip to Tennessee and by the end of that year, I was hooked on opiates.

My use was frequent, and generally was supplied by medicine cabinets, and doctors. I was a high functioning addict, using pageants as my perfect mask. I had no idea I had a dependency issue!

Why is it important for you to share your story?

I got sober on such a public level that I feel I should show my recovery in the same way. It was so hard for me to come to terms with the word addict because of the stigma attached to addiction and alcoholism. I bought into that stigma and it kept me sick. Had I known that this disease did not discriminate and that anyone could be affected, I may have asked for help a lot sooner. There was so much shame attached to my story and I felt like I was the only person who felt the way I did. I felt very alone.

When I learned more about my disease and really started being honest, I felt a sense of freedom that I had yearned for my entire life. After a decent amount of public shaming, I got angry. Not because I felt as though I was being judged, but because I knew that there was a young girl out there who had the same story that I did and who had a shame muzzle slapped on her mouth by public perception. I found recovery and saw that it worked so I took it upon myself to be a reckless truth teller because if I could get better, anyone could get better! I never knew recovery existed and I felt like I found a pot of gold. So I throw my beautiful dirty laundry around to anyone who will listen. We see too much addiction and not enough recovery.

What do you think needs to be done to combat the heroin crisis?

There is so much that needs to be done to combat the heroin crisis. I feel like we need to focus more on effective prevention and education. Addiction generally starts in adolescence. We need to educate the families and make it safe for a real dialogue to take place. No more shame. Silence equals death. I think we need to stop criminalizing addicts, focus more on treatment, and we need to treat this disease for what it is -- an illness. Because of the shame attached, especially in small towns, people stay quiet about their addiction because they see it as a moral failing or a choice. Try telling that to a mother who just lost her 15-year-old child. I didn't make an informed choice to become an addict at 14 years old with a still developing brain. I also think that long-term treatment should be more accessible. We need to speak to our local politicians and let our voices be heard. People are dying, and it can be prevented.

What have you heard about The Healing Place?

I have heard so much about The Healing Place during my travels and I know of a familiar face from the Anonymous People! I'm grateful for The Healing Place! Kentucky needs more places like this!

Are you looking forward to returning to Kentucky?

YES! Kentucky will always be my home. I have spoken all over the country and I am so grateful that The Healing Place has given me the opportunity to share my story for the first time where it started. I have so many memories and in a way this feels like a homecoming. After I won Miss USA, my hometown of Russell Springs had a lovely homecoming for me with a parade and lots of celebrations! As proud as I am to be the first Miss USA to come from Kentucky, I am even prouder to share my recovery. It has been my greatest accomplishment! Everything happens for a reason and I feel like my life has been divinely inspired. I'm grateful for my roots. I'm grateful for the mess I created. It has opened so many doors for hope in recovery.

Being a realist, I take great appreciation when it comes to statistics and believe that statistics typically provide an objective outlook of data. Kayla Pierce, The Healing Place’s Financial Analyst, has done tremendous work into analyzing and presenting data that has been impactful on the sheer scope of the services we provide and the volume of those who desperately need help. Upon absorbing this data I asked myself the question what if?

Based on our current statistics, if each bed at each of our three campuses were filled by a different person every night, we would provide services to 250,000 people this year. Of course, there are multiples in this number as many of our clients stay for an extended period based on the services they need. Even though we can house this immense number of people, we are always at capacity and have an extensive number of people vying for our services, yet we are unable to accommodate them. This brings up the question: where are these people sleeping?

At The Healing Place, we house an average of 749 people a night. These staggering figures are evidence of the vast numbers of addicted individuals in our area who are dependent on our services. This population is a somewhat small sampling of the total substance abusing population. In fact, out of the 20.4 million adults in the United States who are classified as being substance dependent or substance abusing, 12.3 million (60.4%) were employed full-time (“General Workplace Impact,” 2012). These figures tell us there is a great need for expanded services in our community to fit the needs of the whole spectrum of those suffering.

The Healing Place is looking into new means of treatment and recovery options that will further help our community which will include transitional housing, alternative inpatient treatment, and a long-term monitoring program. It is a formidable task which will require new partnerships, vision, and renewed commitments; we know that each day these services are not available is another day of suffering for someone in our community and their families. There is truly no competition among agencies in our region for clients. It is believed that if everyone in our community struggling with addiction all sought help at the same time, only 12% would find the treatment they so desperately need.

There is collateral effect of helping that takes place for every individual who finds recovery. The program tells us to help others to help ourselves. This notion gives me optimism as I think of the sheer number of individuals who pass through our doors and the effect they will spread in their community.

Consider this staggering fact: in July alone we were unable to offer Detox services to more than 500 men due to lack of bed space. It makes both the pessimist and the idealist in me wonder where did they go and what would have happened to them if they had been able to stay at The Healing Place. It has been my experience that when an addict has a moment of clarity that leads them to finally ask for help, quick action is imperative because this moment can easily turn to a passing thought.

Mother Teresa once stated “Never worry about numbers; help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” This adage is difficult to heed when you’re the one turning those in need away at such a dramatic pace, but this outlook has become synonymous with what we are confronted with daily at The Healing Place.

The optimistic side of me tells me they might find the help they so desperately need elsewhere; the pessimistic side unfortunately knows the cold, literally dead-end reality of this disease.

Reference:
General workplace impact. (2012). Retrieved October 9, 2015, from http://www.sapaa.com/page/wp_stats_workplace

The heroin epidemic plaguing our city and our state continues to increase. It has been several years since the re-emergence of heroin in our area, yet 95% of clients arriving in our detox facilities are coming in for heroin. The new addict is 18 to 30 years old and comes from the suburban, more affluent ZIP codes. The face of addiction is absolutely changing and has a huge impact on our community.

The Healing Place is on the frontlines of heroin addiction, which has increased demand for our recovery services. This is a demand we are struggling to meet. We are currently turning away between 10 to 30 men from detox every day because we simply do not have enough space. This need has prompted a $24 million Capital Campaign to expand our Men’s Campus on West Market Street, which will double the number of beds in our detox as well as in our long-term recovery program.

This year, Kentucky lawmakers tackled the heroin problem with far-reaching legislation that included the state’s first ever needle exchange program in Louisville, increased access to naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an overdose, and a Good Samaritan Law allowing someone to seek medical help for overdose victims without fear of facing charges themselves. We applaud the good work of our legislators.

In a Courier-Journal story published in August, prosecutors in Louisville reported a nearly 700 percent increase in heroin arrests within the past four years. That led Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine’s office to launch the “rocket docket” for heroin arrests, which allows addicts to get into treatment more quickly and spend less time in the court system.

For every person who is struggling with addiction, there are eight others who are directly affected – family, friends, co-workers, and businesses. That does not even include the effect on the community. Louisville’s crime rate can be directly connected to heroin and local hospitals are seeing a larger number of patients, many of whom cannot afford treatment, which in turn increases the cost of healthcare. This is why The Healing Place believes it is time to gather the experts in our community, face the issue head-on, and talk about solutions.

We are hosting Heroin: About Face on Wednesday, October 28 at the Louisville Marriott East. While the media is covering the heroin issue extensively, this event will help drive the focus back to the basics of addiction.

At Heroin: About Face, we will be talking about the disease of addiction and how to recognize the early signs in adults and adolescents. Our speakers also will be discussing the impact of heroin addiction in our communities and identify community resources and programs that target heroin and addiction concerns.

Our special guest speaker is 2006 Miss USA and Miss Kentucky Tara Conner. The Russell Springs, Kentucky native made headlines with reports of underage drinking and drug use. Eight months after winning the crown, she tested positive for heroin, cocaine, and crystal meth. Pageant owner Donald Trump allowed Conner to keep her title provided she enter a drug rehabilitation program; she has since celebrated eight years of sobriety. Conner now travels the country sharing her experience, strength, and hope and raising awareness about the disease of addiction and that it is possible for addicts to lead healthy, productive lives in recovery.

We also have created a Community Impact Panel featuring Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad, Metro Corrections Director Mark Bolton, and representatives from the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, the Kentucky Department of Corrections, and Kentucky Drug Court. They will be answering questions and sharing their knowledge to help us better the lives of families as well as our community. If you have a question for a member of this panel, you may e-mail it to events@thehealingplace.org or ask on Twitter using the hashtag #THPHeroin.

Other speakers include Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell, who will discuss the impact addiction has on the family as well as the legal system; Dr. Greg Jones, Medical Director of the Kentucky Physicians Health Foundation will discuss the disease of addiction; and Geoff Wilson, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, will share first-hand accounts of how addiction is affecting our children.

Continuing education credits will be available for physicians, social workers, counselors, certified alcohol and drug counselors, and other professionals. Families impacted by addiction are also encouraged to attend. For more information about Heroin: About Face, click here.

​This post originally appeared in the October 12th edition of the Louisville Courier-Journal.

The Healing Place has lost a very important and very dear family member and her name is Cathleen Pfeiffer Ward, affectionately called Cissee. Anyone and everyone who ever met Cissee immediately became infatuated with her charm, her elegance, and poise. She always had a smile and a kind word for everyone. Cissee had limitless energy and would approach every helping opportunity with a positive can do attitude. She had a passion for helping orphaned children in Poland and Native Americans in the Dakotas.

Behind every successful man there is a powerful and supportive wife. Cissee Ward supported and provided for her husband Dr. Will W. Ward and their two children, Quincy and Maggie, with commitment and love. Dr. Ward was elected Chairman of the Board for The Healing Place in 1989. The major challenge for the Board was and is to raise operating and capital construction dollars for The Healing Place. 

Dr. Ward quickly turned to his talented wife Cissee for help in planning conducting fundraising events for The Healing Place. Cissee created the “Super Chef” fundraising luncheon. The concept was to bring in famous local and national Chefs and have a three or five course meal prepared for about 200 guests. Needless to say the luncheons were a tremendous success due largely because of Cissee’s talent for working with others. Cissee was able recruit a large team of volunteers to help make these events successful. She was also responsible for many other fundraising events throughout the years to support The Healing Place.

The Healing Place will forever be indebted to Cissee Ward for her many contributions of time, talent, and treasures to help save lives every day. What started as a small overnight homeless shelter of 80 beds and an annual budget of $300,000 has grown to the largest social model recovery program in the Commonwealth, serving 600 men and women each day with an annual budget of more than $6 million dollars and more than 5,000 alumni.

The Healing Place is what it is today because Cissee Ward’s passion, dedication, commitment and love for people. The Healing Place will always be indebted to and remember Cathleen Pfeiffer Ward.

Thank you, Cissee.

John Couch is Senior Vice President – Agency Executive for BB&T Insurance Services and serves on The Healing Place’s Board of Directors. John joined the Board in 2014 and is Chair of the Development Committee and Co-Chair of the Campaign Leadership Council, which is tasked with raising money for the expansion of the Men’s Campus.

Are you from Louisville? If not, how did you end up here?
I’m from Minnesota but have lived in several different cities. My wife is from Louisville and we have lived here for the past 18 years.

What attracted you to serve on the Board at The Healing Place?
The Healing Place is the best recovery model in the country. I have seen firsthand how The Healing Place changes lives.

How do you feel The Healing Place impacts the community?
The Healing Place impacts the community in a number of positive ways. First and foremost, The Healing Place changes and saves lives every day. Men and women caught up in addiction need a path to escape the cycle of destruction and The Healing Place provides a successful path to recovery. The Healing Place also helps financially by helping transform clients, many of whom are homeless and/or have a criminal history, into employable productive citizens.

Share a personal experience from your time on the The Healing Place Board.
The Healing Place has a very unique mentor-driven 12 Step centered solution that I have seen work close up. The staff and leadership group are tireless and committed individuals that are truly making a meaningful difference.

Heather Gibson is the Director of the The Healing Place Women’s Program. She joined the team in 2013. Heather holds a Master of Science in Social Work and is a Certified Social Worker and a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor.

Are you from Louisville? If not, how did you end up here?
I moved to Louisville in 2006 for my first job out of college.

Why did you want to work in recovery?
I wanted to work in recovery because I believe this is an area where one can see the most change and be a part of the most change.

What is your favorite part of the job?
My favorite part of the job is seeing a former client out in the community living a sober and productive life.

What is your least favorite part of the job?
My least favorite part of the job is turning away clients when we don’t have space in the program available.

How has The Healing Place made a difference in your life?
I get to be a part of something that I know is making a difference in individual lives, families and our community. I feel lucky that I have that opportunity.

As the current Detox Supervisor at The Healing Place Women’s Campus, it is my pleasure to describe the experience of our detox unit. I have been supervising the unit for over a year, but my journey involves detox in much more than as just an employee. Like so many other women, my path to recovery began at The Healing Place in detox; I am a very proud alumna.

Before coming to The Healing Place, I bounced around different correctional institutions for more than a year. As soon as I walked through the doors at The Healing Place I felt as though I could finally breathe. I finally felt safe. After years of heartache due to my alcoholism and addiction, I had finally found a place of solace. I was greeted by women who were in recovery. The staff had been clients and that understanding and empathy cannot be surpassed. This is a culture that I am very proud of and a culture which still exists.

The experience for any woman that comes through our detox is structured and nurturing. Detox clients are treated as the most important people in The Healing Place. They are provided with a shower, clean clothes, and the women in the long-term residential recovery program make sure the kitchen is always stocked. During most days there will be someone in detox who is called a 12 Stepper. A 12 Stepper is a client who has just completed the long-term program. These women come back to detox and help the new detox client. They often encourage and share their experience with the women seeking help. This is an amazing and unique feature of our detox.

Some clients suffer severe detox symptoms and the staff is trained to monitor all clients. This monitoring includes blood pressure, pulse, and assessing how the client feels physically. Also, staff members on every shift are certified in CPR. Staff is also trained to call EMS when medical situations arise and to reach out to the Crisis Intervention Team hotline if need be. Our goal in detox is to always look out for the safety of our clients.

Detox usually lasts five to ten days. After detox, a person is faced with a decision; they have the chance to pre-screen for the long-term recovery program or they can choose to continue their journey elsewhere. If the client does decide to leave The Healing Place, we provide them with a list of sober living and halfway houses, and help them in any way that we can. We also encourage these women to come back if they need to. We hold strong to the fact that our detox can be used as much a person needs it. We know that a person never knows when “this time” will be the time they decide that they need a change in their life. For the women who decide to stay for our long-term program, we have the pleasure of watching them grow and become productive members of society. Months down the road, we are always delighted to watch them return to detox as a 12 Stepper. They transform into the women that they have always wanted to be.

Detox is truly an amazing experience at The Healing Place. Detox was an invaluable piece of my path to recovery. It truly helped save my life.

If you or someone you know want to start a brand new way of life, our doors are open 24 hours a day. The direct line to women’s detox at The Healing Place is 502-568-6680.

The detox unit at The Healing Place is a real special place to start your road to recovery. I have experienced this on both sides of the fence. What I mean by that is I am not only a staff member, but I have walked through those doors as a client. In my experience, there is nothing worse than being completely hopeless and totally lost in the world of alcoholism and addiction so walking in the doors of detox at The Healing Place was a relief. That’s because I knew this was the first step toward doing something different in my life.

We take a lot of pride in what we have to offer when you come to The Healing Place’s detox unit asking for help. One of the most valuable things is the positive atmosphere you’re walking into. That goes a long way considering people like me have led such a negative lifestyle. When I first came to detox, it was vital and eye-opening to be treated with respect. On top of that, the person who admitted me had once been in my shoes and was now clean and sober. That right there was enough to give me the push I needed to accept some help. The Healing Place staff asked me a few questions before admitting me. They asked if I’d had enough pain and whether I was willing to go to any length for my sobriety. I’d absolutely had enough pain and I was ready to do whatever they asked me. 

What you can expect from our detox unit is not easy to some, but essential in The Healing Place model. In the first 24 hours, the only thing that’s required of you is eating and sleeping. After 24 hours, you’re encouraged to go to all meetings and classes held on campus. Going to all functions gives you the opportunity to fellowship with clients in the program and lets you see the guys who are 30 days, 60 days, 180 days clean. You get to see the program working right in front of you. Depending on the severity of your detox, you will go to quite a few classes and meetings in the three to five days you’re in detox at The Healing Place. You will get to experience the ups and downs of detox – and it isn’t always fun. If you ask just about any alumni of The Healing Place, they can tell you their detox bed number and everything that happened to them while in detox, because that’s where it all started. We don’t want to forget that pain. It fuels us to move forward and continue to strive to do more positive things in our lives.

Any workplace can be filled with challenging people and frustrating circumstances… especially one like ours. Being productive and efficient with your time does not happen by accident. It happens by design. It is the result of discipline and purpose. We pour effort and emotion into everything we do here at The Healing Place, because we are personally invested in the mission. I can honestly say that as a team, we are always looking for a way to improve and be more professional. We believe in what we do, and are truly blessed for this to be our occupation. Everyone here gets up and comes in every day, and tries to make this place better, by doing the best job that they can.

There is absolutely no place here for negative energy from any outside sources, but from time to time we find ourselves on the receiving end of some good old-fashioned, unhealthy criticism. For years I have watched people standing on the outside looking in and making judgments about the direction of this place is going and the people who will take it there. I have heard them question the motives of changes that they don’t agree with – or worse, people that couldn’t tell you the first thing about our establishment object to how we do our job. I challenge all of them that if you bring me a problem, then bring me a solution.

Of course, the spirit of this place lives on! It is embedded on every part of our process. You can see it on the faces that meet you at the door. All you have to do is go and listen clients greet a newcomer: “Welcome to a power greater than yourself.” Those are the words you will hear, but keep watching and you will witness compassion, sympathy, and sacrifice. We are all in this together. The spirit here breeds nothing but strength and love. What we do here is help people plant miracles and then watch them grow.

We meet hard situations head on, when others would abandon them. Some people ignore problems that they create then leave us to clean up the mess. So to all of those that would question our techniques, I have selected a passage for you from my one of my favorite books:

"If any feel that we appear somewhat sentimental, let them stand with us a while on the firing line, see the tragedies, the despairing wives, the little children; let the solving of these problems become a part of their daily work, and even of their sleeping moments, and the most cynical will not wonder that we have accepted and encouraged this movement. We feel, after many years of experience that we have found nothing which has contributed more to the rehabilitation of these men than the altruistic movement now growing up among them."

-- William D. Silkworth, M.D.

Heroin addiction has reached an epidemic level, and The Healing Place knows this firsthand. 95% of the clients who enter our doors are struggling with an addiction to this drug and seeking treatment and recovery. Kentucky has the third highest overdose rate in the nation.

The new addict is 18 to 25 years old and resides in the more suburban, affluent ZIP codes – the face of addiction isn’t what you would expect to see.

While heroin addiction ruins the life of the addict, it also adversely affects families, businesses and communities. Our crime rate is directly connected to heroin. Hospitals are seeing a larger number of patients, and the epidemic is increasing the cost of healthcare.

We feel that it is time to gather the experts in the community to discuss the issue and address solutions.

The Healing Place is partnering with Passport Health and WDRB to present Heroin: About Face on Wednesday, October 28 at the Louisville Marriott East. The event is designed to educate the community on issues related to the heroin crisis and find out more about what is being done to combat it. Although the media is covering the topic extensively, this conference will help drive the focus back to the basics of addiction. 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND
The learning objectives for the event include: discuss the disease of addiction and how to recognize early signs for adults and adolescents, discuss the impact of heroin addiction in our communities, and identify community resources and programs targeting heroin and addiction concerns. The program is applicable for physicians, social workers, counselors, human resources personnel, and certified drug and alcohol counselors who work with families and clients struggling with addiction, as well as families who have been impacted by addiction are also encouraged to attend.

The event fee is $150 per person. However, a $25 early registration discount is available until September 30. Heroin: About Face has been approved for up to 5.75 of continuing education credits and 2.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. A complete list of accreditation wording can be found on the event page.

WHO WILL BE SPEAKING
The Healing Place has put together a great group of speakers that will be sharing their expertise and knowledge on the subject of addiction from a professional, personal, judicial, and health focus during the day.
· Disease of Addiction - Greg Jones, MD
· Adolescent Substance Use, Abuse, and Dependence – Geoff Wilson, LCSW, CADC
· Special Guest Speaker – 2006 Miss USA Tara Conner
· The Family Impact – Mike O’Connell, Jefferson County Attorney
· Community Impact Panel
o Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy – Van Ingram
o Kentucky Department of Corrections – Kevin Pangburn
o Louisville Metro Police – Chief Steve Conrad
o Louisville Metro Corrections – Mark Bolton
o Kentucky Drug Court Executive Officer – Connie Payne
o Louisville Metro Department of Public Health – Wayne Crabtree
· Introduction to a 12 Step Meeting

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN 
Online Registration is preferred however, registration forms may be downloaded from the website and payment mailed to: The Healing Place Symposium, 1020 W. Market Street, Louisville, KY 40202. Personal or institutional check should be made out to: The Healing Place. Refunds will be made up to two weeks before the symposium if requested in writing. Phone cancellations will not be accepted. No refunds will be processed after October 15, 2015.

CONTACT INFORMATION
events@thehealingplace.org

Texas Roadhouse President Scott Colosi serves on The Healing Place’s Board of Directors as Chair-Elect. He will become Chair in January 2016. Scott has been on the Board since 2011.

Are you from Louisville? If not, how did you end up here?
I moved to Louisville in 1998 as part of my career with Yum! Brands.

What attracted you to serve on the Board at The Healing Place?
I believe in the effectiveness of the model of The Healing Place, especially the emphasis on personal accountability and responsibility.

How do you feel The Healing Place impacts the community?
I have no doubt The Healing Place saves our community a lot of money through reduced state and local government spending on healthcare, incarceration, and welfare. The Healing Place makes a permanent impact on the lives of its clients by enabling them to become more productive citizens in our communities and to build more productive relationships with their families.

Share a personal experience from your time on The Healing Place Board:
I’ve been to a number of Community meetings with clients and have learned firsthand how many have developed a totally different mindset about what it means to live an accountable and responsible versus entitled life.

Here at The Healing Place, we have a deep gratitude for everyone who wants to help men and women struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. Some donate money; others use our wish list to fulfill some of our daily needs. When Laura Setters heard about Butterfly Backpacks, the project Tina Mills launched after the death of her daughter Maegan, she knew that she wanted to help. “It all started with a challenge from my church called ‘Love the ‘Ville’ and it was a challenge for all of us to serve our community in creative ways that could touch other people’s lives,” said Laura.

Butterfly Backpacks brings backpacks full of supplies and toiletries for women who are leaving detox and going into The Healing Place’s long-term recovery program so Laura wanted to do something for the men. Her brother is in recovery after being addicted for more than half his life. Laura said her mother never gave up hope for him, even in the darkest of times. “She would always tell me ‘so long as you have breath, there’s still hope.’”

With the help of her husband, father, church family, and friends, Laura got started. Last month, Laura dropped off the first group of donations – 20 backpacks filled with socks, shampoo, body wash, a toothbrush, toothpaste, notebooks, pens, and other items including a handwritten note of encouragement. She well surpassed her initial goal of 15 backpacks. The backpacks weren’t the only things Laura brought to The Healing Place – she also brought boxes filled with underwear, t-shirts, and shower shoes. 

Laura’s mother passed away from cancer in February 2013, before her brother got into recovery. “It’s sad she never got to see it. That’s why I got to thinking this could be called Backpacks from Beth. She would have loved an opportunity to give other people hope because that’s what she was all about.” 

“The more I thought about it, I decided I wanted this to be an ongoing project and not just a one-time thing,” said Laura. “From a little challenge at church to hopefully becoming a project that can honor my mom and her story that she never gave up on people. Hopefully we can touch some lives when they need it the most.”

If you’re interested in helping, check out the Backpacks from Beth and Butterfly Backpacks pages on Facebook.

It’s almost here – the biggest day of local giving. The Healing Place is excited to take part in the second Give Local Louisville, hosted by the Community Foundation of Louisville. Mark your calendars for Thursday, October 1st. It’s a 24-hour day of giving!

Louisville is known as the most compassionate city in the nation and one month from today, we’re hoping that everyone will show their support for The Healing Place and the other nonprofits taking part in Give Local Louisville.

Here’s how it works: you will give through a website called Kimbia, but all proceeds will go to The Healing Place. Your donation, no matter how big or small, will then be matched proportionally by the Community Foundation and its partners. That means if we raise 2% of the total Give Local Louisville donations, we will receive 2% of the matching funds. There will also be prize funds available – so if we get the first single online gift of at least $500 after midnight on October 1st, that donation will have $1,000 added to it. There will be other prizes during the day, including some $500 “golden tickets” which could turn your $25 into $525 for The Healing Place.

We can’t do this without your help. All dollars raised for The Healing Place during Give Local Louisville will go to help men and women suffering from drug and alcohol addiction. Your donations will allow us to clothe, feed, shelter, and provide recovery services to clients who want to get sober – at no cost to them. That $25 donation during Give Local Louisville will help us help one client for one day.

Are you on Twitter? What about Facebook? Social media will be a big part of Give Local Louisville on October 1st. Even if you can’t donate, you can help The Healing Place by spreading the word. Look for our tweets and posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and LinkedIn. The more people who see those posts, the more we will be able to help men and women recover from addiction. Use the hashtag #GiveLocalLou to get it trending – making it visible to a larger audience. We want to make sure that the news about Give Local Louisville is seen by as many people as possible – not to help just The Healing Place, but to help the hundreds of organizations taking part.

Together, we can all make a difference in our community. We hope to see you taking part in #GiveLocalLouisville on Thursday, October 1st.

If you have a Donor Advised Fund or a Charitable Checking Fund through the Community Foundation, you may designate a gift for The Healing Place for Give Local Louisville. The deadline is 3pm on Friday, September 25th. For details, check your MyFund portal.

Steve Hanks is Director of the Men’s Program at The Healing Place. He has been with The Healing Place for 18 years and is an alumni.

Are you from Louisville?
I’m from Eastwood, Kentucky about 20 miles east of Louisville.

Why did you want to work in recovery?
I didn’t want to work in recovery at first. After going through the program, having been in numerous programs and relapsing every time, I was very fearful of leaving so I became a Peer Mentor. I’ve been here ever since.

What is your favorite part of the job?
Watching people recover and seeing them as soon as they get out of detox. I have the ability to watch their growth and spiritual change throughout the program.

What is your least favorite part of the job?
I really can’t say I have a least favorite part of the job.

How has THP made a difference in your life?
When I came to The Healing Place 18 years ago, the only possession I had was a green clothes basket half full of dirty clothes and absolutely no hope. I didn’t really come here to get sober; I just had nowhere else to go. Since being at The Healing Place, I have been able to put together 18 years of sobriety. I got to see my daughter graduate high school and walk her down the aisle when she got married. I got to be in my family’s life again and now I have two beautiful grandchildren. I got married in 2001 and about five years ago, my wife and I got back into church. I was ordained as a Deacon in 2014 and I am very involved with my church. In 2003, I was able to buy a house and that is something I never ever thought would happen. The Lord every day continues to bless me as long as I keep doing the next right thing. That’s what I was given through a loving God and The Healing Place.

The disease of addiction takes a huge toll on the physical body in many ways. It is normal for a woman to come to our program and have no primary care physician. It is also a regular occurrence for women in addiction to not see an OB-GYN doctor for years. This can mean years without a Pap smear, mammogram, or other significant exam. Our clients want to focus on their recovery program, but these are medical issues that must be addressed and that take time.

Right now, our clients have to go off property to clinics around town to get their specific OB-GYN needs met. Many women need to go to multiple clinics if they require multiple services. These barriers to care are large issues for several reasons. Transportation is difficult and can be costly. A bus ticket does not cost a lot of money, but for someone who is not working, having to buy bus fare several times. This process also takes lots of time. Many of our clients leave at 8:30am for their appointment and, because of travel and waiting, they do not get back until the afternoon. These are all issues that can be addressed with increased access to services.

A team of Healing Place staff and volunteer physicians is currently trying to launch an OB-GYN clinic located at Women’s Campus. This group of doctors can do regular Pap smears, cancer screens, and many other OB-GYN procedures right here on campus. This will be free to all clients and will give them an opportunity to be responsible for their health. We are currently working on a grant that will fully fund this clinic and have a team of physicians standing by to offer services.

The clinic will likely run on weekends, which allows the clients to focus on their recovery program during the week. Not having to spend multiple days away from their recovery program will help allow our clients to focus on their recovery while still being responsible for their health. Medical issues can be a major distraction for those in early recovery. This clinic will break down one more barrier to recovery and allow women in this community to get sober.

I have been on the Board at The Healing Place since 2008, joining just before we broke ground on the Women’s Campus on 15th Street. My family and I moved to Louisville in 2001 and I seemed to spend the first six years in town traveling a lot for work, growing my career, and raising a young family. I was introduced to The Healing Place by a friend who knew that I was looking for an impactful way to give back to the community. What she didn’t know is that my family has a history of addiction and that I care deeply for those who are working to break free of its grip.

During our Board Day of Service, we learned more about the evolutionary aspect of the disease. One part that hit me was the connection between bipolar disorder and alcoholism. I lived through the destruction of how untreated bipolar disorder can ruin a career, a marriage, and a parent-child relationship. The similarities of how drugs and alcohol can destroy the lives of the addicted, their relationships with spouses, children, parents, and employers made perfect sense. I just never linked the two. I knew when my dad was in a manic phase, he abused alcohol. Getting a little glimpse into how the brain works from Dr. Quinn Chipley helped me understand a bit more about the linkages of bipolar and addiction.

My first impression of the petitioning process was how intimidating it is. Clients come in and share their plan, defend their dreams, and discuss their future with such an intimidating crowd which is judging their every word! I learned that the “judges” care deeply about every single client who is petitioning. The questions asked of each person were a huge bear hug, wrapping strong arms of support to help these clients progress in their recovery. One takeaway from the process is that no one can fool the group. At all. Staff members joked that they have “Master’s degrees in lying” before turning their lives around and could detect a “third grade lie” the moment it was told. It would be rare for someone to leave the meeting fooling themselves or trying to fool those in the circle. During our scavenger hunt, we learned that one you earn Silver Chip status, meaning completion of the program, you are connected to Phase II, or Continuing Care, forever. The love and support does not stop after your next few months in the program. Based on the long-running success of The Healing Place program, that is a lot of Silver Chippers who can walk in seeking support at any time!

Since I have been on the Board for seven years, I thought I knew The Healing Place pretty well; but I did learn quite a few things that I did not know about the program. Clients work tremendously hard on the road to recovery – and they help each other succeed. Another thing I learned is that in Detox on each campus there is a board featuring pictures of those who had sought help for their addiction, but ended up losing their lives. This board is not only a harsh reminder of one of the consequences of addiction, but it is a connecting tool for stories of hope for others, reminding those in the program of the impact they have on other clients and their families. My final takeaway from the Board Day of Service is that until you walk through The Healing Place as a client, you don’t truly understand its magic and power. I’m so grateful that this exercise was created while I am still on the Board. What an amazing way to spend a few hours!

We received overwhelming support from the restaurant community for the 86 Addiction dining out event on July 22nd. Recognizing the need for recovery services, dozens of area eateries jumped on board to cook up operational dollars for our program. The participating restaurants reported that many customers came in specifically to support The Healing Place. One owner said it was the busiest Wednesday he has had in six months. It really is an inspiration to witness the community come together and support our mission.

I was particularly moved by the number of former clients of The Healing Place we encountered working in the restaurant industry. One owner said that he liked hiring our alumni and others in recovery because they tend to be more accountable – meaning they meet their mistakes head on and focus on solving challenges. Most importantly our alumni are grateful for a second chance and carry a positive attitude into the workplace. One of our alumni shared that he brings a higher level of energy and commitment to his job. Each day here on our Louisville campuses, I watch our 500 clients help each other restore productive lives. Working as productive employees our alumni are building up the city that they once just survived in. 

As the Major Gifts Officer, most of my days are focused on the needs we have. The growing addiction problem in our community has made expansion of our services necessary. Our Men’s Campus Capital Campaign is focused on doubling the number of beds on West Market so that we can rise to meet the needs of our community. Our unmatched success in delivering the tools for addiction recovery is part of my everyday language. Rarely do I get to experience the success of our program like I did with this event. Someone once said that gratitude is an action word. Seeing our alumni living productive lives and the local business community working to support our mission is evidence of this truth.

Today for me, HOPE is back on the menu!

One of the easiest ways you can help men and women struggling with drug and alcohol addiction is to use your Kroger Plus Card every time you shop at Kroger.

You'll get more than just good deals -- if you enroll your card in Community Rewards and select The Healing Place as your organization, we'll get a donation from each purchase that you make. All of those grocery bills add up fast too! Since September 2014, we have received more than $3,200. The latest quarter, March 1 through May 31, we received $1,259.71 -- from 137 Kroger customers who selected The Healing Place as their designated organization. Just imagine what that number could be if we reached 500 people!

Patrick Fogarty is Chief Program Officer at The Healing Place. He has been with The Healing Place for four years and is an alumni. Patrick is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC).

Are you from Louisville? If not, how did you end up here?
I’m a born and bred Louisvillian.

Why did you want to work in recovery?
Originally I had no desire to work in recovery. When I became a Peer Mentor after completing the THP program, I got a sense of fulfillment that I had never experienced before. I made a decision that this was the direction that I wanted to take my life and took some really good advice: go back to college and gain all the experience you can.

What is your favorite part of the job?
It amazes and inspires me seeing alumni of The Healing Place and their wonderful accomplishments through long-term sobriety. There is a collateral effect when people change their lives, and they end up positively affecting countless others along the way.

What is your least favorite part of the job?
Although I love my job, it is most difficult for me to speak with seemingly hopeless, distraught mothers. I instantly reflect back on thinking about the pain that I inflicted on my mother through my addiction and how she had to deal with these emotions. I am lucky that I can now give advice to these mothers that can help get their loved ones pointed in the right direction.

How has THP made a difference in your life?
The Healing Place believed in me before I believed in myself – while showing me a new way of living. I still incorporate the structure instilled at the HP into my daily life. I would certainly be dead or rotting in a prison somewhere if I never had the opportunity to enter The Healing Place program.

Addiction is a family disease. Those living with loved ones in addiction often believe that the problem lies with that person. If that person would just stop drinking or using all of the family problems would go away. This is never the case because families are deeply affected in many different ways over the life of a loved one’s addiction.

When alcohol or drugs are introduced into a family system, the family’s ability to regulate its emotional and behavioral functioning is severely challenged. The family’s ability to maintain homeostasis or stability is in constant flux but it will continue to balance itself in alcoholic homes. This balance often becomes a dysfunctional sort of balance as families are consumed by their loved one’s disease and lose their sense of normal. Family life revolves around their loved ones addiction, whether that is hiding the addiction, minimizing and containing problems to keep the family from blowing up, or being overly pleasing or overly withdrawn. Life is organized around trying to manage the unmanageable disease of addiction. Because the disease is progressive, family members fall easily into patterns of relating that become increasingly more dysfunctional. Everyone walks on eggshells, being hyper vigilant and ready to run for emotional (or physical) shelter or put up defenses at the first sign of trouble. One family member addicted to alcohol and drugs means the whole family suffers. Addiction is a family disease that stresses the family to the breaking point, impacts the stability of the home, the family's unity, mental health, physical health, finances, and overall family dynamics.

Addiction can totally disrupt family life and cause harmful effects that can last a lifetime if help is not sought. No family is born with the knowledge of how to deal effectively with addiction so skills must be learned and practiced every day. The biggest challenge to family recovery is the belief that fixing the addicted person will fix the family. It’s common to hear family members say, “She’s the one who needs help, not me!” Helping families understand that they are responsible for their own recovery is just as critical as an addict being responsible for theirs.It is essential that solutions are designed to restore the whole family and just as there is a recovery solution for addiction there is one for families as well.

For more information on help for families contact Al-Anon, Nar-Anon, Alateen, or the Adult Children of Alcoholics.

Karyn Hascal is President of The Healing Place. She has been with The Healing Place for seven years. She came to The Healing Place as Vice President for Mission Advancement in 2009 and became President in 2012. Karyn is a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC).

Are you from Louisville? If not, how did you end up here?
I am originally from northeastern Ohio. I came to Kentucky because it was warmer!

Why did you want to work in recovery?
I discovered early in my career that I was passionate about helping those who were still suffering from the disease of addiction. As my career went on, I was able to work in situations that allowed me to look at large systems and create new opportunities for folks to access services.

What is your favorite part of the job?
My favorite part of the job is seeing men and women success. It’s fun to watch the dramatic change in people over time.

What is your least favorite part of the job?
I really don't mind any parts of the job but I do get frustrated sometimes with the bureaucracies that we have to live in!

How has The Healing Place made a difference in your life?
The Healing Place has given me the constant affirmation that change is possible and hope is available. The positive energy of The Healing Place is transformative and impacts me every day.

There is one thing certain about heroin: it’s destructive. It affects not only the user but families, the workplace, healthcare costs, and public safety – in short, the very fabric of our society. It runs through veins and lives with utter abandon and not only destroys quality of life but in time, life itself. Less certain in the minds of some – and up for debate – are the most effective methodologies in the treatment of heroin use.

The use of Medical Assisted Treatment (MAT) has exploded in popularity over the last couple of years, specifically the use of Suboxone, which has the active ingredient buprenorphine. Buprenorphine is a partial opiate agonist. In theory, it is supposed to partially bind with opiate receptors preventing the individual from getting “high” on heroin and other powerful opiates while only causing a slight amount of euphoria for the individual. Also, in theory, when the dosage of buprenorphine is increased by the individual in attempts to get “higher” they will not gain the euphoria that are seeking.

Those of us who are on the front lines have a different perception of this theory or what science has told us what to believe. What we have seen are dramatic increases in both men and women addicted to Suboxone as their new primary drug. In fact, the vast majority of the heroin users that come into our detox units have tried Suboxone treatment before trying The Healing Place. We have found the detox from Suboxone to be very much more prolonged compared to heroin causing a client backlog in our program. Buprenorphine is covered under the Affordable Care Act, so every addict has the decision to try this as a treatment option.

The Lexington Herald-Leader recently published an article on Suboxone treatment. The prescribing of Suboxone has skyrocketed over the last few years due to the heroin epidemic that has scourged this state. According to the article, Kentucky officials claim that the prescribing of Suboxone “has increased 241% since 2012 and 80% of the prescriptions for it were being written by 20% of the state's 470 certified prescribers.”

One typically has primary drug addiction, but we must always be cognizant that most addicts suffer from polysubstance abuse or polysubstance dependence – using whatever, whenever it is available. To successfully treat addiction we must realize that the underlying issues must be addressed within the individual and not simply focus on temporary harm reduction. Remember: our addiction is our response to the world around us and our inability to cope within that world.

The Healing Place has a philosophy of treating all drugs of addiction in the same manner: total abstinence. We believe that a spiritual solution is the means to long-term sobriety. Our philosophy incorporates accountability, selflessness, structure, and the development of positive behaviors. We do accept that our methods are not the only way to get sober, but we are committed to continue using the philosophies which have garnered us worldwide acclaim for successful outcomes and restored lives.

These methods have been the foundation of The Healing Place for more than 25 years. Our model has spawned tens of thousands of success stories and there is a reason The Healing Place has been recognized nationally as a Program That Works. With respect to alternative methods of treatment, we will stay the course on this established and proven path. We will continue to focus on reaching those in need and offer them a new design for living.

The first 164 pages of the Textbook of Alcoholics Anonymous, first published in 1939, clearly states the consensus experience of the first one hundred men and women who found a “successful consummation (p.25).” They met frequently to bring fellowship to the newcomer (pp. 15 – 16). They emphasize that when a message-taker first meets with an interested prospect, dual notice is given: 1) the opportunity to share helps the sharer’s recovery, and 2) the sharer hopes that the prospect, when recovering, will then help other alcoholics. Each one places “…the welfare of other people ahead of his own (p. 94).”

Fifty years after those experiences were put to paper, a research study confirms the wisdom, and the necessity of this approach. In a study of inpatient-treatment patients ten years after discharge, 91% of patients who stayed involved in AA, who kept going to meetings, and who continuously sponsored other AA members had uninterrupted sobriety for ten years.It works if you work it -- when you work it for others.

Cross, Gerald M., Morgan, Charles W., Mooney, All J., III, Martin, Carolyn, and Rafter, John. “Alcoholism Treatment: A Ten Year Follow-Up Study.” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.Vol. 14, No. 2. March. 1990.

**Quinn Chipley M.A., M.D., Ph.D. is the Counseling Coordinator at the University of Louisville Health Science Center Campus**

What should I bring with me to the program?
Clients should bring: several changes of comfortable clothes, comfortable walking shoes, personal toiletries that do not contain alcohol, a warm coat, shower shoes, at least a 30-day supply of non-narcotic prescription medications (check with staff before bringing any medications to find out if they are allowed), paper, pens or pencils, and smokers may bring a carton of cigarettes.

DO NOT BRING:
Cell phones, personal electronic devices (laptop computers, tablets, mp3 players, gaming consoles, etc.), money, anything containing alcohol, unapproved prescription or over-the-counter medication, weapons, vehicles, and non-recovery related reading materials. If you have a question about what to bring, call staff at 502-585-4848 ext. 210.

Can I have visitors?
 · Clients in the detox program may not have visitors at any time.
 · Clients who are in the Off-the-Streets program (OTS) may visit with family and friends off-campus on the weekend.
 · Phase I clients may visit with family and friends off-campus after 4:30pm. Phase I clients may also visit with family and friends who come to on-campus self-help meetings for 15 minutes prior to the meeting and 15 minutes after the meeting.
 · Phase II clients may visit with family and friends off-campus as their schedule allows.

What if I have a court date coming up?
Having a court date during the program does not prohibit someone from coming into the program. Talk to staff about your legal situation and they will help work it out. The Healing Place does not transport clients to court dates. You are responsible for your own transportation to and from court dates.

Will I be allowed an overnight pass to leave campus?
Overnight passes are occasionally approved during the later stages of Phase I.

Am I allowed to work or go to school while in the program?
No. Clients are expected to commit their full time and attention to their recovery while in the program.

What if I have medical appointments while in the program?
Participants may follow up with medical appointments and procedures provided they do not interfere with program participation. On occasion, clients may need to take care of their medical conditions prior to participating in the program.

How do you work with clients who have children?
We have a Family Coordinator who acts as a liaison between our clients and organizations such as CPS, family court, and other agencies. The Family Coordinator assists clients in transitioning their children back into their lives by arranging short, consistent visits that progress over time to longer, overnight visits. Parents are encouraged to attend the weekly Parent Support Group facilitated by the Family Coordinator. Each quarter, we have a Family Day at each campus where families are invited to come and learn about our program, addiction, family roles, and Al-Anon.

How do you help prepare clients for “life on life’s terms” after completing the program?
Upon completion of the educational portion of The Healing Place program, clients enter continuing care and have an opportunity to live on campus for a period of time or be referred to off-site transitional housing. Clients receive employment, medical, legal, and educational referrals.

How can we contact a family member who is in the program?
Family members can leave messages for their loved ones between 8am and 1:30pm. Messages are checked daily and delivered at 2pm. Calls may be returned by Phase I clients between 4:30pm and 11pm and by OTS clients between 5pm and 8:50pm.
Louisville Men’s Campus: 502-357-9780
Louisville Women’s Campus: 502-357-9780
Campbellsville Men’s Campus: 270-789-0179

Pay phones are available to use on the weekends until 11pm. Clients in detox are not allowed to use the phone and will not receive any messages until they are out of detox.

Louisville is making headlines for implementing Kentucky’s first needle exchange program. I applaud the efforts of the Louisville Metro Department of Health and Wellness to implement a needle exchange program here in Louisville. It is an unfortunate reality that heroin is being frequently used by people in our community and intravenously. The consequences of this fact are far-reaching. The chronic illnesses that accompany the use of dirty needles are so costly and destructive to individuals, employers, and insurance companies. It only makes sense to try to prevent the spread of these chronic illnesses.

Needle exchange programs are not a new or novel idea. Between 1991 and 1997, the U.S. Government funded seven reports on clean needle programs for people who inject drugs. The reports are unanimous in their conclusions that clean needle programs reduce HIV transmission, and none found that clean needle programs caused rates of drug use to increase.

Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in 2004 “The majority of studies have shown that needle exchange programs/syringe exchange programs (NEPs/SEPs) are strongly associated with reductions in the spread of HIV when used as a component of comprehensive approach... In addition to decreasing HIV infected needles in circulation through the physical exchange of syringes, most NEPs/SEPs are part of a comprehensive HIV prevention effort that may include education on risk reduction and referral to drug addiction treatment, job, or other social services. These interventions may be responsible for a significant part of the overall effectiveness of NEPs/SEPs. NEPs/SEPs also provide an opportunity to reach out to populations that are often difficult to engage in treatment."

The needle exchange programs provide the opportunity for education about the disease of addiction and interventions for those who are using. A lot of people still believe that addicts can and should just stop using drugs and alcohol. If it were that easy, folks would just do it. Addiction is a very powerful disease that takes over every facet of one’s life. I talk to addicts every day who say that they had no clue how to get out of the lifestyle and give up their drugs and/or alcohol. If coming to a program to get clean needles puts them in contact with accurate information and resources for treatment, then it seems a valuable option.

Prevention works! It is time to be proactive about prevention activities to try to get in front of these issues that we are facing as a community.

Learn more about Louisville’s needle exchange program.

The following is a profile on Jay Davidson written by John Mulder. It was first published in 2005.

His first memory is of alcohol and violence. When he was five or six, he witnessed his drunken father abuse his mother. His father cut the bottom off all her dresses and then pushed her through a first-floor window. He never saw his father again for 27 years. When he did, his father was in the advanced stages of alcoholism and subsequently died of his disease.

More than a half-century later, Jay P. Davidson is the Chairman of The Healing Place.

A half-century after his earliest recollections, Davidson is a humble man – sobered by his own alcoholism and his own human pain. He is also a passionate man – driven by his relationship to God, the vision of the model of recovery that he led in developing, and his conviction that recovery should be available to everyone, anywhere.

Davidson was born in 1942 in Denver. Because his father deserted the family, his mother always worked outside the home. He and his younger sister had a babysitter who became a second mother to him. “She spent more time raising me than my mother did,” he recalls.

Davidson and his sister took care of the house, and he was his sister’s guardian. When he was 12, he went to work cutting grass and started paying rent to help cover living expenses. When he was 15, he started work at an amusement park. There he began his drinking career, consuming glasses of leftover liquor from the patrons who partied the night before.

In high school, he went to classes and worked. “I wasn’t social, and I never dated,” he remembers. “I was too small for football and basketball and too slow for track.” In his junior year, he found his niche – ROTC. He excelled in the military training program, and by his senior year he was battalion commander. He also forged his life’s dream – to be a lieutenant colonel in the U. S. Army.

After finishing high school, he found a job with GMAC. He also applied for admission to West Point Military Academy but was denied. This, he says, fed his inferiority complex. He stayed with GMAC, rising steadily in the ranks, and attended night school at the University of Denver, studying accounting. “I hated it,” he recalls.

In 1963, he met Carolyn Sue Miller. “She was the first woman to show interest in me,” he says. “I was dumbstruck. I saw it as the only opportunity I would ever have to get married.” They did – on Nov. 22, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He was 21; she was 19.

His wife had an alcoholic father and mother. Jay had an alcoholic father and a mother who abused alcohol. “I think we were both trying to escape,” he says.

Two years into their marriage, the Vietnam War was escalating, and Davidson started receiving letters from his draft board. With his wife’s approval, he decided to enlist so that he could have a choice of duty. One month before he was to report, his wife discovered she was pregnant. Davidson might have received an exemption because of his wife’s pregnancy, but he chose to go into the Army anyway.

When the baby was due, Davidson was at Ft. Benning, Georgia. His wife went into premature labor. Their son, Erik, was born with a lung disease and died 36 hours later. His wife sank into a severe post-partum depression and was hospitalized for three weeks. Davidson buried his son by himself.

They never addressed their grief. Davidson was on property restriction at Ft. Benning for 11 weeks. He saw his wife only to exchange laundry. Eventually he was shipped to California, and she accompanied him. She contracted mono and spent his entire California tour in bed. In the Army, Davidson reported to two officers “who knew nothing,” so he ran an entire Basic Training Company even though he was only a second lieutenant.

In June 1967, Davidson was shipped to Vietnam and assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division. He was promoted rapidly – to 1st Lieutenant, then Company Executive Officer. “Combat was the key,” he says. He and his men were good. They fought in several key battles and were especially skilled in counter-insurgency. If he had stayed two more weeks, he would have had another promotion, but “I had had enough.” “I saw life snuffed out, men reduced to a mass of flesh,” he says.

During his tour in Vietnam, he had one R & R with his wife in Hawaii. “It was a disaster – kind of a blur,” he reports. “I couldn’t adjust.”

When he returned to the States, he and his wife settled in Columbus, Georgia. At Ft. Benning, Davidson taught at the Officers Candidate School, focusing on counter-guerilla operations and air mobility operations. “It was the same thing as what we’re doing in Iraq,” he says.

His wife had been told she couldn’t have any more children, so the Davidsons adopted a baby boy, Matthew, when he was seven days old. “He was the perfect baby. He never cried,” Davidson says. “We thought he would fix our marriage.”

Two months later his wife was pregnant. Jeffrey was born with the same lung disease that claimed his brother’s life, but he survived. “He had a rough go of it,” Davidson recalls – club feet, crossed eyes, colicky. “Matthew was the child from heaven; Jeffrey was the child from hell.”

Caring for the children “drove Sue practically insane,” he remembers. Davidson spent “more time drinking away from the house.”

Doggedly he pursued his Army career. He was sent to the University of Omaha to complete his bachelor’s degree in general studies and then to Ft. Knox, where he and his wife separated. She left a note on the door: “I’ll tell you where to send the furniture.” Six months later they divorced.

Davidson remembers that he knocked around the base. His friends “felt sorry” for him, but he was “emotionally wasted.” He knew his marriage was falling apart long before it ended, but “I would not admit that drinking was a factor.”

Ft. Benning was a turning point not only in his marriage but also in his life. Although he had gone to a Methodist church until he was 12, religion meant very little to him. A friend invited him to a Bible study at his home on the base. A couple from the Christian outreach group, the Navigators, was visiting. They shared their story of losing an infant son but finding God. Davidson said it was “the most moving experience of my life up to that point. I sat sobbing. I wanted what they had.”

He went into a bedroom with the couple and prayed with them. “I became a Christian that day,” he declares.

But, he quickly adds, “I became a man of two worlds – the spiritual world and the drinking world.” His drinking continued unabated.

He began to teach Sunday School on the base, joined a choir, and there he met Shirley. “It was love at first sight for both of us, even though we denied it,” he says.

Davidson was shipped to Connecticut, and on Jan. 27, 1974, they were married in a gazebo in the town square of Milford, Conn. Because they were both divorced, they tried three different ministers before they found one who would perform the ceremony.

The newlyweds had a year together before his ex-wife sent Matthew and Jeffrey (ages 6 and 7) to live with them. A month later Shirley’s ex-husband sent her two girls (ages 9 and 15) to be with them. “We went from two people to a family of six in two months,” he recalls.

The Army moved them – relentlessly – to New Jersey, Germany, and back to Ft. Knox. Along the way, Davidson earned a master’s degree in logistics through Florida Institute of Technology and became a major.

By then, his drinking had become an addiction. He made a trip with his commander, and on the commercial flight home “I got really plastered,” he says.
His commander told him he would kick him out of the Army unless he got control of his alcoholism – no pension and no promotion to lieutenant colonel.

“That’s what really got to me,” he says. “Even though I destroyed my first marriage and nearly lost my children because of alcohol, it didn’t stop me. But when I confronted losing my dream of being a lieutenant colonel and losing my pension, that shook me completely.”

Davidson “finally knuckled under,” he says. “I decided I would do anything to save my career.”

He entered intensive outpatient therapy for six months and attended 90 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in 90 days. It was very difficult; “I was one of the first officers to go to rehab,” he says. But it was also liberating. “It was in AA that I found unconditional love,” he says. “It’s a love that accepts you for who you are in spite of what you’ve been.”

He received his promotion to lieutenant colonel, was transferred to Washington but not the Pentagon, and realized his Army career was probably over. He retired in 1986 a much-decorated officer – the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Silver Star, Bronze Star for Valor (two awards), and the Army Commendation Medal (four awards). New to recovery and new to civilian life, he began to sort out his options.

He decided – literally – to join a carnival, owned and operated by friends. He loved the work (designing the layout of rides, payroll, everything), but his tenure there was cut short by the owner who became jealous of Davidson’s success and fired him. “Not many men can claim to be fired from a carnival,” he jokes.

From 1988 to 1990, he served in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as an adviser to the Royal Saudi Air Defense Force. Those were hard years for Davidson and Shirley and their family, but he recalls his work with the underground house churches there with deep satisfaction. “We had fellowship services,” he says. “They were ⅓ prayer, ⅓ praise, and ⅓ message. For one hour everyone put away their differences.”
When he returned from Saudi Arabia, he says, “I wanted to get involved in helping people.” He enrolled at the Kent School of Social Work at the University of Louisville and pursued a master’s degree in counseling. “I wanted to be a therapist for individuals and couples from a Christian perspective,” he recalls.

Working with fellow alcoholics was “the last thing” he wanted to do. But in December 1991, Dr. Will Ward asked him to take over the Morgan Center, a homeless shelter started by Father John Morgan. “I never told anyone I was an alcoholic at first,” he says. “I didn’t think they would hire me. I wanted to keep my recovery personal, but God had other ideas.”

Within 60 days he knew that homelessness could not be addressed without focusing on the underlying problems – alcoholism and drug addiction. Davidson lived at the shelter for two months. “The men knocked me over with their breath,” he remembers.

“I learned that the men were suffering from the same disease that I have. I knew that any psychoanalytical treatment was doomed to failure without AA and the 12 steps. These men had access to all the social services, but addiction was the root of their problem.”

During that first year, Davidson hired Chris Fajardo, and between them and with changes along the way, they forged “the program” of The Healing Place. It is a combination of AA’s 12 steps, a course of study called “Recovery Dynamics” developed by two AA leaders, and peer mentors who bring their “experience, strength, and hope” to each client in the program.

In 1995, Davidson launched a program for women alcoholics and addicts, modeled after the men’s program but adapted to the special needs of women. Today the men’s program serves approximately 260 clients; the women’s program serves half that number. But the new strategic plan for The Healing Place calls for doubling the women’s program in the next five years so the two programs will be the same size.

Since Davidson arrived at The Healing Place, its financial situation has nearly always been in jeopardy. Key doctors from the Jefferson County Medical Society helped provide the critical start-up money; Davidson wrote successful grant proposals. Yet, The Healing Place got by “on a shoe string.” When he feared he would not be able to meet payroll, he often appealed to Dr. Ward, who raised the emergency funds.

“I lost a lot of sleep over finances,” he confesses. “Learning how to trust God in my profession was much harder than trusting in my personal life. I finally learned to let it go. Money would show up every time.”

Finances were not the only challenge. In 1997, Davidson’s professional peers tried to close The Healing Place. The Healing Place was accused of treating clients without a license and even mistreatment of clients. Davidson and two of his colleagues were criticized and their social work and drug and alcohol licenses questioned. Finally, the Inspector General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky ruled that The Healing Place was not a treatment program but a recovery program. All claims against it were deemed unsubstantiated.

The acrimony wore Davidson down. “It was the year from hell,” he admits.

Despite the criticisms and financial anxieties, Davidson continued to dream of reproducing The Healing Place in other communities. First came the Hope Center in Lexington; then The Healing Place of Raleigh, NC; and in January 2005 The Healing Place in Richmond, VA.

In late 2004 as he heard about the plans for using The Healing Place as the model for the statewide system of 10 recovery centers, the news seemed too good to be true.

The man whose remembered life began in alcohol and violence, the man who distinguished himself as an Army officer but was afflicted with alcoholism, the man who sought a private recovery but found a public role as the leader of a recovery center – Jay Davidson now saw a his dream becoming a reality.

When the news of Gov. Fletcher’s plan broke in the press in 2004, Davidson made two comments. The first was characteristic: “This is God’s work.” And the second was justifiable: “This is the happiest day of my life.”

There are a lot of questions about how the program at The Healing Place works, the services we provide, how much we charge (answer: nothing), and who is not a candidate for our program. 

What is The Healing Place recovery program?
The Healing Place has served Metro Louisville and surrounding areas since 1989 with a nationally recognized, innovative social model recovery program for drug and alcohol addiction with a success rate of 75%. More than 4,000 clients have completed the program throughout the nation with 70% of clients from Kentucky, Indiana, or Ohio.

What services does The Healing Place provide?
Louisville (Men's and Women's):
· Non-medical detox (3-10 days)
· Residential alcohol and drug services (approximately 6 months)
· Transitional living for those who have completed the residential program (approximately 3 months)

Campbellsville (Men's):
· Safe off the streets (3-10 days)
· Residential alcohol and drug services (approximately 6 months)
· Transitional living for those who have completed the residential program (approximately 3 months)

Who is NOT a candidate for The Healing Place program?
All clients must be 18 or older and be able to physically participate in the program.

How much does the program cost?
The Healing Place does not charge a fee for any portion of the program. We do not accept any kind of insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare.

What is the program process?
There are four phases to The Healing Place process.
· Entry/detox
· Off the streets motivational phase
· Phase I intensive peer-driven recovery program
· Phase II continuing care

Part two of our Frequently Asked Questions will be posted next month.

I’m writing this post on May 12th and in the first 12 days of this month, 116 clients have been admitted into the detox facility on the men’s campus in Louisville; 63 are using heroin as their primary drug, which is 54% of the clients we’ve seen so far this month. I say primary drug because in reality, most addicts in this day and age are poly-pharmacy users, using a combination of substances to achieve that high. When you’re dependent on any substance, you’ll do whatever you have to do to get it; the addiction and the obsession are that strong. Because of the extent of the addiction, many addicts keep using until there is nowhere else to go. This could be jail, facilities like The Healing Place, or many times death.

It’s not getting any better out there on the streets. It’s hard to try and kick the addiction and stay clean while not having the proper tools to do so. I too was lost in the lifestyle of addiction. It didn’t matter what I had to do to get another fix nor did it matter who I had to hurt. I am here to tell you life is a lot better on this side of the street. Because of The Healing Place introducing me to a new way of life, I am able to hold myself accountable and continue to do the next right thing for almost four years now. It is a true blessing to be where I am at in life inside and outside of The Healing Place. 

It is becoming easier and easier to get heroin. Prices are cheaper and product is being cut with who knows what. Not only do people not know what they are getting, but they don’t care. Four years ago when I was caught in the grips of addiction, it took a little work to get heroin and it was a little more expensive. I’m definitely not reminiscing, I’m saying is in the 3 ½ years I have been sober I have seen a complete 180 degree change in the lifestyle. Not only is it getting worse, but people are dying left and right. I know this from experience. Since November 9, 2011 when I got sober, 22 guys that I knew personally took their last breath due to the disease of alcoholism and addiction. What makes it hard for me is all 22 guys were in the solution but choose to go a different way. They carry the message in a strong and profound way, with depth and weight. All we can do is use these guys as an example of what the end result can be if we don’t surrender and become open-minded to a new design for living.

An increasingly robust bourbon industry and its enthusiasts will not influence rates of alcoholism, nor will it help or hinder the likelihood of an individual developing alcoholism. Above all, individuals with alcoholism ultimately are accountable for their own actions and how they choose to deal with the ramifications of the disease.

According to the Mayo Clinic, alcoholism is by definition “…a chronic and often progressive disease that includes problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol, continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems, having to drink more to get the same effect (physical dependence), or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking.”

The critical part of this definition is that alcoholism is a disease. Scientists have even suggested that alcoholism and addiction are brain disorders. Despite that, there continues to be a lot of stigma related to the disease of alcoholism/addiction with suggestions that it is an issue of morals, weakness of character or upbringing and ultimately a choice made by the person who is afflicted.

There are two influences that help perpetuate the stigma related to alcoholism/addiction.

The first is a lack of information by the general public. “There are life-long risks of addiction. Just because you’re well doesn’t mean those risks go away,” stated Joseph Lee, medical director at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, in a USA Today article by Nancy Armour. The Healing Place and other recovery and treatment programs supply alcoholics and addicts with the tools necessary to manage their disease on a daily basis.

Silence is a second negative influence. For far too long, alcoholism has been hidden by active alcoholics/addicts, as well as their families, friends and co-workers. Denying the problem will not make it go away. Stigmatizing those who struggle with addiction will not motivate them to seek help.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration conducts the National Survey on Drug Use and Health on a regular basis, assessing the prevalence of alcohol and other drugs of abuse among the U.S. population. The most recent report indicates that the rates of alcohol dependence/abuse have declined from 2002 to 2012. In 2012, 17.7 million Americans (6.8% of the population) were dependent on alcohol or had problems related to their alcohol use. This is a decline from 7.7% in 2002. This decrease has happened in the face of an expanding selection of alcoholic beverages throughout the country.

It is important to remember that distillers and brewers are not responsible for the disease of alcoholism. The prevalence of alcoholism is not increasing nationally and the manufacture, distribution and sale of bourbon are not the culprits of addiction.

Instead of directing energy toward discouraging the promotion of the bourbon industry, which has become an economic boon for Kentucky, we should focus on helping alcoholics restore themselves to productive lives. Their disease would exist regardless of the proliferation of any distilled spirit.

It is undeniable for those who suffer from the disease of alcoholism and addiction, along with their families, that the consequences can be devastating. For each alcoholic/addict, it is presumed that eight people are affected by their disease and many of those are innocent victims. We must provide treatment and recovery services for those who are suffering, as well as offer prevention services to children in our community. Before this can happen, the addict or alcoholic must examine their life, step forward, and take responsibility for their own recovery. Those who are in recovery now live in the mainstream and often do not celebrate their recovery publicly. The Healing Place celebrates recovery and stands ready to help those in our community who are ready to take the first step.

This Op-Ed originally appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal.

When Texas Roadhouse opened its new restaurant in Middletown earlier this month, it selected The Healing Place as selected as the charitable recipient of its soft opening. The Middletown location opened to the public April 6th, but the Friday and Saturday prior it was open to employees’ friends and family members so the employees could practice serving a full restaurant. The meals were free -- with all tips and alcohol proceeds going to The Healing Place. 

In two nights, Texas Roadhouse raised a staggering $8,712 to help men and women struggling with addiction. Because we are able to help one man or one woman recover from addiction for $25 a day, able to aid in the recovery of one man or one woman for $25 a day, that incredible donation will fund a full day of operations on the men’s campus, as well as help us help 98 clients on the women’s campus!

We want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone at the Middletown Texas Roadhouse for your overwhelming support of The Healing Place.

I have been working in the Medical Clinic at The Healing Place for six years and have seen firsthand the struggles the indigent have with accessing our healthcare system on both sides of the Affordable Care Act. Before the law, resources for clients were extremely limited. For basic primary care, people had resources in the form of Family Health Centers and Park DuValle Community Health Centers. These clinics are fantastic and provide dental and health services to low income individuals. There are several of these clinics located throughout Louisville; however without insurance these clinics had a co-pay. A small co-pay may seem insignificant to you and I, but to someone with extremely limited funds, $40 is exceedingly hard to come by. People that are indigent do not have the luxury of a budget allocating regular healthcare costs. Though there were barriers to this care, it was and still is a great option for the indigent.

The real healthcare issue the indigent faced is trying to get connected to specialized care. Getting an appointment with a specialist like a dermatologist, orthopedist, or neurologist could take up to six months. Even getting a MRI could take months. This long wait is with full-time staff contacting providers and advocating for patients. The idea of a vulnerable and indigent person navigating this process on their own was (and still is) laughable. The major impact the Affordable Care Act has had on the indigent population has been in this capacity. Funding was the largest issue before, and now providers can at least bill Medicaid for services. There were limited appointments for people paying for services, and even more limited access for those who would be paying close to nothing.

Don’t get me wrong, the system is still not perfect. Though people have Medicaid, they don’t get into see a specialist in a day, or even several weeks, but the chances of them getting the care they need is much higher. Now when we contact doctors’ offices, the first question we get is “Does the person have insurance?” It is fantastic to be able to say yes and get an appointment on the books for a client in one phone call. The next step forward is an increase in service providers. One of the greatest things about the Affordable Care Act is that our healthcare system is moving in the right direction. Hopefully our country continues to trend in a positive direction.

Senate Bill 192 was passed last week in a legislative effort to combat Kentucky’s heroin issues. Tougher penalties for dealers, needle exchange programs, a “Good Samaritan” provision, and greater access to Naloxone were all incorporated into the bill. Naloxone will be readily available for both first responders and concerned loved ones of heroin addicts. The new legislation will reportedly infuse many “millions” of dollars saved from previous judicial reforms into the Kentucky addiction treatment system as well.

I am a huge believer that first responders should be equipped with Naloxone and be trained in properly administering it. This will surely save many lives, and one must live to get the help they need. I am not advocate of families obtaining Naloxone with the hopes of potentially saving a loved one when/if they overdose. I believe that this sends the wrong message to families and neglects a critical component for a loved one to get help: tough love. 

After Naloxone, then what? Naloxone will save you from death, but not from life. There has to be a plan to help the suffering find life. Drugs are rampant in our community for a reason, and that reason is the simple law of economics, supply and demand. One must find out the underlying cause of their addiction. For many of us, our drug use is our means of coping with the world. 

My advice for families and friends is to develop a plan for their loved one and offer them a solution. Along with this offered solution the family will take a firm stance that they will love from a distance until their loved one treats their addiction. The addicted may accept their help and may decline their help, but what most of us in recovery know is that you will continue in active addiction until the last of your enablers are used up. This firm and very difficult stand by the family will ensure that enabling has ceased and create a scenario were the addicted will seek help much sooner.

I can’t imagine telling a family to obtain a Naloxone kit while their kid is living under their roof shooting heroin and hope that when they overdose that they can be there in time to save them. Families become hostages in their own home and can become sicker than the addict they love so dearly. As a recovering heroin addict myself, I would be dead if those I loved did not offer tough love and allow me to begin healing. The family also needs space to begin the healing process from the insanity of constant fear and worry of their loved one.

I am all for saving lives, but we must be cognizant of our message. Addiction is not a spectator sport. Eventually the whole family gets to play.

A few years ago, we took a very hard look at The Healing Place and defined the core concepts that drive the model. We did this work in cooperation with the staff of The Healing Place of Wake County. Recognizing the diversity that exists among communities (urban versus rural; social, political, and economic landscapes; patterns of alcoholism and other drug addictions; community and recovery resources), our model can be successfully implemented within the unique context of any community. Adjustments in program operations and creative solutions can be made to accommodate these differences. 

Core elements of The Healing Place model cannot be changed without changing the model and therefore the outcomes and efficiency. Outlined below are the core concepts or elements that must be a part of the program in order to be considered a true Healing Place. Strict Adherence to these core concepts in and of itself is a critical factor in order to replicate The Healing Place. They must be in place prior to opening of a facility.

-- View alcoholism and other drug addiction as a chronic disease and provide services that are consistent with this view.
-- Reduce or eliminate barriers that could prevent access to the program, such as cost.
-- Provide a long-term, peer-driven social model recovery program.
-- Teach a 12-Step based curriculum.
-- Utilize the community process, in which clients hold each other accountable for inappropriate behaviors and suggest strength-based suggestions on how to change that behavior.
-- All components of the program must be present and sized proportionately

Once these core elements are in place, the challenge then becomes staying true to the model and these concepts. We are pulled in so many directions for a variety of different reasons – funding sources want to dictate program structure and components, pressures from communities to add additional components that come with every new drug of addiction, changes in science and new intervention options, political pressure to conform to other programs, etc.

There are many pressures to change and conform, but we have remained steadfast in our goal to be the best Healing Place model that we can be. When you go to a McDonald’s restaurant you know exactly what to expect when you order a Big Mac, whether you’re ordering it in Amarillo, TX Seattle, WA, or Trenton, NJ. We want to find the secret to replicating in such a way that no matter where you go to a Healing Place facility, you receive the same quality of service. It is critical that we know who we are, what we do our best, and strive to be the best in that arena.

There are many new and different interventions for those who suffer from the disease of addiction and we certainly applaud all the efforts that are being made to treat addiction. We will continue to do our best to be a successful long-term, residential, abstinence-based, social model recovery program for those who choose our services.

As in the beginning years of Alcoholics Anonymous with one alcoholic helping another, the HOPE at The Healing Place comes from a man or woman further along in the recovery process acting as a role model for the one struggling to decide if change is possible. The HELP comes from the role model who gratefully gives the struggling person a hand up rather than a hand out and shares their experience, strength, and hope on how they were able to change. The HEALING part of the model is focused on healing the whole body.

Alcoholism and addiction is a biological, sociological, psychological, and spiritual disease and the model The Healing Place has developed addresses each of these areas using the principles of a 12 Step program of mutual-help rather than self-help.

There are three critical key components of the social model recovery program developed by The Healing Place -- Peer Mentor role modeling, community accountability, and a core curriculum using the principles of a 12 Step program.

Peer Mentor role modeling is provided by men and women who have completed the program and have a strong desire to give back what was so freely given to them to allow them to recover. These Peer Mentors share their experience, strength, and HOPE while role modeling recovery behavior. The Peer Mentors are the attraction for those who have given up hope that change is possible. They become willing to try one more time to change because they see changes in someone just like themselves and they want that change.

HELP comes from community accountability during a one hour community meeting of all the men or women in the recovery program. This meeting occurs every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. During the meeting each week the men or woman hold each other accountable for inappropriate behaviors and suggest strength-based suggestions on how to change that behavior. Because the men or women are together 24 hours a day/7 days a week, there are no secrets and all behavior is observed by someone; as a result change happens. Old behaviors are changed and new people, places, and things are found.

HEALING comes from the men and women completing a 12 Step curriculum with written assignments that guide the men and women through a change process that, over a six to nine month period, provides an opportunity for a spiritual awakening. Men and women become equipped with the tools to remain clean and sober when a life crisis occurs by using their home group, support group, and sponsor.

The Healing Place social model recovery program has successfully helped thousands of men and women become the best fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, employees, students, and volunteers as they give back. The Healing Place Alumni become role models for the community and are proof that HOPE is possible and that change can happen.

It’s called Brackets for Good. 64 nonprofits are matched up in brackets, just like the ones used in the NCAA tournament. Instead of the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four, you have the Supported 16, Engaged Eight, and Philanthropic Four. 

I first met Jay Davidson in 1998 at River City Corrections, Lifeline Recovery Program. I was interviewing counselors to work in a new recovery program in the local jail. A team of three staff members were interviewing a number of candidates for the positions and Jay Davidson was one of those candidates. To make a long story short, we decided not to hire Jay at that time; we didn’t feel that he had enough experience to work with the jail population that would be in this program! So as a result of being turned down for the jail position, he accepted a position with Father John Morgan as the shelter director for what was then Mission House. The rest is Healing Place history! So I take full credit for Jay being at The Healing Place, not for what he’s done since but just for his being here. Had we hired him at River City, would The Healing Place have ever been born? Clearly that was God intervening in the process.

It has become a sad and widely known fact that heroin addiction and overdose deaths left in its wake are sweeping through Kentucky in harrowing fashion. On a daily basis, The Healing Place operates in the trenches of substance abuse detox and treatment. The Healing Place is an abstinence-based, 12-Step social model recovery program that has been successfully helping alcoholics and addicts for the past 25 years. Yet, each day, we must turn away so many people desperate for help. The heroin crisis is why. Five years ago, heroin addiction accounted for approximately 5 percent of client admissions at our men’s campus on Market Street in Louisville. Today, that has risen to a staggering 95 percent.  People are dying while waiting for an available bed at The Healing Place. We are a microcosm of the bigger picture. Heroin’s ugly grip is why The Healing Place is raising funds in support of a larger campus—this drug’s advance across Kentucky shows no signs of stopping.

Kentucky Senate Bill 5, introduced in this legislative session, is well-intended and addresses many critical points. Yet, we believe solving the heroin crisis is not so black-and-white. Addiction is a very complex illness and the solutions will not be simple. There are multiple interventions for other diseases that do not come under fire and force a hierarchical paradigm. For example, cancer may be treated with radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and/or hormone therapy. We do not condemn one treatment path over another. Yet, in the arena of addiction treatment, we are pressured to choose the type of intervention that is right, and therefore the others must be wrong. There are many avenues to recovery from addiction. There does not have to be one right path to success. In fact, there is not one generally acclaimed treatment option. Addicts are individuals and require individual levels of intervention.

Regarding Senate Bill 5’s approach to Naloxone, this is a terrific drug when used correctly to revive those who have overdosed from heroin or a combination of heroin and other drugs. We are in full support of all first responders having Naloxone kits so they may revive someone on-site during an overdose emergency. Naloxone allows the addict to live long enough to get to treatment. Our concern is that some people are being revived five or ten times. Recovering from heroin addiction takes determination, dedication, and fortitude—and Naloxone is not a cure in and of itself.

Additionally, we absolutely do support the decriminalization of those reporting an overdose in progress. This will save lives. Many individuals resist calling EMS in time because they fear being charged at the scene. This legislation eliminates that possibility and could help get more people to life-saving help and treatment more urgently.

Regarding the issue of mandatory sentencing, uniform penalizations for anyone possessing at least 2 grams of heroin will simply overburden what is already a corrections system bursting at the seams. For an average heroin addict, 2 grams is often a one- or two-day supply for personal use. Under this legislation, users possessing this amount will be sentenced in the same way a dealer would be. Broad-brush incarceration is simply a recipe for more jail overcrowding. We tried mandatory drug sentencing laws as a strategy for addressing cocaine in the ‘70s and ‘80s.  The only result was a huge prison population.  Let us learn from our mistakes. Putting addicts in prison is not an effective intervention.

The issue of additional funding for treatment must also be carefully weighed. It is our hope that these critical dollars will be allocated across the spectrum of both public and private treatment and recovery programs showing proven results for addicts. Until there is a definitive cure for addiction, can we not support the interventions that are available, affordable and working? There is no need to be pushed into a position to choose one as better than the others.

There are a number of interventions available to those who are still suffering. The future of families across Kentucky depends on it.

​This originally appeared in the Courier-Journal.

When delivering the backpacks on Monday, Tina said that even though the day was hard for her, she knew that Maegan would have wanted her to help the ladies. When Maegan first entered the program, Tina took her and some of her friends in OTS to the store to buy new backpacks and hygiene items... so Tina has now decided to continue the tradition of helping women at The Healing Place in Maegan's memory. 

You can read the letters that Tina and Maegan's brother Ethan included in the backpacks here.

For more information about Butterfly Backpacks, check out the Facebook page that Tina has set up.

"From the outside I had it all: my own show on the #1 cable news network, a nice salary, an apartment on Central Park, beautiful clothes in my closet, the ability to take luxury vacations, family and friends who loved me... but on the inside, I was dying a little every day. Alcohol had become my life. It was my best friend and my greatest enemy... it gave me everything and nothing. In living a double life, I was keeping an enormous secret from those closest to me, one that nearly killed me. I truly believe if I hadn't experienced that moment of grace, when I realized that my life was a lie and I needed to quit drinking, I wouldn't be alive today. I consider the acts of getting, staying and living sober the greatest achievements of my 46-year life. While my addiction may have been a liability, my recovery is an asset.” -- Laurie Dhue

You may not know Laurie Dhue’s name, but you definitely know her story. It’s a story that’s found in thousands of homes across Kentuckiana. She is an addict… an alcoholic who became an advocate for recovery after her own anonymity was broken by a fellow reporter.

Dhue’s visit to Louisville to speak at the Celebrate Freedom Dinner is part of her mission to educate the public about addiction while helping those who are addicted to alcohol or drugs get the assistance that they need. In addition to Dhue, clients will share their stories in the powerful “Collage of Voices”. There will be a live auction as well, with all proceeds benefiting the program which has changed thousands of lives since 1989.

Laurie Dhue is the only anchor to have hosted shows on the three primary cable news networks: CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. In her 23-year news career, Dhue has interviewed international leaders, politicians, celebrities, and newsmakers. She is now the lead news anchor at TheBlaze and hosts the investigative program “For the Record”. 

Her role as an advocate for recovery began four years ago. In 2011, she spoke at a private prayer dinner about the role faith played in her life. Since the dinner was supposed to be private, she talked about faith and her battle with alcoholism… but a reporter in the room decided to tell Dhue’s story for her. Dhue now calls that a blessing because she gets to travel the country helping those in recovery and helping others understand addiction.

When asked why it’s important to tell her story, Dhue says “For the last several years, I've been very outspoken about my battle with addiction and journey through recovery because I believe that the longer we stay silent, the more people will die. Addiction is a disease that affects tens of millions of Americans and yet because of the stigma and shame still associated with it -- it gets far less attention than breast cancer, HIV, or diabetes. I believe that by sharing my story I am helping to create an environment of help and hope which will allows more people to come forward and admit they have a problem and that they need help. We're not ‘bad’ people trying to get ‘good’, we are sick people trying to get well. I want everyone to know that while addiction CAN lead to very bad things -- jails, institutions, death, destruction -- recovery CAN and DOES work... and it's a lot of fun! I'm living proof.”