OWEN COUNTY, Ky. — There can be many challenges to addiction recovery, especially in rural communities. Northern Kentucky University is working to break down some of the barriers.
The university's Institute for Health Innovation has a program working to expand addiction recovery resources in Owen and Carroll counties.
“There’s not much health infrastructure and for people who are impoverished, don’t have their own transportation and are struggling with addiction or substance misuse issues, it’s very very challenging," said Dr. Valerie Hardcastle, St. Elizabeth Healthcare's executive director of the Institute for Health Innovation at NKU.
NKU started employing peer support specialists like Brittany Feltner in Owen and Carroll counties.
“I’ve lived it. I know the struggles, I know the pain," Feltner said.
She herself is in recovery.
“I was in active addiction probably from like 2012, 2011 all the way up until 2020," Feltner said.
She said an arrest and pregnancy motivated her to get sober.
“Literally just decided one day I was done living that life, I wanted more for my kids," Feltner said. “I just wanted to give them the life I had growing up as a child.”
Three and a half years later, not only is she sober. She's also helping others stay clean as part of NKU's program. Feltner said she began taking courses through NKU to become a peer support specialist, and now she's employed by the university part-time.
She and other peer support specialists act as a sort of taxi service, driving residents of these counties who are in active recovery. They pick them up from rehab and take them to the doctor's office, or a recovery meeting.
“It’s not necessarily AA, it’s not celebrate recovery, it’s basically just an open recovery meeting," Feltner said.
Hardcastle said a lot of local churches have stepped up to make these meetings more available.
In the six years since NKU started working in Owen County, a rehab facility named ARC has also opened, increasing the number of recovery resources available.
"Northkey Community Care also got grant funding and they’re able to provide medical support for persons with substance use disorder with a mobile van," Hardcastle said.
Unlike other taxi services, peer support specialists also help people through their recovery journey.
“It’s like the best gift of all, knowing that you had an impact in that," Feltner said.
Hardcastle said the next step is to open recovery housing — a substance-free environment for people who are already in addiction recovery.
