Shepherds House provides crucial services for recovery, especially during a pandemic
I have now been employed one year at the Shepherd’s House in Lexington. The past year has been interesting. I needed all 13 years of my own recovery and 20+ years of banking to survive the challenges presented each day working in a recovery environment with a population that remains under-served. I have seen residents relapse, overdose, and die from this disease. I have also seen residents achieve recovery from the obsession of drugs and alcohol, graduate our program, move into affordable housing, and begin new careers.
The Shepherd’s House is hosting our 21st annual Run for Recovery in July. Due to COVID-19 we have had to convert this 5K run/walk into a virtual affair. There are many uncertainties for the Shepherd’s House going into our next fiscal year. Budget cuts in LFUCG and other grant funding sources are directly impacting our operating funds (25percent) and we have no gauge on what to expect from a virtual Run For Recovery. This event has been our largest annual fund-raiser the past 20 years. Our theme remains the same “Who are you running for” (www.r4rky.com.)
The Shepherd’s House, Inc. was organized in 1989 by a small group of concerned members of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, in Lexington, Kentucky. These individuals had observed short-term (30, 60, 90 days) recovery treatment programs fail the addicted. These visionaries had the desire to think outside of the box and developed a long-term recovery treatment model. In 2020, 31 years later, the Shepherds House has not made any drastic changes to its treatment model. The Shepherds House main mission is to provide long-term (12-18 months), recovery housing and after-care treatment programs for individuals who suffer from addiction.
The Shepherds House recovery housing program has four phases of living and operates out of four transitional living facilities. The Shepherds House goal for residents is successful long-term recovery from substance abuse, provide stable housing, a network of sober-living relationships, accountability, the reunification of families, and assist residents back into the workforce and their communities.
The Shepherds House also manages five Substance Abuse Programs in partnerships with the Kentucky Department of Corrections. We manage SAP programs in the County Detention Centers in Boyle, Fayette, and Grant County. The Shepherds House provides recovery treatment to low-risk, incarcerated men and women. The positive economic impact of these incarceration programs is easy to measure. Men and women who graduate SAP, upon their release from jail, are better prepared for life after incarceration.
The Shepherd’s House prepares residents for re-entry into the ‘real’ world and the economic impact is a win (for the detention center-recidivism rates decline), a win (for the addicted-no longer hopeless), and a win (for the community–new tax paying citizen).
Chris Chaffin is the CEO of Shepherds House.