Editorial
Rockbridge Recovery is proving to be a model program for how a community can come together and commit itself to helping those who have been ensnared by the throes of addiction. This model program is allowing individuals to recover and resume being productive members of society.
Lori Turner of the Community Foundation that helped launch Rockbridge Recovery a few years ago, appeared before Buena Vista City Council this past Thursday to offer thanks for the city’s support and give an update on what has been accomplished to date.
“When you said yes [to supporting Rockbridge Recovery], you wanted to approve a good program,” said Turner. “You were telling the neighbors, your constituents, the ones in the hardest season of their lives, those in recovery, that they matter and that they’re worth investing in, that they belong here.”
Turner gave a PowerPoint presentation, displaying slides of photographs of what has evolved into a “recovery campus” in Buena Vista. There’s the original Hope House, a six-bedroom men’s residential facility that opened its doors two years ago, and its women’s counterpart, a four-bedroom residence that opened last year, as well as a peer outreach, harm reduction and community care center.
The Hope House residences are temporary homes for recovering addicts to live, cook, share meals, gather and rebuild their lives. Each home has shared kitchens, common living areas and fitness centers.
The residences aren’t intended to look “like an institution,” Turner explained. “It looks like a home, and that was deliberate. Dignity isn’t a luxury in recovery. It’s part of treatment. And a woman who spent years being told that she was the problem, walks through these doors, and maybe for the first time in a very long time, or maybe ever, she feels like she has to fit— she belongs somewhere good. And every— nearly every room that you’re looking at was furnished by someone in this community, whether it was a church group, whether it was a business, a family. They didn’t write a check to a fund. They furnished a bedroom for a specific woman that they would never meet. And that’s the kind of community that we have here, and that’s what [they] helped us build.”
She continued: “We have a harm reduction center. We have nightly groups – NA, AA, SMART Recovery. … We have all kinds of classes that are available for people … we have hygiene services. They can come in, they can do their laundry, they can take showers. If you’re homeless, we always have shelf-storing foods for them. So what we’ve created here is not just a recovery house like we originally did, but actually a whole recovery campus, and that’s available to the entire community to take advantage of.”
Accompanying Turner to last week’s meeting was Mark Peters, a recovering addict who’s gone through the Rockbridge Recovery program and is about to graduate from the Maury River Recovery Court. He told Council he’s putting his life together after more than 10 years of active addiction.
“I graduated the Hope House program and decided that I wanted to go into peer recovery support,” said Peters. “And so I got my certification and that’s what I do now. And that’s how I’m trying to give back to this community that, you know, I ravaged for a long time. And none of it would be possible without the Hope House, without Lori. She’s been amazing. Anytime that I needed someone to talk to or just anything, I knew who I could call.”
Another person who has gone through the program, Josh Clark, is working as Rockbridge Recovery’s substance use services director. He was recently named Virginia’s Peer of the Year for the success he’s had in helping others. Rockbridge Recovery itself was recently recognized by the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority as a statewide model for how community-based organizations and local governments can join forces to confront the opioid epidemic.
Buena Vista, Lexington and Rockbridge County governments have gotten behind this initiative and pooled their opioid settlement funds to establish and financially support Rockbridge Recovery. This is a wonderful resource that is providing much-needed services for individuals in need. We are fortunate to have it in our community and grateful for the many individuals, organizations and businesses who have made it possible.
ROCKBRIDGE RECOVERY in Buena Vista has evolved into a campus (view from above at left) and community treasure for those who are recovering from addiction. A couple of views of the interiors of the Hope Houses are seen (at right) in a women’s bedroom and the men’s kitchen.
