Nine months after opening Jefferson County’s first recovery community center, its peer specialists are excited about it becoming a hub for hope and connection, and a judgment-free zone for those on a journey of recovery.
PreventEd, a St. Louis-based nonprofit with a mission of preventing and reducing harm associated with alcohol and drug use, received a three-year grant totaling about $900,000 from the Jefferson Foundation to start a peer-led center.
PreventEd leased a building at 924 Jeffco Executive Drive in Imperial last April and opened the Collective Powered by PreventEd the following month.
John Singer, a certified peer specialist at the Collective, said community partners regularly provide the Collective with referrals, and they get phone calls from community members almost every day.
“This place has really become a hub for community partners and people who are running self-help meetings like NA meetings, AA meetings, things like that,” Singer said. “We have (meetings) three nights a week, and then we have two community groups in the morning where people from drug court and Sober Living come and just do a community group during the day.
“It’s picking up. Just like a lot of things, it’s going to be word of mouth.”
The Collective has private offices for one-on-one visits with Singer or the other two certified peer specialists, Jenna Gateson and Mandy Janke.
Peer specialists are people who have been successful in their own recovery and are certified to help others experiencing similar situations.
The private offices can also be used for supervised visits for parents with children in foster care and other similar purposes. The building has exercise equipment, a recreational room, a kitchen, a meeting room, as well as a welcome area with couches, chairs and a television.
Singer said it is called the Collective for a reason.
“It’s just all inclusive, and it’s just about helping people and helping the next person,” he said.
“It’s here, it’s open, and it’s available as a space to use,” Gateson added. “This is a judgment-free zone. It doesn’t matter what you’ve got going on with you, what needs you might have. It doesn’t matter what you have or don’t have. This is a space where you can be (you) and be safe.”
Many resources
But the Collective is more than just a physical space.
“We can help with employment. We can help with (signing up for) food stamps and Medicaid,” Gateson said. “We can help you get into treatment if you need treatment. We can help with MAT (medication assisted treatment), mental health treatment.
“We are going to be that connection to any service or resource that we have or know about.”
Gateson said transportation is a barrier for many people seeking recovery. The Collective has a van through a partnership with the Jefferson Franklin Community Action Corporation.
“That van has been such a big help to a lot of our clients in treatment court/family treatment court,” Gateson said, adding many who are completing treatment court programs do not have driver’s licenses or transportation.
“We have one in DWI court who lives all the way out here in Imperial,” she said. “Getting him back and forth for a (urine) drop four times a week, plus groups three days a week, plus individual appointments, going to his court docket (all in Hillsboro), it’s a lot. The (treatment court) program is set up to be hardcore, and it is set up to change people’s lives. When you have a county that’s this big, and everything is in one central location, it makes it really tough for a lot of these people.”
Gateson said the Collective serves the unhoused by partnering with New Hope United Methodist Church, 3921 Jeffco Blvd., and the Salvation Army, 3740 Telegraph Road, which are within two miles of the center. Often, staff will drive the van to the organizations on days New Hope offers free laundry and showers, and the Salvation Army hosts free meals to see if anyone wants to come back to the Collective.
She said the Collective hosts social activities for holidays.
“We had a Thanksgiving dinner here – a free meal for everyone,” Gateson said. “We had a Christmas party. Santa was here. Kids got to come in. All the kiddos got toys. We did cookies with Santa so they had the opportunity to take their kids to see Santa for free. I think we will continue to try to do those kinds of things.”
The Collective has given Toys for Tots and Nurses for Newborns a space to work.
“We were able to help (Toys for Tots) out and help a lot of kiddos with presents and things just giving them a space and volunteering with them,” Singer said. “Nurses for Newborns is kind of working out of here every now and then. They have stuff in the garage that they give to needy families.”
Anyone who wants to visit the Collective is encouraged to call 314-912-9043 before stopping by. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday.
From left are PreventEd certified peer specialists John Singer, Jenna Gateson and Mandy Janke.
About the peer specialists
Janke said she has been in recovery for nearly seven years. She said a peer specialist helped her get into an inpatient program.
“They had all the connections to all the resources, and I just thought that would be a cool job,” she said. “I got my certification and worked somewhere else for a couple years and then John told me about them opening this place.”
Singer said he wanted to help others just like himself who are in recovery.
“I started in Sober Living (transitional housing) … and I kind of started to help manage those and help guys on that process. I’ve held a lot of different jobs over the years now, but peer support has always been my main goal and my main focus.”
Gateson agreed. She said she just celebrated eight years of being clean.
“My motivation to do this came when I was in prison,” Gateson said. “When I was in prison, at the beginning of that, I had a counselor who was absolutely amazing. She’s an addict, too. I really identified with her. I learned a lot about myself through working with her and I really wanted to do this.”
She said she worked for another organization where she became certified as a counselor and medical health professional, but she wanted to go back to being a peer specialist.
“I wanted to be in the community, boots on the ground, helping an individual at a time,” Gateson said.