Recovery Center’s grand opening stresses human connection
Amid the group of people shuffling around on the third floor of the newly established recovery center on Center Avenue, Mallory Bole, a planning committee member, greeted another woman — a probation officer who had at one time, at the height of Bole’s addiction, removed her child from her care.
Now a volunteer going on five years sober, Bole, a Navy veteran, said the grand opening of the Center on Center on Wednesday, May 8, brought her face to face with people who in the past had either defended or prosecuted her in the court system.
Certified recovery specialists, law enforcement, medical professionals and locals filled the floor, waiting for opening remarks by Donna Jenereski, director of the Butler County Drug and Alcohol program.
Rachel Shuster, chairperson of the center’s board of directors, and Jason Beckwith, center coordinator, also spoke about the vision for the recovery center, and were followed by Butler County Commissioners Kevin Boozel, Kim Geyer and Leslie Osche.
The center will be staffed by certified recovery specialists and people in recovery who can provide support and mentorship, Shuster said. Its mission statement is to foster an inclusive community empowering people to “unlock their full potential through education, transformative experiences, community connection and holistic recovery support.”
“We hope to foster a sort of nondenominational recovery community,” Shuster said. “We might have differences in our substance use histories, how severe (our addiction) was, or what recovery pathways we’re currently on, but the similarities — that is where we find healing, understanding, community and communication. And as the common saying goes, the opposite of addiction is connection.”
“Connection, love and acceptance matter,” Shuster said. “And it is for that reason that I hope anyone who ever enters these doors will find this to be a place where they are met with non-judgmental acceptance — that they find connection, community and a sense of belonging ... right here within these walls.”
Most importantly, the center will build bridges between people in recovery, and between the recovery community and people who have never experienced substance use disorder, Shuster, Beckwith and county commissioners emphasized.
“I learned early on that if you take a plant that is dying out of the soil and put it into healthy soil, it starts to flourish again,” Beckwith said. “But you take that plant right back and put it in toxic soil, the same thing is going to happen again. We’re trying to create an environment to catch people that come out of treatment, and surround them with connection, belonging.”
“These are human elements that most of us take for granted that people in recovery have been disconnected from, on a primitive level, to the point where they almost don’t believe they can connect with human beings,” he said.
“We are united in community,” Beckwith said. “It’s not a recovery community. It’s a community. We are all part of the community.”
The facility has exercise equipment, a space for yoga, as well as office space to help fill out referrals and job applications. The center is open to hosting programs and recreational activities, as well.
Current hours of operation are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 1 to 7 p.m.
Bole said community members are encouraged to bring their children with them.
“I wish there was something like this when I was going through recovery,” she said.
At 90 days sober, Bole said she was homeless with nowhere to go. The women’s recovery houses were full, she said. At the time, Bole said community would have made a big difference in easing her burden on the road to recovery.
“When I left (Butler) to move to Florida, there was a big stigma (against) addicts in the community, and the differences in fellowship between (Narcotics Anonymous) and (Alcoholics Anonymous),” she said. “I was gone for two and a half years and when I came back, there was a massive change that I got to experience that was phenomenal.”
Looking around the room, Bole said she recognized faces of people who had placed her in handcuffs, defended her in court and supported her.
“I was in high school with Rachel Shuster,” Bole said. “We both have been in the depths of addiction into recovery together ... a lot of the people that are standing in here, last time they saw me, they were standing beside me in handcuffs.”
“This is a great opportunity to be able to show a different version of (ourselves), because we do recover,” Bole said. “We can change. It just takes a little bit of work.”
