By Abby Hofrichter, Communications & Social Media Coordinator, Hofrichter Creative LLC
As we left our 700 Xenia Avenue location earlier this month, the September sun poured over the top of the building, illuminating the bright blues and deep purples of the mural on the side of the building. It was as if nature was shining a spotlight on the building itself saying, “Come on in. There’s something good in here.”
This building is where East End Community Services’ treatment and rehabilitation teams meet, work with clients, and host meetings. The building, just 141 feet from our main offices in East Dayton, is a symbol not only of the hard work and growth of our team members but of the resiliency and determination of recovery.
East End’s work in the field of treatment and rehabilitation began less than 10 years ago with the Bryne Criminal Justice Innovation grant that allowed us to create the Conversations for Change (C4C) and Getting Recovery Options Working (GROW) projects. What started as a small meeting, sometimes with just two people, quickly grew. Since 2012, East End has conducted 24 C4C events that have reached over 763 people and have turned GROW into a mobile crisis response team consisting of police, EMTs, and certified peer support specialists from East End. In 2017, East End launched the Peers for Change initiative that currently boasts a full team of peer support specialists providing community outreach and one-on-one peer support to clients. In recent years, our team successfully spearheaded Bridging the Gap, a program focused on helping women with a substance use disorder transition back into their community following successful completion of behavioral health treatment or granting of parole. Women involved in the program are moved into the new 700 Xenia Avenue building where they will soon be offering five non-traditional treatment meetings each week.
Rather than trying to attribute this team’s growth and success to one or two factors, we asked them to share their own thoughts on what’s helped them serve and support their community on their road to recovery:
“East End is willing to meet with people exactly where they’re at. We want to be our clients’ equal partners.”
– Caroline Triodi, Resource Specialist
“The opposite of addiction is connection and that’s what we’re focused on building here.”
– Everett Davis, Peer Support Specialist
“All that I can say is that recovery works! It happens and this is where it happens on the ground level.”
– Vicky Vinzant, Case Manager
“I don’t ever want credit for the work that our program does because I put in work to stay sober, too. But, I like to see that we team up together. Our team helps check up on each other and on each other’s peers. We’re a good community and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
– Kayla Cockerham, Peer Support Specialist
