GREENFIELD — Willie Mohler knew he was in trouble the first time he used methamphetamine.
He was 15 years old. He liked the feeling it gave him too much. And by the time he reached his 20s, his life had spiraled out of control: he was using hard drugs, drinking daily and committing petty crimes for the rush it gave him.
He finally accepted he had a drug problem after he was put on court-ordered probation, he said. He remembers telling himself he’d quit using the week before that first probation visit; maybe the day before. Then he found himself getting high in a parking lot outside the courthouse just to calm his nerves.
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Now, Mohler has been clean and sober for nearly two years. He’s proud to count himself among the thousands in Hancock County who have been helped by Celebrate Recovery in Greenfield, and he’s grateful to now be living a better life.
Celebrate Recovery at Brandywine Community Church is a program marking its 10th year helping people in Hancock County fight through their troubles with its 52-week, 12-step faith-based program.
Celebrate Recovery has been a pillar of support for those in the community fighting addiction, and hundreds pass through the church’s doors every week looking for guidance.
In the last decade, more than 4,100 people participated in the program, finding it safe place to grow and change.
Mohler, other participants and dozens of the church’s leaders gathered recently to revel in the program’s years of success locally.
But as director Gina Colclazier told the crowd that night, there is still much more work to be done. There is always one more person who will need their help.
“Tonight we’re celebrating, but tomorrow it’s back to work,” she said, to a round of applause from those gathered. “We must continue to fight the battle. So many more need help.”
Celebrate Recovery is an international faith-based recovery program conducted in more than 20,000 churches worldwide.
The program combines large-group lessons with smaller support groups that target specific fixations — hurts, habits and hang ups, as the program’s leaders say — and includes study sessions, which give the 12 steps of recovery an in-depth look.
More than 150 people attend each Thursday night meeting in Greenfield, Colclazier said.
At its core, Celebrate Recovery helps those fighting addiction feel responsible for their own sobriety, officials said. The program shifts and takes a closer look at an addict’s triggers, such as anger, depression, anxiety and other emotions.
The 52-week program consists of 25 lessons about recovery and bi-weekly testimonies from people who have passed through the program successfully. The success stories shared give participants a person to relate to and serve as proof the program can work if people are dedicated to bettering themselves, leaders say.
In Hancock County, it was among the first recovery programs available, springing up well before the opioid crisis gripped the region. Local judges at times ordered offenders to seek help at Celebrate Recovery in the years before other court-supported programs, like the county probation department’s Heroin Protocol, were available.
Celebrate Recovery, recognized for its years of service and success, has received grants and other financial support from groups like Neighborhoods Against Substance Abuse.
Brandywine Community Church has expanded the program in different ways in recent years in an effort to help even more people.
In early 2017, the church announced the creation of Recovery Zone 4 Kids, a 52-week treatment program that targets at-risk youth. The program is designed to help kids learn how to address any anger, disappointment and loneliness that might be brought on by a parents’ addiction. These characteristics can often lead to substance abuse among young people.
Soon after, Brandywine Community Church established a recovery liaison program and trained members of other congregations in the county to look for those struggling and pass on information about Celebrate Recovery. This has led more people, perhaps from different walks of faith, to join the program and find help.
Most recently, Brandywine combined its Celebrate Recovery program with one that had been offered at Brookville Road Community Church in New Palestine.
Brookville Road was struggling to find volunteers to keep its recovery program up and running; but establishing a partnerships with Brandywine, given its years of success in the community, was an easy choice to make, said Dan Downer, who had led the Brookville Road program.
Now, Downer and other volunteers run a carpool service between the New Palestine and Greenfield churches to ensure participants from western Hancock County and the eastern Indianapolis area can make the Thursday night meetings at Brandywine. It’s been a great change so far, Downer said.
Many, like Mohler, come to Celebrate Recovery to find help for substance abuse; but the program is designed to also help people cope with certain personality and mental health issues.
Dent Riser told the crowd during the celebratory event that he struggled with anger issues before coming to Celebrate Recovery.
Riser said his anger had consumed much of his life, ruining many of his friendships and putting his relationships with his children at risk. He remembers not liking the man who looked back at him in the mirror
“I was so hurt, lost and broken, that I was at my rock bottom,” he said. “I knew I couldn’t keep living this way.”
And nearly 5 years later, Riser is free of anger, he said. He’s repaired his relationship with his children, moved on from friendship that were bad for him, and has found a family at Brandywine Community Church.
“… Hope is not just something for someone else,” Riser said. “It’s real, and recovery is available to anyone willing to surrender.”
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Celebrate Recovery, a Christian-based 12-step recovery program, meets Thursdays from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Brandywine Community Church, 1551 E. New Road, Greenfield.
Doors open at 5:45 p.m. with a free coffee bar. No registration is necessary to attend meetings, and childcare provided for infants to 5-year-olds.
Recovery Zone for Kids, a children’s version of the same 12-step program for first- to ninth-grade students, is available at the same time.
For more information, call 317-462-4777.
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