New Butler-based center to play critical role in path to recovery
The road to recovery does not end after treatment. Rather the path to sobriety is a lifelong journey filled with a mix of challenges and successes, according to Donna Jenereski, director of Butler County’s Drug and Alcohol Programs.
One of the most critical periods for people overcoming addiction, she said, is when going home from treatment — a step along the winding pathway that she hopes soon will be made smoother with the addition of a Butler-based recovery center.
“After treatment, people are going from a 24/7 structure where they are feeling good and feeling positive,” Jenereski said. “But once they come back to the community, life can become overwhelming.”
On Wednesday, May 8, Butler County Human Services is planning a grand opening for the “Center on Center” at 100 Center Ave. in Butler, a four-story property purchased for the cause in October by the Nonprofit Development Corporation.
The new recovery center, formerly the Grace Youth and Family Foundation, will provide communication resources, networking and healthy activities for people in recovery. The group behind the center’s approach aims to provide a safe space for those with a substance or alcohol abuse disorder and to make a lasting impact in the community, Jenereski said.
And, most importantly, the center will be a place, as Jenereski said, that will “let people breathe.”
The Center on Center
Location: 100 Center Ave., Butler,
Hours: 1 to 7 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, following a grand opening ceremony May 8
How to become a member: Applications are available for those who have been in recovery for at least 60 days. Residents and non-residents of Butler County are eligible to join. Members may bring guests, including children.
Brandon Savochka, director of Butler County Human Services, said the building’s large space allows the center to incorporate a wide variety of programs. The facility includes a commercial kitchen, office space for certified recovery specialists, open spaces for live entertainment and an area for weightlifting and yoga.
And while there are initial plans in place for the center, Savochka said, the facility will continue to evolve once people are using it.
“(The recovery center) is going to offer what the group wants,” Savochka said. “That’s what’s going to determine the programming. Whether it’s GED classes, job coaching, resume writing or a speaker series, whatever the members of the recovery center want, is the stuff that is going to be brought in.”
The center’s priority will be helping those that have been in treatment for 60 days, a demographic in the recovery community that Jenereski said is sometimes overlooked.
“We place a lot of our focus, as we should, connecting people to treatment,” Jenereski said. “However, sometimes we fail to realize, that at some point, they will return into the community.”
As life transitions are a pivotal time during recovery, the center is looking to help people sustain their sobriety when coming back into the community, according to Jenereski.
“If they haven’t build a strong network to guide them to continue their journey, their chances of maintaining their recovery are slim.”
Along with aiding in the success of recovering from substance use disorder and alcoholism, the Center on Center will hopefully inspire a “culture of recovery” in Butler, said Jason Beckwith, a member of the center’s planning committee.
“It’s a place that people who are in the early stages of their recovery might be struggling,” Beckwith said. “This way they can be surrounded by people who have been in their shoes before.”
The center can provide a life-changing impact not just for the individuals who may be on the road for recovery, but for the entire community, he said.
“This is a centralized place for people to congregate and get together,” Beckwith said. “There’s strength in numbers and this will give people a chance to feel like they belong. We’re trying to bridge the gap. We’re giving people a place to feel like they belong and then reintegrate them back into the community and strengthen our community.”
He said the planning committee hopes to sustain success with the new center in allowing flexibility in how it will operate once opened.
“To increase the rate of success, you have be innovative and fluid,” Beckwith said. “This county was built on innovation, and we want to keep a very open mind so we can maximize the impact on the people in recovery.”
How the center adjusts will be guided by people who are in recovery, according to Beckwith.
“(Going into this) the mindset was, if we’re going to have a recovery center, we want to have it being headed-up by our strong people in recovery that have walked-the-walk, that have experienced life and give a perspective you can’t get out of a book,” he said.
Beckwith said that there would still be people not in recovery who will be working in the facility, but as far as the decision-making aspect for the future of the center, that “will be guided” by those members who are in recovery.
The facility’s fluid approach toward engaging in sustainable recovery has the ability to inspire hope and a sense of belonging, he said.
And most importantly, Jenereski said, it provides those who need it, “a chance to breathe.”
