CELEBRATING 15 YEARS Graduates mark women’s recovery program success with stories of changed lives
In 2007, opioid addiction was raging, heroin was making a comeback and meth was a mainstay among substance abusers. That year, 22.3 million were estimated to be addicts.
Executive director Ashley Miller, herself a 2014 graduate of Lifeline, now leads the program. “I was once right where they are,” Ashley said, “so I am able to connect with them on a personal level to give them guidance from a nonjudgmental place.”
The addiction landscape shows why it was
Ashley said the center’s goal is to grow its capacity, so more people can experience the change she has. “Nothing brings me more joy than to see them change their lives and restore their families.”
“2007 was such a critical time to finally get a much-needed faithbased drug and alcohol rehab for women in our community,” Terrye said.
As the center works with an eye to the future, we also celebrate the hundreds of lives changed during the last 15 years. See three of their stories, along with a special volunteer who has served since the beginning, on pages 7-10.
necessary then to start Ladies Living Free, a Paducah residential recovery program for women. Today’s 53 million illicit drug users and abusers, or 165 million addicts if alcohol abuse is included, make the program even more relevant.
Classes and other program features: • Group and individual counseling
Lifeline began as a men’s program in 2004 and added the women’s program in 2007. The two, already operating under the direction of one board, rebranded together as Lifeline Recovery Center in 2020.
• Life skills training • Parenting • Anger management • Bible study
Terrye Peeler, one of the founders of the women’s program and retired executive director, recalls the urgency in 2007:
• Nutrition • Money management
“2007 was such a critical time to finally get a much-needed faith-based drug and alcohol rehab for women in our community,” Terrye said. “From the first group to the current group of ladies, I have witnessed God’s hand forever changing lives that once seemed lost and hopeless.”
• Fitness • Volunteer opportunities at Cassidy’s Cause and Starfish Orphan Ministry
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