There is no one size fits all approach to recovery. Every person’s triggers and stressors are different, explained Bob Vinson, director of Spectrum Outreach Services. Every person’s treatment process is different. Complete and total abstinence works best for some. Stepping down their use with suboxone or methadone until they can overcome their dependence works better for others.

But one thing that happens with all addicts, after completing their recovery, is the process of reintegrating into society. At some point, they all have to come home. That, Vinson explained, is when relapse occurs for many.

It might be a return of the stressors that encouraged use in the first place. Financial instability. Familial strife. Lack of positive support.

It might be simple temptation: old friends and neighbors stopping by and encouraging a return to old habits, or just the ready availability of drugs in the neighborhood.

Regardless of what the causes of relapse might be, Vinson explained, housing is an important part of successful recovery. This is why he and Spectrum’s Andie Leffingwell have been championing transitional housing for Lawrence County. Spectrum already manages a couple of facilities, like their Linda Center for women. But these facilities are limited in the number of clients they can serve, and in their ability to reunite families.

“These folks want their children back,” Vinson said, and having their children with them can be valuable in helping them maintain sobriety, as it both removes stressors related with the separation and gives them inspiration to remain sober.

This is why Vinson and Leffingwell are seeking the support of the county commissioners and others in obtaining a former motel to create transitional housing for families.

Turning one of the motels into a transitional housing facility could have a multiplier effect as well. Currently, some of the motels in the South Point area are magnets for addicts and dealers. Their low price point and the fact that the housing isn’t a long term commitment like a mortgage or lease, makes them attractive to people who are living, not just paycheck to paycheck, but day to day. By turning a location like the Country Hearth Inn, one of the locations that Spectrum is targeting, into transitional housing, they could not only provide a stable environment for recovery, but they could remove the location from the use of addicts and dealers who target our community.

The security measures that Spectrum would implement, like security cameras and drug screenings for anyone leaving and returning to the property, would discourage relapse and ensure that negative influences aren’t creeping back into their lives.

Families are already using these locations as homes. Vinson and Leffingwell said that up to 66 children in the South Point school district are using one of the hotels in the region as their home address.

Children living with an addicted parent are already exposed to unhealthy lifestyles and habits, they explained. But those living in the motels are also often subject to unsanitary conditions. Country Hearth, for instance, is guilty of a number of health and sanitation violations, including mold, vermin, inadequate fire protection, and bedbugs. While they have addressed a small number of those issues since being cited for them, conditions there are still deplorable according to Vinson. Furthermore, though the location has been issued citations for violating fire and sanitation regulations, the enforcement end of that process is inadequate to ensure compliance.

“We went into one room that had dirty mattresses on the floor,” Vinson said, “and it was obvious children had been playing in there.”

There was an old corndog on the floor, he noted, that turned to dust when it was stepped on. That’s how poorly the property was being maintained.

They have approached the owner, who does not live in the area, but Vinson said that as long as he is collecting rent on the rooms he doesn’t seem to care about the quality of the rooms or the activity that is going on there. Spectrum inquired about buying the property, and was quoted a price of $3 million. While they could not come up with that level of cash, they did work with Dr. Bill Dingus, with the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation, and were able to offer the owner a combination of $1.5 million in cash and $1.5 million in tax incentives. But the owner, who told Vinson that as a foreign born owner he didn’t pay taxes, wasn’t interested in that offer.

They are hopeful that, with the support of the county and regulatory agencies, they may be able to force the owner’s hand and, if they can’t convince him to sell, at least get the facility cleaned up and brought up to code.

If they can obtain the facility, however, it won’t just be housing. They want to use common areas to provide job training and employment opportunities to their clients, in the form of on-site shops and restaurants or cafes. By targeting the financial stressors and the housing stressors in this way, they believe they could minimize relapse.

But even if they can’t obtain one of the motels they are targeting, Spectrum says it is dedicated to addressing the housing issue, and the job issue. Especially for families in recovery, it’s key to creating and maintaining the stability that makes sobriety stick.

“They’ll never stop being addicts,” Vinson said, referencing his own battle with addiction and noting that despite over two decades of sobriety himself, he still takes it “one day at a time.” But with the proper support, they can stay recovered addicts, instead of relapsed addicts, and that is a victory.

Next week we’ll continue our look at how the community can help support recovery and overcoming the opiate abuse epidemic that plagues our region.