1st Recovery Home

Way Maker, Hendricks County’s first recovery home, has an interior meant to welcome residents and create a safe space for growth and education.

There are several non-profit groups and leaders in the county working to improve the drug epidemic in our area, but funds are needed and time to put programs and expertise in place is lengthy.

After hours of phone calls, searching for an inpatient facility for her son, Dottie Grubb came to the conclusion there was no recovery residences the county could offer. Grubb’s son often stayed at Marion County facilities, placing him closer to dangerous situations rather than farther away.

Several members of Parents of Addicted Loved Ones (PAL) have spoken about resources and the importance of having services offered to those suffering from addiction both available and close by.

Cindy Whyde, a member of PAL and parent of a son currently in recovery knows all-to-well the struggles of getting help when needed.

“My son was prescribed opiate pain killers from a shoulder injury in high school. That was his first taste of it and things progressed from there until it was a full -blown heroin addiction,” Whyde said.

In the beginning, Whyde said, no one was talking about it. It wasn’t until he joined a gym and the owner recognized signs of drug addiction that Whyde realized the issue was larger than teen marijuana use.

For 13 years, her son was in and out of treatment facilities, often out of state.

Whyde remembers the frustration and pain as she tried desperately to find help for her son.

“We had a lot of people say they won’t do inpatient because you ‘don’t die from withdrawing from heroin’. Insurance wouldn’t take you…. At one point, he was at the hospital and had been given something to calm him down. A social worker came in and she said ‘I’m not very good with this. Give me a patient with psychosis and I can handle it, but the chances of your son ever beating this is slim’,” Whyde recalls. “Her painting this bleak picture of my son was just heart wrenching. No one should ever be telling a parent their kid isn’t going to live through this addiction. I was devastated and finding a place for him became my mission.”

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