During a year when routines were upended by a pandemic, people recovering from substance use disorders have found refuge at the Recovery Rec Center.
The center, which opened in 2018 as a way for members of the local recovery community to provide resources for people with addiction, has seen an increase in participants at 12-step meetings and started new programs after the pandemic forced the center to shut down briefly this summer.
The pandemic brought more awareness to addiction and the need for keeping people connected with their support networks, said Amanda Browning, board president for the non-profit Recovery Coalition, which runs the center.
“There was an increase in relapses that we noticed, so that’s why we really wanted to reevaluate what we were doing to make sure that we could still provide the necessary means for people to get their recovery in different ways so that the relapse[s] wouldn’t go up,” Browning said.
For Browning, that meant staying in touch with her support network, doing craft projects and reading new books.
Along with the uptick in relapses, recent government data points to an acceleration of drug overdose deaths, which were already on the rise before the pandemic.
Over 81,000 drug overdose deaths occurred in the U.S. in the 12 months ending in May 2020, the highest number ever recorded in a 12-month period, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Rec Center, which is staffed by volunteers, provides meetings six days a week including a Bible study. A new Friday group, called Wake-Up, offers peer support. Four new members recently joined the Recovery Coalition’s board.
The center is at 1300 Ladoga Road.
Donations to the Recovery Coalition can be sent to P.O. Box 481, Crawfordsville. The center can be contacted at 765-323-3940 or email recoverycoalition2018@gmail.com.
