Local recovery efforts show promise

CELINA - Having passed the six-month mark, a new local recovery group for those battling substance abuse is showing promise and drawing both recovering addicts and their loved ones to sessions, organizers said.

It's also spread to the Mercer County jail, offering a lifeline of support to male and female inmates who want to improve their lives.

Brianna's Hope: A Better Life is a participant-driven, faith-based support group that aims to provide "hope though Christ to individuals and communities battling addiction, using support, encouragement and collaboration."

Brianna's Hope was launched in Redkey, Indiana, on Nov. 5, 2014. It was named after a young woman who had struggled with heroin addiction and gone missing, according to the non-profit organization. Her remains were found on Sept. 1, 2014, near the Jay County Conservation Club.

The Mercer County chapter began Nov. 7 at Grand Lake United Methodist Church's St. Paul Campus in Celina. It meets every Tuesday from 6-7:30 p.m. in St. Paul's Fellowship Hall. After a free meal, Team Hope - pastors, recovering addicts and counselors - facilitate the meeting. Participants, though, have taken the reins and drive many of the topics and much of the dialogue, as they share their stories, trials and tribulations with addiction.

The program supplements the attendees' ongoing treatment and recovery efforts by other agencies and programs. People from young teens to seniors regularly attend the local group's meetings.

"We're not doctors. We're not therapists. We're being real people that Jesus called to do something," Grand Lake United Methodist Church pastor and Team Hope member Diane Mendelson said.
Mendelson and fellow Grand Lake United Methodist Church pastor and Team Hope member Mick Whistler spoke of an unexpected development - many recovering addicts started showing up with their family members.

"We've got one gentleman who brings his spouse and his kids periodically. We've got a mother and daughter that come - they're both in recovery," Whistler said.

"A mother who comes and her son is in rehab, but she still comes," Mendelson added.

The sessions have taken on a family-like atmosphere in part due to the free meal and child care services offered to attendees, Whistler said.

"A lot of these folks, they've burned so many bridges. They've lied. They've cheated. They've stolen," Whistler explained. "And here's a group of folks that embrace them like a family and so they feel comfortable."

Consequently, many of the recovering addicts have reached out to the people they've hurt. Those hurt family members, the pastors said, need ministering as well.

"It's mending relationships that have been broken," Mendelson said. "You don't know how to do that unless you're in that environment. They're getting mentored just as the recovering addict is."

"Because it can be very lonely, regardless if you're the addict or the family," Whistler pointed out.

The evolution of the sessions' makeup came about organically, yet it hasn't impeded the group dynamic wherein members hold others accountable for their behavior and are quick to call each other out when they start "talking like addicts," the pastors said.

"You would think it would (change the dynamic), but it didn't," Mendelson said. "It feels very safe … it doesn't hinder the conversation."

Team Hope and attendees, though, don't judge or cast out participants who have stumbled along the way, thus engendering a sense of trust among those who gather weekly, the pastors said.

"We tell them, 'there's nothing you're going to do that's going to surprise or shock us. We know you're battling addiction and we know what that looks like,' " Whistler said.

Moreover, during weekly victory reports, attendees enthusiastically share positive personal stories, ranging from staying sober to getting a job to earning a good grade on a test.

"We truly are walking alongside them," Mendelson said, pointing out that participants attend court dates and visit members who may have landed back in jail for breaking parole or for other reasons.

The sessions involve prayers and participants often make prayer requests. Each session also includes a recitation of Brianna's prayer. The young woman's mother had found the prayer written by her daughter.
  Yet Whistler said the faith element, while a crucial component, is not forced upon participants.

"It's not in your face. We're not like Bible thumping. It's not a Bible study, but we will pull out pieces of scriptures once in a while that are supportive," he said.

Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey, who has invited the local chapter into the jail on a trial basis, said so far he's "very impressed" with the program, saying he doesn't see any hidden agendas.

"I have a lot of hope for it," he said. "I think faith is a strong component of recovery and Brianna's Hope is faith-based, but they're also forgiving for people that are going through it."

That flexibility and willingness to continue working with recovering addicts even in the face of mistakes are what makes Brianna's Hope stand apart from other programs, Grey said.

"We don't want you to relapse but if you relapse does that mean you shouldn't get credit for the three years you were good before whatever made you relapse?" Grey asked.

Local members visit the jail regularly, meeting with male inmates one week and female inmates the next week, the pastors said. Many inmates have expressed a willingness to change their lives.

And once they get out of jail, the members of Brianna's Hope will be waiting to walk alongside them, especially as recovering addicts attempt to cut ties with friends and circles of people who exert a bad influence.

In fact, several recovering addicts attend church, and the pastors have even baptized some of their children.

For more information or to donate, provide food or help cook meals, call Mendelson at 419-586-6621 or Amber Mott at 567-644-9492.

Brianna's Prayer:

"Please, Lord, look after me and my family. Please help me to do the right thing and to show people that I am not a bad person inside or out, and help me, Lord, to get through this disappointment again and know I made mistakes, but who doesn't? I don't do it to do wrong. I do it cuz I feel I have no other choice. I want a better life, Lord, I do. Please help me. Do to me as what you feel is best. I surrender to you. In Jesus' name, amen."