Damascus House:

Sober Living

Transitional Home for Men

 

Sober Living/Transitional Home for Men with minimum 90 days clean/sober. Three phase program with AA/NA attendance among other requirements. On-site sober living apartments available at final phase.

Stop by 205 E. Main Mt. Sterling KY, or call Mike Ray at (606) 336-4112 for more information and/or application. $100/week, employment and/or attending school required.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liberty Center Under New Leadership, Different Name

Excerpt from Mt. Sterling Advocate April 17, 2014 article by Tom Marshall Senior Advocate Writer

 

     The Liberty Center transitional living facility on East Main Street is under new leadership and a different name. Mike and Laurie Ray, with the help of Derrick Mayes, will be operating the facility under the name of the Damascus House. Brenda Drennen, who along with Tammy McClure, ran the Liberty Center, retains ownership of the property.

     Mike Ray told the Advocate that Damascus House will carry on much of the same tradition with a few minor tweaks. One of those is an emphasis on a faith-based program. It opened April 1 with a capacity of up to 10 men. “We want to be part of the solution,” Mike said. “We were praying for an opportunity to have a place for men to go that was available because we were sending people to (other) places,” he added. “Now we have the Damascus House."

     ”The shift in leadership came about from discussion between several people interested in addiction recovery at Living Water Church. Those discussions involved the Rays, Drennen, McClure, and Mayes. Drennen, who had operated the Liberty Center in addition to her medical practice, Family Care Clinic, was looking for someone to take over responsibility of the day-to-day affairs when Mike Ray approached her about taking over.

     Ray had started a Celebrate Recovery program at Owingsville Methodist Church several years ago and had gotten to know Laurie through personal testimony given during one of those meetings. Laurie is a recovering drug addict. She has been clean over five years now. Together with Laurie, then Laurie Miller, prior to their marriage two weeks ago, they began working to help those with drug and alcohol addiction. About a year ago, the couple met Mayes, a former NBA basketball player with the Milwaukee Bucks, and agreed to combine efforts to “pay forward” what God had done for them. They provide a ministry at the Montgomery County Regional Jail.

     When Clark Regional Health Care recently took over operation of Drennen’s medical practice, Drennen and McClure knew they could no longer devote the time the center needed. Drennen and McClure knew Mike and Laurie from church and were aware of their interest in addiction recovery. After careful prayer from all those involved, Drennen came to the conclusion that Mike, Laurie, and Derrick were the right people to take over operation of the center, she said.

     The foundation of the program at Damascus House will be centered around Jesus as a higher power, but no one will be forced to attend church or otherwise pressured with religion, Mike said. Anyone who enters the program is required to have been clean at least 90 days. At Damascus House they will learn to transition back to the real world outside of a treatment facility. The program follows three stages of recovery and requires attendance at AA and NA meetings, as well as random drug tests. Attempts are also made to place the individuals in jobs. People are accepted into the program through an application process. The Rays and Mayes will share responsibility for management of the facility, Mike said.

     Graduates of the Liberty Center say it changed their lives. Mike Corbitt, a three-time convicted felon, who moved into the Liberty Center this past year after his release from jail, said the structured environment and intensive outpatient (IOP) helped him stay clean and rebuild his life. “There’s so much gratitude that I have for these people,” he told the Advocate of Drennen and McClure. “They changed my life.” Corbitt said he’s filled with thankfulness for having his own apartment, money in his pocket, and a job after drug addiction left him with nothing. “I’m living a new life” he said proudly. ”My advice is you never get too old to learn.”

     Another graduate of the Liberty Center, Travis Easter, agreed that the program “changed his life.” Easter, who was addicted to opiates and cocaine, entered the center after completing a substance abuse program while serving time behind bars. At the time he said he had lost his wife and daughter and had no job. Through the program he was able to rebuild a relationship with his family, get a job and learn how to manage money, Easter said. “They basically taught me to be a sober member of society,” he said.

     Liberty Center graduate Mark Bush said he had nowhere to call home when he was released from prison on parole. “If it hadn’t been for them and that place I would have had nowhere to go,” Bush said. The Liberty Center took him in and helped him adjust back to society drug free with the skills to live life on his own, he said. He’s been clean almost three years now. “They believed in me when no one else did,” Bush said. Bush said he is confident that Drennen and McClure are doing what is best if they’ve decided to have the center operate under new leadership. “If it wasn’t for the best they wouldn’t do it,” he said.

     Drennen said the new leadership will be able to give the facility more of the attention it needs. “We’re hoping that more people can be helped with Damascus involved because there will be more people to staff it and more ministries involved,” she said. Anyone interested in making a contribution to the Damascus House, participating in the ongoing renovation or employing a person in recovery can contact the www.unifiedministries.com website or call Mike Ray at (606) 336-4112. Damascus House hosts AA meetings nights 8-9 p.m. Tuesdays and NA meetings 8-9 p.m. Thursdays.