MIAMI COUNTY — It’s a safe space to focus on recovery.
The Tri-County Board of Mental Health recently received state certification for their services and programming for the Miami House Women’s Recovery Home and Shelby House Men’s Recovery Home in June.
Both the Miami and Shelby homes have met organization, administration, fiscal management and operations standards set by the association which is an affiliate of the Nation Alliance for Recovery Residences.
Director of Community Housing Dorothy Crusoe said the homes served 49 individuals — 16 at the Miami House and 33 at the Shelby House from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. The Shelby House recently had its three-year anniversary.
The organization also has homes in Troy and Sidney called “graduate homes” for those who still need structure following their recovery home program. The organization will also seek to have those homes evaluated for certification.
“With the opiate epidemic, entities popped up everywhere and there’s no uniformity to any of them. The certification process addresses that to some degree,” said Executive Director Mark McDaniel.
Crusoe said the certification ensures residents are not being “double billed” by pharmacies and allows residents to see their own bills, receive receipts and other sound accountability practices.
“It’s a whole variety of things. It’s making sure good programming is occurring,” Crusoe said.
Both the men and women’s facility provides 24 hour awake staff including recovery coordinators, on-site manager and peer recovery coordinator.
Residents receive support through individual recovery plans, budgeting skills, medical treatment including Vivitrol, access to transportation, and social services. The homes monitor and dispense all medications and over-the-counter drugs. Residents are required to obtain employment, pay $400 for services, not including food and attend programming throughout their stay in the home.
Recovery Home manager Ashley Lowe said, “The house is not meant to feel like a lock-down facility — it’s meant to feel like their home. It’s meant for them to want to come home, come back to the house and for it to be safe for them…knowing they are going to sleep without fear for that night.”
Director of communications Brad Reed said the 24-hour staffing is vital for those in recovery.
“Family will try to reconnect, friends will try to reconnect. There’s predatory people out there who will try to draw people back into the lifestyle. Without that 24/7 staffing, the temptations become too much. (It’s important) to have someone there for support, perhaps a peer who has lived through those temptations and can understand and empathize,” Reed said.
The organization is currently researching adding a Darke County facility to serve the community.
The Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health serves the Miami, Shelby and Darke counties. The organization has a 24-hour Crisis Hotline at 1-800-351-7347 or text “4hope” to 741 741. For more information and details about the services Tri-County provides, visit www.tcbmds.org.
