Brunswick Church of the Nazarene in Ohio is teaming up with Cathy’s House and Hope Recovery Community to help provide addiction recovery services for its community. The following story is adapted from an article written by Sara Crawford for The Medina Gazette.

An event was hosted on Overdose Awareness Day at the Brunswick Church of Nazarene in late August. Soon after, executive director of Cathy’s House, Jon Robinson, began talking with the pastor and found out that the church owns multiple properties, including one house that is vacant. 

Now, Cathy’s House is working to renovate the property to provide five beds in Brunswick. 

“Medina County ADAMH board has just been so generous to us and provided us additional funding to get us started and help cover our operational costs,” Robinson said. “(They) just recently supplied us with funds to increase our staffing because it's far more than a bunch of guys living in a house.” 

According to Robinson, construction on the house is in full force, and the plan is to be done in March. 

Robinson said some men at the main house are interested in moving to the Brunswick house once it opens. This being the first place in Brunswick, Robinson is unsure of what to expect but is excited to see the opportunities for the men involved in Cathy’s House. 

Cathy’s House has an 80 percent successful discharge rate of the men leaving on their own. The program does not have a set limit for how long people can stay and allows them to set their own plans. 

“We want that house to have support and structure and opportunity to go to meetings and have other people in the community surround them and build them up,” Robinson said. 

As Cathy’s House works on its expansion in Brunswick, Robinson's wife, Stefanie Robinson, executive director of Hope Recovery Community, is also working to expand their services. 

Hope Recovery Community is working to open a satellite office at the Brunswick Church of Nazarene with the goal of starting services in the spring. 

“(Just) making more options for people in recovery, making recovery more accessible to people because transportation can really be a barrier,” Stefanie Robinson said. 

Stefanie Robinson, the Hope Recovery team, and the ADAMH Board are still in conversation with the Church about specific details regarding the satellite space. 

According to Stefanie Robinson, people face challenges to reach recovery assistance, but the team hopes that the satellite office will help solve that.

To read the full story published in The Medina Gazette, click here.