Fahe Spotlights Kentucky Access to Recovery During National Recovery Month
Kentucky Access to Recovery (KATR) is an innovative program that fills a gap in services for people in early recovery from opioid or stimulant use disorders. KATR doesn’t pay for treatment. Instead, it supports a successful recovery post-treatment by funding rent for sober living housing, employment support, and basic needs such as clothing.
Monetarily, that might not sound like a big thing. But that well-placed support can make a big difference as people are in the early stages of building up protective recovery capital.
“People in recovery are most vulnerable to start using again as they are just coming out of treatment, before they get stabilized in a community,” explained Joni Tamalonis, DSW, Vice President of Kentucky Access to Recovery. “We are fulfilling a need we know is instrumental in maintaining recovery.”
Besides rent, support looks like Goodwill vouchers to purchase clothing, bus passes, and employment support like work uniforms, shoes, or steel toed boots—items a client newly discharged from treatment or incarceration may not have the income to purchase. Success can look small: clients who consistently attend recovery support meetings, meet program check-in requirements, and complete the entire six-month program.
It can also be more significant. One client credits the program for keeping her new job; she wasn’t sure how she was going to purchase the scrubs and shoes she needed until she received the KATR funding. For others, receiving rent payments can free up funds to reduce stress-producing debts, like back child support and past due court costs. One client, with the ability to focus his income on paying off legal fines instead of rent, completed his probation significantly earlier than expected.
“Clients transitioning to employment have so much wreckage from when they were in the madness of drug use,” said Tamalonis. “This little bit can provide a cushion for them.”
The KATR program started in 2019 and in five years has expanded from 15 counties to 34. Last year, it served 1,680 clients with $1.5 million funding in services. That was a 33% increase in the number of people helped in fiscal year 2023.
KATR complements other services available in Kentucky for recovery. State leaders are responsive to the need for treatment and support, and are engaged in a bipartisan effort to reduce the stigma of substance use disorders. Efforts have had profound results. Kentucky had a significant reduction of overdoses in the last fiscal year. In addition, it leads the nation in access to treatment beds. Those ready to seek help can now get immediate placement in a center and begin their road to recovery.
Fahe is entrusted to administer KATR by the state. Governmental leaders knew of Fahe’s ability to be good stewards and adept administrators from disaster relief efforts and sought out the organization as a partner for the program. KATR and substance use recovery programs are an essential part of how Fahe seeks to build hope, strengthen communities, and nurture thriving Appalachian communities through housing and support systems.