INDIANAPOLIS — A local recovery center for women who are experiencing substance use disorder is expanding.
The Dove Recovery House for Women opened a new outreach center on Thursday. They explained how need has grown since the pandemic began and they currently have dozens of people on their waiting list.
Inside the residential treatment center on N. Meridian Street near 34th, women are getting the help they need and turning their life around.
“When I got there I was pretty beaten up internally and externally,” explained Jillian Weimer, who received help through the center.
“The behavior leading up to that was prostitution and only living to use drugs and I wasn't being a mother. I wasn't being a daughter, didn't have a job… my job was to get high and that was all I’d spend my time doing."
Weimer said she has tried almost every major treatment facility in the area, but she says something was different about Dover Recovery House for Women.
“I think what makes Dove House different is that they have an on-site trauma therapist. The root of most peoples quote issues is trauma untreated,” Weimer said.
They’re also funded through private donors and grants, so it doesn’t cost anything for those needing services.
“We are really the only kind of program like this in the community, really in the state of Indiana providing residential clinical treatment for no charge. We don't require they pay, we don't require health insurance," Wendy Noe, Executive Director of Dove Recovery House for Women said. "They can stay with us for 90 days up to two years and while they're with us they're getting that on-site clinical care, peer case management, individual therapy, group therapy like relapse prevention."
Noe explained they have a 70% success rate, but they are limited by space on how many people they can help. She said right now they have 85 women on their waiting list to get into the residential facility. That is why they are opening a new outreach center.
“Once a person makes a decision to stop using drugs and alcohol there's a 24 hour window of time to get them into active treatment and unfortunately our wait list is about 3 to 4 months, so opening up an outreach center and getting them clinical services all in one place while they wait for a bed… we can hopefully keep them within the triage and treatment cycle for their addiction and hopefully not lose them back to that use of substances,” Noe added.
She hopes others can use the new space to find the same hope and success that Weimer did through Dove's services.
“Just being able to be present in my own life today, that for me was probably the greatest blessing next to being able to be a mom again,” Weimer said.
Data from Indiana University shows that nearly one out of every 12 Hoosiers meet the criteria for having a substance use disorder. That is almost 500,000 people.
If you or someone you know are struggling with addiction, you can get help by calling 211. You can also call the Indiana Addiction Hotline at 1-800-662-HELP.
