People gathered Thursday to bridge possible gaps in the continuum of care existing in substance use disorder recovery programs.

Around 90 people attended the event, which spanned most of the day Thursday in the ballroom of Slippery Rock University’s Robert M. Smith Student Center.

The participants were arranged in tables of about six people, and in those small groups, people talked about issues relating to substance use disorder.

“The mission is to really promote recovery and support people in recovery across the county,“ said Alice Del Vecchio, director of SRU Institute for Nonprofit Leadership. ”I’ve been calling it creating a culture of recovery.“

The event featured participants from diverse backgrounds, including providers, program directors and those in recovery, as well as others involved in the recovery process.

Christy Bryan has been in recovery for 10 years, and she now helps people in recovery through her employment at Catholic Charities in Butler.

Bryan said when she went through the recovery process, the different stops along that road were disjointed with little guidance between each step of the process.

“Nobody was communicating, so nobody knew what each other was doing,” she said. “It was a huge difficulty.”

Bryan said events like Thursday’s help build the relationships between providers and programs so people in recovery will be led from one to the next with more immediacy and with less confusion about the transition.

“Getting together like this and developing those relationships, that’s going to be huge for clients,” Bryan said. “They’re going to have that support they need. They’re not going to have just one person. They’re going to have a whole village of people, a whole team of resources to help them.”

Informational booths also lined the walls of the center’s ballroom with pamphlets and information about programs, facilities and other support options for those in recovery.

At one of them sat Michael Watterson, executive director of ARC Manor, who also served as a panelist in the earlier part of the day. ARC Manor is a smaller, 13-bed treatment facility in Kittanning, but it serves all of its surrounding counties, including Butler.

As part of his discussion for the panel, Watterson talked about how a smaller treatment facility, such as his, could be beneficial for those intimidated by a larger operation.

“Sometimes it can be overwhelming to go into treatment or rehab, so to go into a larger facility might be a bit to anxiety-provoking for some folks,” Watterson said. “It really allows to have a lot of individualized care for the folks we serve.”

Watterson said he also liked the cohesiveness being discussed Thursday too. He said recovery won’t work without everyone being on the same page.

“We can’t be worried about competition,” Watterson said. “There’s enough of a need out there that we just have to do our best to help get that person wherever they need to go.”

Watterson said if his facility isn’t right for someone who walks in the door, then he tries to find them somewhere that is a good fit.

“As long as recovery happens, that’s all that matters,“ he said.

Throughout the day, the groups broke into sessions and were presented with topics and scenarios to spur discussion in the world of recovery. One topic broached was stigma.

Bryan said stigma continues to be a difficult social normative that weighs on the minds of those in recovery and sometimes ejects them from their path.

“Addiction gets that stigma behind it. Nobody wants to talk about it, and everyone wants to shy away from it,” she said. “To get a bunch of people together professional and non-professional to figure out the best way to help people is amazing.”

Watterson said the industry needs to continue breaking down stigmas that include ideas of shame and moral failing attached to addiction. He said it can often be a deterrent for not only those struggling but also their families who are supporting them.

“We need to kind of talk about it as a basic concern that people can go get help the same way they’d go to the ER or their (primary care provider),” Watterson said. “That’s what’s going to allow people to get to treatment, and then they return back to the community as a healthy functioning productive member that then gives back. That’s what makes our community strong.”

County leaders also were present, including county Commissioners Leslie Osche and Kevin Boozel. Osche led a discussion at the end of the day to bring the event full circle, taking the elements and ideas brought forth and finding a way to move forward.

“What’s the question for the broader community,” Osche said. “That’s the bridge that we keep talking about it, but we haven’t built it yet.”

Osche said it’s time for the community to recognize that if they want to see a cleaner community, community members have to be part of the process. She said she also sees recovery in a larger sense too.

She said embracing recovery is about recognizing that many people are recovering from many things, whether it be drugs, traumatic events or financial loss, among others.

“We are all in recovery of some sort from something,” Osche said. “This can’t be us and them. This is us. This is all of us.”