Woman’s Voice: This special program is brought to you by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Guests provide information about upcoming events, resources available, and the many ways to help reduce substance use and promote a healthy Lenawee.
Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams, and with me on tonight’s program is Kellie Niese, she is the Pathways Program Manager, along with Dawn Finney, the Community Outreach Coordinator. Kellie, you’ve got some really great things happening at Pathways and let’s learn something about them tonight.
Kellie Niese: We do. So, we are really trying hard with the HRSA grant and with the Prevention Coalition to build some recovery supports in Lenawee County. Recovery supports for people who have experienced addiction or substance use disorder, are in recovery from substance use disorder, or are just looking for help with substance use disorder. So, one of the things we’ve done is built the Lenawee Recovery Network, which is a website where you can access resources in Lenawee County. And on there you’ll find Pathways Engagement Center in our calendar of sober events.
Kathy Williams: And what a great time of year to talk about sober events. It tends to be a little bit higher drinking right now.
Kellie Niese: It is. It’s something you don’t think about that when you’re out of addiction or you’re out of your substance use disorder – what do you do when all your friends are going to a cocktail party or having Thanksgiving with alcohol? Like what are some of your options that you can still experience community and friendship but maybe not have the enticement of substances?
Kathy Williams: There you go. So, Dawn, you have been involved with the different sober events. Tell our listeners about how they are organized, how can they get involved in them? Maybe a little bit about one that’s been fun in the past.
Dawn Finney: Well, one of our funnest events that we have is Saturday morning. Sometimes we do like this big breakfast.
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Dawn Finney: And we make breakfast and even some of the people that come, they’ll bring stuff, and basically it’s just kind of like a little get together. Just coffee and talk and, you know, just, we just have fun. We enjoy people’s companies and it’s a really nice way to start the weekend.
Kathy Williams: And that’s right at the Pathways Center?
Dawn Finney: It is.
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Dawn Finney: It’s right at Pathways. We do eight o’clock in the morning usually, you know. Well, we start at seven.
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Dawn Finney: And then we have our SMART meeting at eight and we kind of go through that.
Kathy Williams: And breakfast with it?
Dawn Finney: Absolutely. It’s a lot of fun.
Kathy Williams: What other kind of events do you have?
Dawn Finney: I am planning a New Year’s Eve get together.
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Dawn Finney: Starting at nine o’clock on New Year’s Eve and I would love if people would come and join me. We are gonna ring in the New Year’s Eve clean, sober, and serene, and just have a good time together. Fellowship, we’re gonna have fun. And you know, when I was in active addiction, I, I was alone. And, you know, you don’t have to be alone anymore. Recovery is not lonely.
Kathy Williams: So the Pathway Center, they can drop in. What are the normal hours that they can drop in?
Kellie Niese: So Pathways is open every night, Monday through Sunday, 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Kellie Niese: You don’t need to make an appointment. If you wanna attend a sober event, you can just drop in, but you can drop in anytime. There is a sober events calendar though, on the LRN – Lenawee Recovery Network – website. And, we have things from Popcorn Night, or Movie Night, not Popcorn Night, but movie night with popcorn, Spa Night, Meditation. We kind of, explore the rainbow of different things that you can do to take care of yourself and nurture your recovery.
Kathy Williams: That sounds like great things and Dawn, I’m sure that you’ll have a good, a good turnout for New Year’s. What a great idea.
Dawn Finney: I’m really excited about it and excited to meet new people.
Kathy Williams: There you go. All right, ladies, well, thank you again for being with us and telling us about some of the different sober events going on at Pathways.
Kellie Niese: As always, we love it when you have us by to talk about some of the new and exciting things we’re doing in our community.
Woman’s Voice: The Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition supported by funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Thank you for listening. New messages air on the second and fourth Monday each month at 6:15 PM. You can listen to this program as a podcast under the “on air audio” tab on WLEN.com and get more information at DrugPreventionLenawee.com.
