Grapevine Center celebrates recovery
The Grapevine Center in Butler gave the people it serves their annual day off from treatment and goal achievement meetings on Thursday.
Food, music and games took the place of the center’s usual programming at the 12th annual Recovery Fest.
“Why don’t we give them a day of no treatment, no obligations?” is what Al Lane said his wife Rita asked when they came up with the idea for Recovery Fest. The couple is part of the center’s peer support program.
“A day off. No treatment, no goals,” Lane said.
Center clients working through mental health, substance abuse and homelessness issues got a break from their normal routines so they could play corn hole and bingo, enjoy music, cool down with snow cones, and enjoy fellowship and a cookout.
“We’re celebrating recovery,” said Bette Peoples, executive director. “Everybody here is important. It’s important to celebrate recovery.”
Recovery Fest also holds a lesson for people working toward recovery: “It’s a life worth living,” Peoples said.
Tyrone Smith, 40, of Butler said the center’s certified peer specialist (CPS) program has helped him and many others.
Certified peer specialists support clients in their effort to reach their recovery goals, help them find resources for self care and act as confidants, he said.
“They do a lot of good for a lot of people. It’s a blessing,” Smith said.
Specialists are effective because they have received recovery services from the center, he said.
“CPSs have experience in recovery,” Smith said. “They’re different from someone without experience. They can only give you limited understanding. Someone who went through recovery has experience.”
Earl Supper, 48, a former client who does a variety of work for the center, said the center offers many services while providing a safe environment that is free from alcohol and drugs.
“It takes time, but they help with problems,” Supper said.
The center’s services include a drop-in center where people in any stage of recovery can get coffee and a meal, take a shower, use a phone and computer and play cards, pool and bingo.
The housing outreach program helps people find apartments or shelters.
The consumer and family satisfaction team assists other agencies by surveying their clients about the services they received.
People can call the center’s “warmline” from 6 to 9 p.m. any day and talk to a peer if they feel lonely, frustrated or confused. The local phone number is 724-431-2488 and long distance number is 1-866-431-2489. The warmline is not a crisis line.
The center’s moving program helps people in need to relocate.
