COLUMBUS, Ind. — For over a year, a local educator has been helping those in recovery from substance use disorders phase back into the community drug-free by teaching life skills classes at local recovery centers and sober living homes.
In September 2021, Harriet Armstrong, health and human sciences educator at Purdue Extension Bartholomew County, started teaching classes focusing on nutrition for residents at the Fresh Start Recovery Center, an addiction recovery center in downtown Columbus for pregnant women and new mothers.
At the beginning of this year, Armstrong also started teaching similar classes that also included other topics at two recovery houses for men operated by the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress, or ASAP, in Columbus.
So far, Armstrong has taught 96 residents at Fresh Start Recovery Center and 56 residents at the ASAP houses, she said.
“Many times, people that come out of our judicial system, there are challenges that they have to face,” Armstrong said. “Obviously, there have been things that have been going on in their lives that have helped lead them to making decisions they may wish not to make in the future. But after leaving the system, they want to make changes. I have found it rewarding to be able to help them in trying to make good positive decisions as they move forward.”
Local officials have long said that helping those who are in recovery to develop or increase healthy life skills is a critical component of the community-wide effort to help people overcome substance use disorder.
Life skills development has been included in numerous local efforts to combat substance use disorder.
For the complete story and more photos, see Wednesday’s Republic.
