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ZZUNUSED
Residents voice concerns over The Healing Place
Sherry Hensley, of Huntington, listens as representatives of The Healing Place talk with local community members about a proposed drug- and alcohol-abuse recovery center during a meeting at the Fairfield East Community Center in Huntington on Monday, Sept. 15, 2008.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON -- Safety was the major concern voiced by Fairfield East residents during a meeting Monday at the Fairfield East Community Center to discuss plans for putting a long-term drug treatment facility in the area.
Advocates for The Healing Place of Huntington assured the residents that similar programs in other cities have, in some cases, made the surrounding communities even safer.
The Healing Place of Huntington would be a medication-free program that uses the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous as the root for its curriculum. The facility would be modeled after a program by the same name in Louisville, Ky.
Those working to establish The Healing Place of Huntington, including addiction treatment specialists, state legislators, faith-based leaders and local residents, have identified two sites for the facility. One site is the old U.S. Naval Reserve training center facility between West 8th and 9th streets on Jackson Avenue and the other is the former Lincoln Elementary School on the corner of 9th Avenue and 25th Street.
The program costs $25 a day per person to operate, but many clients don't pay. Instead, they earn their keep by preparing meals, doing laundry and other chores at the center. Advocates of the facility said the former Lincoln Elementary School site, now owned by Tri-City Floors & Ceiling, would house 50 male participants.
Sherry Hensley, who lives across from the former school, said she was concerned that people in the program would be tempted to steal from the surrounding houses in order to fuel their drug addictions.
"What's going to happen to my family, my neighborhood when these people move in?" Hensley questioned.
Mike Pickett, a recovering drug addict and The Healing Place of Huntington volunteer, has been involved with the implementation of several facilities and said the crime rate goes down in the area around The Healing Place facilities.
"Drug dealers stay away from the area," Pickett said. "There's no reason for them to be there because they're not going to get anything from (the recovering addicts)."
Pickett was joined by a host of other supporters and recovering addicts touting the program's impressive record. The Healing Place has a success rate of 65 percent, which is about five times greater than traditional recovery centers. It is being replicated at 12 additional sites in Kentucky and has been used as a model at centers in Richmond, Va., and Raleigh, N.C.
Pickett said the best example of the positive impact of The Healing Place was in Louisville, Ky. When The Healing Place was implemented in Louisville, it was placed in the middle of a downtrodden area that was filled with crime and drugs. Now, he said, the area has been revitalized and is used to help more people kick their drug and alcohol dependencies.
John Hampton, a recovering drug addict from Huntington and The Healing Place of Huntington volunteer, said there are a number of measures taken to ensure there are no incidents between program participants and surrounding neighbors. While there are 24-hour security sweeps in and around the building, Hampton said before they are admitted, participants cannot be previously convicted of a violent offense, a sex offense or have a serious mental illness.
