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Hooked: Path to recovery

JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times Melissa Warrener, 36, of Marietta, spends her weekend visit with her daughter Reese Cottrill, 10, of St. Marys, grabbing lunch in Marietta.

Spending the first birthday sober was a huge milestone.

Owning a home with stable walls and basic amenities was another.

Then the first holiday with family, where loved ones didn’t hide their purses and wallets, was when Jason Dunn, 31, of Marietta, really felt he had begun to gain back the trust of those he had hurt while battling his addiction to heroin.

Dunn’s recovery journey was aided medically by Suboxone for several years, but not all recovery from addiction is the same. Some require medical assistance through Suboxone or Vivitrol, while others simply need group therapy or intensive outpatient care. Others benefit from programs like Thinking for a Change and Smart Recovery at Marietta Municipal Court.

“Everyone’s recovery is a little different,” said Sarah Wright, case manager at the court. “It’s built around the unique needs and challenges facing that addict and how we can help them best set themselves up to live a better lifestyle.”

Suboxone is a lower-grade opiate used to help ween addicts off of their addiction to prescription opiates such as heroin without the violent sickness that often accompanies withdrawal. Vivitrol is an opiate blocker which prevents the brain from responding to the opiate, meaning that even if an addict were to use, they would not feel the euphoria or high brought on by heroin.

“I wasn’t medically assisted because my first drug of choice, what started me on a 12-year path of destruction, began with prescription drugs before I moved to heroin,” explained Melissa Warrener, 36, of Marietta. “My first clean day was June 7 of this year when I was checked into inpatient care in Portsmouth and now I’m in outpatient care at L&P Services four days a week and go weekly to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting and then have huge support from the probation office at the municipal court.”

Marietta Municipal Court Judge Janet Dyar Welch explained that with cases of heroin abuse, a comprehensive approach from both the court system and private care is needed.

“All of our cases where heroin is involved are assessed as moderate to high risks of offending again,” she explained. “So the approach on our end works to devise a case plan based on their Ohio Risk Assessment. In that case plan we assess the criminogenic needs of each individual and the options for behavioral change programs and case management services.”

Welch said case management must be a part of recovery because lack of or substandard housing, lack of job training and emotional and mental health can all be triggers for relapse.

“The plan is designed around addressing those issues and removing stressors so that offenders can focus on recovery,” she explained.

Eric Brockmeier, a probation officer in the municipal court, further explained how drug and alcohol assessments, now performed for the court by Dr. Eric Limegrover, help determine the individual needs and underlying reasons for abuse.

“Since he started with us this year, he’s completed 85 assessments for us,” said Brockmeier.

Then Wright builds a plan and helps the addict know what their options are to get sober and reassess their lifestyle.

“I start by asking how ready you are to change and what does recovery look like to you,” she explained. “Then we build from there because I can’t tell them what’s going to change, they have to be the guide in that. But if a person wants help, if they want to go to rehab, I find them a bed. If they are looking for groups they can go and be a part of where they will have support, I help them find an (Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous or Heroin Anonymous) meeting.”

Other options for aiding in the recovery of an addict are changes in housing to a sober living arrangement like a halfway house.

“My goal is to help them with the things outside the court, the real life issues so that they’re not coming through the court system again,” said Wright. “Sometimes we dress them up and get them in the car to go to an interview, other times they just need someone to hold their hand and say ‘you can do this.'”

For Dunn, like many others facing addiction, taking responsibility for life again and recognizing wrongdoing was an essential, though painful, part of recovery.

“One of the hardest hurdles when looking at recovery is admitting that you’re not in the driver’s seat of your life anymore and admitting the bad stuff you’ve done to get to rock bottom,” he said.

Now five years sober, Dunn is studying to become a social worker and currently teaches Smart Recovery, a voluntary program offered to addicts at the Marietta Municipal Court.

“Because I’m also in recovery people I meet are more comfortable talking with me about their experiences,” he said. “I want to heal the problems, not just deal with the symptoms.”

Dunn said a major motivator for staying clean for both he and his wife has been their son.

“We both decided enough was enough just a couple months before we found out she was pregnant,” he explained. “That’s what has kept me going.”

For Warrener, overdosing in May, then still smuggling heroin into the hospital while she was supposed to be recovering, were the final straws for loved ones to push for inpatient rehabilitation.

“Now I don’t want to ever see the faces of my family and have to tell them that I’ve relapsed,” she explained. “This was the first Thanksgiving in 12 years that my family wasn’t worried how I was going to embarrass them or ruin the holiday with a scene or split it up with a trip to the hospital. Being at my kids’ birthdays without nodding off or being strung out, not spending another Mother’s Day or graduation in the hospital instead of with my kids, that’s the true motivation. People like me in recovery get to see the miracles daily and experience the true joy and contrast from our lowest points in life.”

Attending anonymous meetings and group therapy helps Warrener to feel hope as she fights to keep control over her life.

“People that think you can’t learn from other addicts are dead wrong,” she said. “When you go to these meetings and see that other people struggle with the same doubts, the same guilt, but are still pushing through it and have held down a job and have rebuilt relationships with their kids, that’s what tells you that being clean is possible. That’s my light to hold on to even on my worst days.”


Area Meetings:

Narcotics Anonymous:

¯ Monday:

¯ Noon – 1030 George St., Parkersburg.

¯ 7 p.m. – 608 E. Main St., Harrisville, W.Va.

¯ 7:30 p.m. – 510 Columbia Ave., Williamstown.

¯ Tuesday:

¯ 7:30 p.m. – 510 Columbia Ave., Williamstown.

¯ 8 p.m. – 1030 George St., Parkersburg.

¯ Wednesday:

¯ 6 a.m. – 510 Columbia Ave., Williamstown.

¯ Noon – 1030 George St., Parkersburg.

¯ 7 p.m. – 410 Wall Ave., Cambridge.

¯ 7 p.m. – 813 Market St., Parkersburg.

¯ Thursday:

¯ 7 p.m. – 608 E. Main St., Harrisville, W.Va.

¯ 7 p.m. – 23 Colegate Drive, Marietta.

¯ 7:30 p.m. – 510 Columbia Ave., Williamstown.

¯ Friday:

¯ 7 p.m. – 401 Matthews St., Level B conference room, Marietta.

¯ 8 p.m. – 1030 George St., Parkersburg.

¯ Saturday:

¯ 7 p.m. – 1030 George St., Parkersburg.

¯ Sunday:

¯ 7 p.m. – 431 Third St., Marietta.

¯ 7:30 p.m. – 1030 George St., Parkersburg.

Alcoholics Anonymous:

¯ Monday:

¯ Noon – 431 Third St., Marietta.

¯ 7 p.m. – 302 Maple St., Belpre.

¯ 7 p.m. – 37 E. Main St., McConnellsville.

¯ 7 p.m. – 409 Columbia Ave., Williamstown.

¯ 7 p.m. – 431 Third St., Marietta.

¯ Tuesday:

¯ Noon – 431 Third St., Marietta.

¯ 7 p.m. – 401 Fifth St., Marietta.

¯ 7:30 p.m. – 309 Seventh St., Beverly.

¯ 8:30 p.m. – 228 Main St. Belpre.

¯ Wednesday:

¯ Noon – 431 Third St., Marietta.

¯ 7:30 p.m. – 401 Fifth St., Marietta.

¯ 8 p.m. – 306 W. Main St., Barnesville.

¯ Thursday:

¯ Noon – 431 Third St., Marietta.

¯ Noon – 501 Fourth St., Marietta.

¯ 7 p.m. – 37 E. Main St., McConnellsville.

¯ 7:30 p.m. – 232 Third St., Marietta.

¯ Friday:

¯ Noon – 431 Third St., Marietta.

¯ 8:30 p.m. – 320 Second St., Marietta.

¯ Saturday:

¯ 10 a.m. – 501 Fourth St., Marietta.

¯ Noon – 431 Third St., Marietta.

¯ 7 p.m. – 431 Third St., Marietta.

¯ 7:30 p.m. – 11130 State Route 550, Barlow.

¯ Sunday:

¯ 1 p.m. – 431 Third St., Marietta.

¯ 7:30 p.m. – 318 Front St., Marietta.

¯ 7:30 p.m. – 720 Clement Ave., Belpre.

¯ 8 p.m. – 306 W. Main St., Barnesville.

Heroin Anonymous:

¯ 1721 Latrobe St., Parkersburg.

¯ Sunday at 3 p.m. and Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

Source: Marietta Municipal Court


About this series

This edition is the second day of a new series in The Marietta Times, focused on the heroin epidemic in the Mid-Ohio Valley and its rippling effects in the community. After the three-day kickoff, The Marietta Times will continue to regularly do stories on heroin as part of the series, examining other angles of the epidemic.

In the weekend edition:

– Three profiles of local people who have been addicted.

– A look at how many people in Washington County have overdosed or been killed by heroin use.

– D1: Services offered in the Valley and a full list of providers.

– Today: Different forms of recovery; the court’s part in recovery through programs and referrals.

– Coming Tuesday: A look at babies born with addictions and the increasing number of children in foster care due to drug addiction.

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