Lexington center helps her son stay off drugs. Now she wants it to aid more teens

LeSan Bass credits an addiction recovery center at Mount Horeb United Methodist Church near Lexington for helping her cope with her teenage son’s former use of marijuana.

Bass turned to The Courage Center, a church ministry, for assistance 10 months ago to encourage her son to stay sober and resume his education online.

“I have learned from what others have been through that it’s not always a choice, but a disease,” she said of substance abuse.

Meanwhile, her son goes to weekly sessions with counselors that she said allows him to vent about “frustrations he’s had” and make new friends who help avoid a relapse.

Bass is so impressed by the help received that she’s joined the center staff as an unpaid recovery coach for others.

Scotty and Susan Mill, founders of the year-old center, want to expand that help to more people. The Courage Center focuses on serving teens 15 years and older but it’s open to anyone up to 26. It doesn’t provide initial treatment for addiction, concentrating on counseling and activities to help those in recovery avoid relapses.

The Mills want to open a recovery center on an 18-acre site on the south side of Lexington. But their plans to open the center in the 700 block of South Church Street are being opposed by some neighbors, who say it’s not a good fit for the community.

“We don’t think a residential area is where a rehabilitation center for addiction should be allowed,” Gerald and Mary Ives said in a Nov. 20 letter to town officials. “We also feel that drugs may become a problem in this neighborhood and we don’t need that.”

Founders sought help

The Mills created the center after finding no help was available for their son during his recovery.

“We didn’t know where to turn and felt like we had a stigma on us,” Susan Mill said. “Now we want to help other families dealing with this.”

Randy Rush of Lexington, a volunteer counselor at the center, wishes it was available when his son entered a recovery facility in Georgia. “We had no pool of resources to draw from,” he said.

The growing popularity of center help – spread largely by word of mouth and on social media – is starting to overwhelm the limited availability it has at facilities donated by the church, the Mills said. And there’s no room on church grounds to put anything more, they said.

That’s why they want to open the center on South Church Street.

Officials at the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department say there’s been no problem with crime related to addicts around Mount Horeb. “We’re not aware of anything that fits that bill,” department spokesman Capt. Adam Myrick said.

Sheriff Jay Koon is on an advisory board for the center and among political leaders who support the expansion.

But residents urged the Town Planning Commission to turn down a rezoning request for the $2 million project, calling the proposal admirable but one that should be located elsewhere.

Town officials put the plan on hold last week to allow both sides to talk and try to reach agreement.

Center officials hope that a deal allowing it to open in late 2019 can be reached.

“I understand why it’s scary,” said Julie Cole, executive director at the center. “I expected push back.”

Expansion plan

Misconceptions abound about the project, Cole said.

Here is what center officials say they want to do, with some tweaks likely:

▪ The center would be up to 10,000 square feet – the size of a small store – situated in the middle of a site that would remain largely wooded. Admission would be controlled through a gate, with security cameras in place.

▪ No more than two dozen recovering addicts and relatives are likely to be there daily, often in small supervised groups. Two age groups may be formed – 15-18 and 19-26.

▪ Services would be available 9 a.m.-9 p.m. weekdays, with a reduced schedule on weekends. There will be no overnight stays.

▪ Besides counseling, services would include help with schooling and job searches as well as a recreation area with a workout area and pool table. No treatment for addiction will be offered.

▪ If the center closes, the site would revert to the church or another nonprofit. It won’t be sold for commercial development and a conservation easement will keep it mostly forested.

Center services are similar to those at support groups for other diseases such as diabetes, but designed for teenagers, Cole said.

Limited services available at the church a few days a week aren’t sufficent for many teens, she said.

The new center will be a place where they can drop by as needed and use a fuller array of services and recreation, she said.

Cole knows what works from personal experience, saying she still is in recovery from a teenage addiction to alcohol and cocaine.

A central location in the 758-square-mile county is vital for convenient access to services, she said.

If town leaders turn down use of the site, “there is no backup plan,” she said.

But rejection will be a temporary setback in opening a center in the area, Scotty Mill said.

“It’s going to happen,” he promised.

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 11:18 AM with the headline "Lexington center helps her son stay off drugs. Now she wants it to aid more teens."