Greg Perry is the project coordinator for Recovery Point Huntington.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — It was over three years ago when Matt Boggs was ready. He wanted to get clean. Start over.
At that time in 2012, The Healing Place of Huntington (now called Recovery Point of Huntington) had 35 beds.
“I called every day for two weeks to get into the facility, so when I see the waiting list, I remember the desperation of wanting to get help and the resources not being available at that time,” said Boggs, who today is the development director for the center that changed his life. It now has 100 beds.
“We get folks from all across the state, because other counties don’t have resources we have. And if you don’t think this is real, listen to mothers, fathers and wives calling for their loved ones. The stories you hear are heartbreaking.”
In terms of the resources available to assist individuals and families touched by addiction, the Huntington area has come far in the past 10 years, since the community had the heartwrenching wake-up call about its drug abuse problem when four teens were fatally shot on a lawn on Charleston Avenue.
There are more recovery centers and support services for those in recovery, faith-based programs, preventative measures and efforts underway to solve the problem from all angles. That being said, it’s no secret that more needs to be done to prevent new users, to treat those addicted and to assist those in recovery in staying clean.
The good news has a number of names…
