Residential Treatment Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Eastern Panhandle Sober Housing Development Receives Federal Funding

The Mountaineer Recovery Village, a sober-living housing development being built in the Eastern Panhandle, is getting extra funding from Congress to help get it off the ground.

The development is part of Mountaineer Recovery Center, a substance use treatment campus in Kearneysville. The project will provide patients with housing and transportation after treatment to help them re-enter the workforce.

The funding comes after a Congressionally directed spending request made by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito last year, and will see $1.5 million go towards the development.

“This will help members new to recovery reintegrate back into the workforce in a healthy living environment and reconnect with their families and help break the patterns of relapse,” Mountaineer Recovery Center CEO Jonathan Hartiens said in a statement announcing the funding.

In an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Hartiens said the funding will specifically go towards infrastructure for the community, including water and sewer utilities.

“The funding is important because many grants offer funding for personnel and services, but very few offer funding for construction or infrastructure,” Hartiens said. “This project could not be completed without these funds to provide the infrastructure for the village since grants do not provide funding for these kinds of costs.”

The project officially broke ground last October during an official ceremony. It’s in the middle of its first phase of development, which will see three houses supporting 30 residents that are expected to be fully built by July 1. The community is set to house around 200 families when completed.

Construction Begins On Eastern Panhandle Sober Living Community

Officials broke ground Friday afternoon on the Mountaineer Recovery Village, a first-of-its-kind sober-living housing development in the Eastern Panhandle.

The development is part of Mountaineer Recovery Center (MRC), a substance use treatment campus in Kearneysville. It’s set to provide its patients with housing and transportation after treatment and help them re-enter the workforce.

CEO Jonathan Hartiens said it’s a way to help provide the resources and environment needed for those struggling with substance use disorder.

“It’s so easy for people to revert to drug and alcohol abuse when they hit hurdles trying to reintegrate into the community,” Hartiens said. “Those hurdles can feel so insurmountable and with no other resources, they just as easily say ‘forget it.’”

The first homes being built are focused on housing for those who have been involved with the justice system, including those who have been recently released from incarceration and have been undergoing substance use treatment.

“One of the key components for people that are in recovery is to have a safe place to be,” said Neil McLaughlin of nonprofit Semper Liberi. The organization cooperates with the MRC to help those discharged from the program re-enter their communities. “Having a place where others around them identify with the issues they’re confronting as well is a much safer place to be than just going to the community at large.”

Among those present at the event were Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and state Delegate Jason Barrett, as well as representatives of Rep. Alex Mooney, Sen. Joe Manchin and Gov. Jim Justice.

“It’s a vision that’s coming to life,” Capito said. “Housing is very difficult for people who are transitioning and have been in recovery and are trying to set their lives on the positive course they want it to be on.”

The project has entered its first phase, building three homes that will house around 30 residents. The community is set to house around 200 families when completed.

Revamped Treatment Facility Aims to Provide Services to Women with Children

Marshall Health has begun construction on what will soon be the largest residential treatment facility in the region for women suffering from substance use disorder and their children.

In cooperation with the Huntington City Mission, Marshall Health is renovating a 15,000 square-foot building formerly known as “Project Hope.” The new project will be called Project Hope for Women and Children and is funded through a grant from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

The long-term treatment facility is intended to compliment existing services, such as the Maternal Addiction Recovery Center, Lily’s Place and Recovery Point, according to a press release.

The press release says while some services such as support groups and therapy will be delivered on site, services such as medication assisted treatment will be delivered at outpatient treatment facilities.

The goal, the release says, is to keep children with their mothers and both aid in recovery and teach long-term life skills.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Marshall Health, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.