Clinical, spiritual approaches parallel for successful treatment Pages 6-9
Extended stays promote responsibility, independence, wellness Page 5
INVESTING IN OUR PEOPLE
Recruiting, developing and retaining talented staff members
A FIRM FOUNDATION
GOOD AND BAD INFLUENCES
Page 3
Lifeline is building ‘on the rock’ to position recovery for the future
UNIQUE BENEFITS OF TRANSITIONAL HOUSING
Clients feel a part of community – not apart from one
COVER STORY: THE RIGHT COMBINATION Director: Clinical and spiritual attention must be parallel for successful treatment
BUILDING NEW MEMORIES
Women’s campus move to Morgan Lane doubles capacity
Page 4
Jessy King turned her life around to become a positive force for Lifeline women
PREPARING HER WHOLE LIFE
Class volunteer teacher says life experience helps her relate to women in recovery
FEELING CONNECTED
Page 5
2022 graduate says sense of belonging helped her out of addiction
THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 DONORS
JANUARY 1- APRIL 30, 2023
Pages 6-9
THANK YOU TO OUR VOLUNTEERS
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Pages 15
As exciting and rewarding as it is every issue to celebrate the changed lives of Lifeline graduates, we also rejoice in the success of Lifeline’s growing staff.
In three years, we have increased our staff from 13 to 42, including more licensed and credentialed professionals than ever before.
FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Ashley Miller 2014 Graduate of Lifeline
Our recent licensure and accreditation prompted some of that growth. With more staff available, we have set out to make them the best-trained staff in recovery.
In the last two years, we have offered more hours in continuing education, prompted individuals to seek additional certifications and looked for ways to grow leaders among the staff. Six employees are currently enrolled in college to get their counseling credentials.
According to VERB, a people development platform that empowers staff learning and development, the five reasons to invest in employee development are:
1. Attract great employees.
2. Keep employees engaged.
3. Improve employee retention.
4. Create promotable employees and strengthen the internal talent pipeline.
5. Be ready for the future.
A recent LinkedIn report (2018 Workplace Learning Report) said 94 percent of employees would stay with their employer longer if it invested in their career. And yet the #1 reason they aren’t involved in learning is that they don’t have the time.
An example is our new LUNCH for LEADERS quarterly series of leadership seminars for all staff. Each quarter, we meet at The Ranch for lunch with a business professional who offers tips for work/life balance, avoiding burnout and growing as a team. Our goal is to empower and educate all employees to help them reach their goals.
Many of our staff are former clients, who decide they want to stay here to help others fighting the same battles they once fought. Many of our leaders come from those very staff because they are committed to the mission and are developed through training.
When employees are engaged in our mission and with each other, they are more productive and satisfied on the job. And that translates into more effective guidance for our clients to help them be more successful in sobriety.
Ashley Miller, Executive Director
“Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. … It did not fail because it had its foundation on the rock.” – Matthew 7:24-25
Lifeline is building something big on the rock. With our firm foundation as Christ, we are seeking to meet the serious needs of those battling addiction in our community. With that foundation and your support, we believe there is no limit to what God can accomplish in the lives of the men and women who come to us for help in their journey to sobriety. Limited resources in the past have forced us to turn away half of the clients who apply, but we are committed to grow our resources so that NO ONE who wants to get sober will be turned away.
To position our program to serve more people, Lifeline leadership is making these improvements:
• Enlarging our facilities. With the men’s campus moving to the Ranch in Ballard County last year, we now can serve 80 men at a time, compared to 50 at the previous campus. Meanwhile, we have moved our women from the Bloom Avenue campus to the men’s former campus on Morgan Lane, increasing our capacity to 50 women, up from 21 at the previous location. Additional improvements at both campuses can increase those numbers even more.
• Growing our staff, both in numbers and in skills development. We have developed one of the area’s best clinical programs (see cover story), necessary to earn our national accreditation and certification. Their skills use professional and effective protocols to guide our clients through their journey. Meanwhile, we have tripled our staff in size – from 12 in 2020 to 42 in 2023 – to provide more individual and group services; we plan to hire even more staff in coming years, so we can double the number of clients we reach.
• Changing our admission process. With larger facilities and more staff, we have been able to change admissions from just four times a year to a rolling process, so clients who need us most can get the help they need without waiting weeks or months. Our brothers and sisters battling addiction cannot afford to wait. They need help now.
Lifeline has accomplished significant growth because of the investment, courage and leadership from our board and support from our community. We
FROM THE BOARD CHAIR Steve Powless Former Chair & CEO of CSI
experienced record-breaking fund-raising the last three years, and we thank our generous community for that loving support.
Great things are coming. We live by the promise that we have built our program on the rock, on the firm foundation of Christ, so that we can continue these improvements to meet the growing needs of our community.
We are all rowing in the same boat on a wave of success, where we have truly felt God’s favor. Recognizing we would not be where we are today without Him, we trust Him to take us into the future so that anyone who wants to get sober at Lifeline, can.
Our success in realizing our mission will be measured by the extent to which we achieve the following:
Enhance and deliver a client-centered addiction treatment program that achieves favorable outcomes and meets the current and growing needs of our community
In future issues, we will discuss each of our strategic initiatives. To read the full strategic plan, please visit LifelineRecoveryCenter.org.
Now fully accredited by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, Lifeline Recovery Center provides long-term, faith-based residential care. Each description is uniquely important to recovery – longterm, faith-based and residential.
Beyond the unique features of Lifeline’s treatment program, it offers an important bonus option.
After clients finish the program, they may stay in transitional housing while they adjust to their new sober life, an option I believe can actually save their lives.
The men’s and women’s campuses can house 10 or more people each, six to 12 months after they complete treatment.
Transitional housing is one of the most important components of recovery because recovering addicts may struggle to maintain abstinence and a meaningful recovery when they leave the structured environment of a treatment facility.
While they attempt to embrace a new lifestyle, they are highly vulnerable to relapse. Transitional housing’s continued support promotes abstinence, independent living, personal responsibility and spiritual enrichment.
Meanwhile, it relieves the person in early recovery from the physical, psychological and financial stress of seeking accommodations immediately after leaving a treatment center.
The point is: They need to feel a part of a community instead of apart from one.
Transitional care connects them to other people in recovery who can relate to them and who face parallel challenges. This connection prevents isolation, which inevitably leads to relapse.
JOHN W. BRAZZELL, M.D. Volunteer Medical Consultant at Lifeline Medical director at Kentucky Care, Paducah
The opposite of addiction is connection –connection with people, a higher power and the universe.
In transitional housing, they take comfort in knowing they are not alone. Support helps with applying life skills, enhancing their spiritual life and coping with emotional ups and downs.
An important part of early recovery is learning how life can be fun again, instead of just endured. Transitional housing offers an atmosphere where one can experience true joy about recovery and find enjoyment in the small things of life that were ignored when drugs were the most important thing in their life.
This transitional phase promotes responsibility, while encouraging independence and employment to give a sense of purpose. It also stimulates one to strive for improvement in physical health and overall wellness.
The proof is in the data: Transitional living environments reduce the rate of relapse into old habits and false belief systems and help get our patients off to a good start to their new life.
See Jodeci’s story, page 15
Transitional living helps 2022 graduate prepare for life after treatment
Lifeline Recovery Center often shares testimonials from clients about their struggles before entering Lifeline and the success and hope they feel when they graduate.
But what happens in between? What do they do during their long-term, residential treatment on the men’s and women’s campuses?
A key component of their sobriety journey comes with the help of Lifeline’s clinical services.
Executive director Ashley Miller said the recent expansion of clinical services by trained professionals helped Lifeline achieve national and state accreditation and licensure. It also helps clients find a successful route to their sobriety.
“As a graduate of Lifeline myself, I benefited from our program,” Ashley said, “but I’ve always felt there was a missing piece to our puzzle – the clinical component. Being able to provide more professional services now only enhances the quality of our program.”
Lifeline is the area’s only long-term, faith-based residential treatment center, meaning the recovery program includes both clinical and spiritual components.
Robbie Sewell directs Lifeline’s credentialed staff of eight clinical experts providing counseling and education to help clients battle addiction.
“Our clients gain knowledge about the disease, a sense of belonging, a chance to be removed from the stress and relapse triggers of their daily lives to focus on what they need to do to get healthy and stay in recovery,” she said.
Robbie has spent her career in various treatment facilities, but has found no other that provides the freedom for staff and clients to discuss freely the spiritual life and its importance in recovery.
“From a clinical perspective, the spiritual component is vital,” she said. “Spiritual and clinical have to be parallel in treatment, and I cannot emphasize enough the importance of the spiritual foundation. I have found that recovery is not the same if you don’t have the spiritual component.”
While Lifeline offers Bible classes and worship opportunities to boost the spiritual side of recovery, it also has highly-trained staff and sessions focused on the physical and emotional health of the clients.
When a new client arrives at either Lifeline campus, he or she follows this path:
• A nurse examines their physical condition and drug use history. “We want to know from the start where we need to meet this person on this journey,” Roberta said, “to individualize his treatment and meet his needs.”
• A counselor completes a biopsychosocial assessment covering the client’s drug history; legal, emotional, social, family and job consequences; family history of addiction; childhood history; suicide risks; educational background and any learning disabilities; current living conditions; trauma and mental health history, with referrals to a psychologist or other specialists, as needed.
• The client spends weekly one-hour individual sessions with a counselor, developing and working on an individualized treatment plan.
• Clients spent 10 hours each week in clinical group sessions with a counselor, case manager or nurse for education and discussion.
• The client will attend one or more family counseling sessions, while the family may be
referred for additional family counseling and encouraged to go to Al-Anon sessions. While the client is getting 24/7 residential treatment, the family’s time at Lifeline is limited, so counselors show them ways to use other resources so they can work on their own education and healing, while their loved one is doing the same. “For the family, hope and trust are gone. We want to give them some hope and some ways they can let their loved ones in recovery earn back their trust,” Robbie said.
Director Nurse
Case Manager
Two counselors
Three part-time counselors
Plus: Seven employees pursuing certification as counselors
The clinical staff helps clients:
• Develop a list of what they see as negative consequences of their use and an individual relapse prevention plan.
• Gain healthy coping skills through group and individual therapy, prayer, talking with peers, daily journaling, stress relief with meditation.
• Learn impulse control techniques in cognitive behavioral therapy on how to think before acting.
• Improve communication skills by learning to share information with family and friends, including expressing their needs and wants while listening to others’ needs and wants. “They have not been communicating during their addiction,” Robbie said. “They shut down. Their only communication has been substance-driven and manipulation, such as ‘how do I feed my addiction? ”
Like most of the staff at Lifeline, Robbie is working her own recovery program. As the full-time clinical director with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in counseling, she said the encouragement she receives from clients and their families keeps her engaged and motivated.
“I get some type of encouragement every day,” she said, “but when I do family education, that’s one of my favorite days. A family member almost always comes up to me with tears in their eyes and says their loved one seems different this time. That’s the hope we are trying to give them.”
During the first phase, clients are very involved in clinical individual and group sessions. As they progress through the phases of treatment, the clinical time is reduced while clients prepare to go back to their jobs and families.
Clients learn about addiction, 12step programs, the cost of addiction and how to manage finances; and participate in Bible classes. Clients also begin community service through volunteer programs and engage in job training, including job shadowing, building a resume and interviewing skills.
“I get some type of encouragement every day.”
—
by Robbie Sewell
Following the move of the men’s campus last year to Ballard County, the women’s campus has moved to its former Morgan Lane location, doubling the number of women who can be served.
“When we were turning away two out of every five applicants, we knew we had to do something,” said Ashley Miller, executive director.
The women’s campus now can serve up to 50 women. “There is not another women’s program like ours around,” Ashley said. “The need is so great in this area, and we have intentionally been working to improve our program and increase our capacity.”
The women’s campus had been housed on Bloom Avenue since it began 15 years ago. Terrye Peeler, one of Lifeline’s founders and former director, said the move across town is bittersweet.
“I love what began at the other campus,” Terrye said, “but we always want to look forward. We want to grow and find ways to help more people.”
Ashley echoed the sentiments about the former campus, which now is for sale. “It’s literally the house that built me,” said Ashley, who graduated from Lifeline at that campus in 2014. “Hundreds of
lives and families have been restored on that campus. We have many cherished memories, but we look forward to making even more memories in the new space.”
The Morgan Lane campus features two new dormitories, completed in 2020 and 2021, and plans are under way to upgrade some of the other facilities.
“We’re always working to create an even better environment to help us achieve our mission,” Ashley said. “Now we have room to expand.”
Similarly, the men’s campus was able to expand, from 50 to 80 men, when it moved to The Ranch, a 46-acre campus in Ballard County, last year.
“Unfortunately, addiction is a growing problem,” Ashley said, “so the need for treatment continues to grow. We are thankful to our community and our leadership for providing the means to help us to try to meet the growing demand. Every person that comes out of here sober changes a life and a family. When we can double our numbers, we believe we are transforming our community.”
The people in our lives matter.
That may seem obvious when you consider your small circle of friends and family. But it’s a huge understatement when you consider that each person influences about 10,000 people in a lifetime, according to motivational speaker and author Todd Stottlemyre.
10,000 influences. Good and bad.
For Jessy King, there were plenty of negative influences – high school drinking buddies, an addicted parent, abusive boyfriends. Thankfully, there were plenty of memorable positive influences, too:
• Her high school principal that offered her a way to get her diploma, when that was the last thing on her mind.
• Bosses that gave her second and third chances.
• Her godmother who kept her children when she knew she couldn’t.
And then came Lifeline.
“I have never felt the love the way we love here at Lifeline. I have finally found my people.”
Jessy, 36, of Paducah, graduated from Lifeline in 2019 and began volunteering as a facilitator in the anger management class in 2020. She is now the program supervisor.
She finds her work rewarding and effective because she has walked the same path as her clients.
Jessy spent 17 years in addiction following childhood sexual molestation. After her parents divorced, she struggled with depression in middle school and, by 15, she started smoking weed, drinking and taking pills.
By 21, she had two children and was a “functioning alcoholic,” holding down a job with the help of alcohol and any other substance “I could get my hands on,” she said.
In 2014, she lost her job and got into a new troubled relationship.
“That’s when I met the devil,” she said, “and the devil was meth. That’s when I lost myself. The darkness overshadowed me.”
She’s thankful she ended up at Lifeline.
“At Lifeline, it’s all or nothing. I’d tried everything and had nothing else to lose. I saw quickly they could relate to me,” she said. “I realized I’m not a horrible person for the horrible things I have done.”
She benefited from the 12-week Celebrate Recovery program, the financial training and counseling. The job training changed her life. “Lifeline taught me how to put an actual resume together, and, if I hadn’t had it in hand, I wouldn’t have gotten my first job (after graduating).”
Jessy maintains her sobriety by continuing to work the 12-step program, staying in contact with her sponsor, attending meetings and being active at her church. And working at Lifeline.
“The Lord knew I needed to be right here on the front row of this to stay on the right path, to see His miracles every day,” she said. “I’m living my best life.”
‘Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.’ - Micah 7:8Jessy King, program supervisor
preparing me for this my whole life.”
Her reluctance had nothing to do with the subject matter or the students – it was facing her own wounds from her relationships with substance abusers.
• As a child, one of her first memories came at 5, when she remembers not liking how she felt when she saw adults drinking excessively. “I didn’t realize at the time that’s what it was, but I remember I didn’t like what I saw.”
• In her teens, she faced a family member on drugs. “I was severely embarrassed,” she said.
• Then, as an adult, she faced personal pain with older and younger generations in her family, as they dealt with addiction.
“I’m only here (at Lifeline) because God has been training me for this my whole life. I understand what these women and their families are going through.”
There’s a key difference in her class from her other Bible classes. “In my other Bible classes, people are hungry for the Word. Now I’m teaching people who are hungry for love. They need my love.”
She teaches the book, “Walk of Repentance,” during the first 12 weeks of the long-term treatment. That’s a critical time for the women, when they are in their deepest pain usually following incarceration or the loss of custody or jobs. “Those women don’t understand how I can love them, but I love them. And if one relapses, I love them twice as much,” she said.
Susan Bredniak, 65, of Paducah, has taught Bible classes to adults and children most of her life. However, almost two years ago, when one of Lifeline Recovery Center’s founders, Terrye Peeler, a fellow church member, asked Susan to teach at Lifeline, her reaction was swift.
“No,” she said. “I can’t.”
Two months later, Terrye persisted with another request. This time, Susan agreed to visit the class. She didn’t say a word, but she went back for another visit.
“That’s when it hit me,” Susan said, “God has been
Susan encourages the families, too. “They are wounded, too. If you don’t take care of yourselves, you can’t help your loved one.”
Susan and husband Ed have been financial supporters of Lifeline, having heard about it at an out-of-state rehab facility. Then also heard about it at their church, Faith Center, and in the community. She didn’t understand its reputation until she joined on as a volunteer teacher. “The staff at the women’s campus blows my mind – how loving, supportive and attentive they are. The love for these women is the success,” she said.
Nine months in jail was the jolt Jodeci Willie, 24, needed to change her life.
“I was just lost. I was tired of being homeless and walking the streets,” she said. “I was ready to be reunited with my family.”
Jodeci, a Mayfield native, had moved out of her mother’s home at 18. “I started partying and using meth and just became hooked,” she said. She was in active addiction for five years and lost her relationship with her mother and her sisters. She was in and out of jail, until she met a friend there who suggested Lifeline.
Lifeline offered what she needed to make the change she so desperately wanted. She entered in March 2022 and graduated in November, remaining there in transitional housing this year while she works at H.T. Hackney Co., a food distributor.
The residential program’s benefits were many, but the most important was the sense of belonging she felt. “You have to have a connection,” she said. “I
found a love here that I thought never existed.”
She liked Lifeline’s group counseling better than individual because she learned that others had gone through many of her same challenges. “We talked about our traumas and continued to talk outside of group therapy,” she said.
Jodeci also feels connected now in her church. “I didn’t grow up in church, but I study my Bible now and go to church,” she said. “That helps me with my sobriety.”
She is happy to be reunited with her family, with whom she spends weekends. “They’re proud of me, and they trust me now,” she said. “I feel great!”
Jodeci has gotten her driver’s license, bought a car and looks forward to the day when she can get her own home. “Thank you, Lifeline, for saving my life, but most of all, thank you for showing me there’s more out there than my previous life.”
The following supporters donated to Lifeline Recovery Center in 2023. We are so very thankful for their generous support, which helps change lives and transform communities.
Gifts of $25,000 or more
Susan and Edward Bredniak
Carson-Myre Charitable Foundation Trust
Trinity Baptist Church Inc.
Gifts of $10,000- 24,999
Wayne Golightly
Gifts of $5,000- 9,999
Alberta Davis
Meredith Schroeder
Gifts of $2,500 - 4,999
Faith Center of Paducah
Sharon Pegram
Rosebower Baptist Church
Way of Christ Bible Fellowship
Gifts of $1,000- 2,499
Jennifer Coursey
Cindy and Chuck Hall
Heartland Church
Immanuel Baptist Church
Kim and Keith Jones
Joppa Missionary Baptist Church
Jessy King
Purchase Ear Technology
Twelve Oaks Baptist Church
United Way
Gifts of $500- 999
David and Jan Bailey
Bandana United Methodist
Brookport Church of God
East Baptist Church
Stan and Missy Eckenberg
First Baptist Church
Jeffrey Golightly
Andy and John Grant
New Covenant Fellowship
New Hope Missionary Baptist Church
Newton Creek Baptist Church
Terrye and Glenn Peeler
Pryorsburg Baptist Church
Rotary Club
Todd and Pam Trimble
Gifts of $1- 499
Anonymous
Cindy Bailey
Leigh Ann Ballegeer
Carla Berry
Brantley Family Charitable Fund
William Brigance
Steve Bright
Jim and Brenda Brown
CFSB
Community Christian Church
Concord United Methodist
Carrie Dillard
Dan Donaldson
David and Debbie Etheridge
John and Janet Foster
Gospel Mission Worship Center
Jeff and Terri Holland
Daniel and Keisha Hopkins
Jan and James Hylko
Faith Life Class
First Assembly of God
Mike and Debbie Gentry
Cindy Hart
Claire Hunt
Hilary Hunt
Roxie Jarvis
Austin Kennady
Kathryn Lankton
Jeffrey Marcotte
Sherry Martin
Mary Neikam
Snookie Oglesby
Danny Orazine
Darrell and Shirley Orazine
Don and Belinda Page
Jeffrey Pierce
Nicole Rooyakkers
Craig and Susan Rothwell
Bonnie Schrock
Roberta Sewell
Shady Grove Baptist
Dr. Kathy and Dr. Kinney
Slaughter
Matt & Keisha Snow
Southland Baptist Temple
Brenda Spees
Phyllis Stovesand
Jeff and Heather Taylor, MD
Michele Thomas
Magen and Darren Tinsley
Top Quality Consignment
Trace Creek Missionary Baptist Church
Jill Wagner
William Walden
Michael and Debra Walker
Wickliffe First Baptist Church
Sandra Wilson
Bryan and LaCretia Womack
Robin and Bill Woods
Business Donors
CFSB
Network for Good
Purchase Ear Technology
Top Quality Consignment
United Way
Church Donors
Bandana United Methodist
Brookport Church of God
Community Christian Church
Concord United Methodist
East Baptist Church
Faith Center of Paducah
Faith Life Class
First Assembly of God
First Baptist Church
Gospel Mission Worship Center
Heartland Church
Immanuel Baptist Church
Joppa Missionary Baptist Church
New Covenant Fellowship
New Hope Missionary Baptist Church
Newton Creek Baptist Church
Pryorsburg Baptist Church
Rosebower Baptist Church
Shady Grove Baptist Church
Southland Baptist Temple
Trace Creek Missionary Baptist Church
Trinity Baptist Church Inc.
Twelve Oaks Baptist Church
Way of Christ Bible Fellowship
Wickliffe First Baptist Church
Elizabeth Adams
Quaid Adams
John Aitken
Cindy Allbritten
Rev. Dr. Bernice Belt
Loren Biggers
Christy Buchanan
Susan Bredniak
Stephanie Caldwell
Brenda Cardin
Gary Cardin
Karyn Carroll
Cody Church
Chris Combs
John Cox
Chris Dick
Rebecca Dixon
Kaye Dowdy
Willie Dowell
Toby Dullworth
Missy Eckenberg
Wendy Roeder
Joey Evitts
Kevin Gaunce
Steve Gorham
Vicki Gough
Brenda Grooms
Doreen Hahn
B.J. Hale
Casey Harris
Christina Haynes
Matt Henson
Robert Hill
Kenneth Hines
Karen Hubbard
Garrett Hunt
Kenny Hunt
Lisa Jarvis
Guy Johnson
Cindy Jones
Chris King
Dayna Newton
Dickie Lee
Andrea Loveless
Josh & Samantha Marberry
Holly Visser
Chuck McCue
Darrell Orazine
Sonia Osman
Glenn Peeler
Harole Peeler
Terrye Peeler
Steve Powless
Rachelle Puckett
Laurie Rea
Greg Rodilfo
Kenny Samples
Tracey Lambert
Kyle Sommer
Rebecca Stanley
David Stokes
Shaun Sullivant
Heather Taylor
Jeffrey Taylor, MD
Rick Tilley
Todd Trimble
Jonathan “JJ” Walker
Sheryl Williams
Anita Vance
Meredith Yancey
Anna Yontz
Eric Zigeler
Mike Zimmerman
Annual Banquet June 29 Golf Tournament September 8
Tickets and Information:
270.443.4743
LifelineRecoveryCenter.org
Lifeline Recovery Center Board of Directors
Steve Powless, Board Chair
Ashley Miller, Executive Director
Sonia Osman, Board Secretary
Dr. Jeffrey Taylor, Treasurer
David Bailey
Rev. Dr. Bernice Belt
Carla Berry
Missy Eckenberg
Terry Haas
Robert L. Hill
Ken Hunt
Bonnie Shrock
Todd Trimble
Mike Zimmerman
