Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of Tri-Cities. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Tri-Cities, Tennessee.
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 32: Changing Lives Through Community Support: Dr. Dottie Greene and Johnson City Recovery Center's Impact
What makes Dr. Dottie Greene with The Johnson City Recovery Center a good neighbor?
How can the power of community support transform lives in recovery? Dr. Dottie Greene from the Johnson City Recovery Center (JCRC) joins us to share her insights on this compelling question. As the director of the first recovery community center in the Tri-Cities of Tennessee, Dr. Greene delves into the core principles driving JCRC, including the value of lived experiences and the significance of offering various recovery paths. Tune in to hear Dr. Greene's personal story of long-term recovery and how it has fueled her dedication to helping others navigate their own journeys.
We dive into the robust array of services offered at JCRC, from recovery group meetings and one-on-one coaching to technology assistance and peer recovery support. Dr. Greene sheds light on the impactful community outreach events they participate in and the flexible hours tailored for working individuals. This episode is a tribute to the hard work and invaluable contributions of Dr. Greene and her team, and we express our deepest gratitude for their ongoing efforts. Don't miss this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the essential role community support plays in successful recovery programs.
To learn more about The Johnson City Recovery Center go to:
The Johnson City Recovery Center
423-262-8903
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2:Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast of the Tri-Cities. We have an incredibly special guest with us here today who is doing a lot of positive here today, who is doing a lot of positive help in the community, and it is my pleasure to introduce your neighbor, dr Dottie Green, with the Johnson City Recovery Center. Welcome to the show, dottie.
Speaker 3:Oh, thanks for having me, skip, happy to be here.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, I know I'm very excited and I know our listeners are too to learn more about you and your organization. I'm familiar with a lot of recovery programs, so I'm pretty excited to learn more about it.
Speaker 3:So if you don't mind, why don't you just tell us?
Speaker 2:a little bit about the Recovery Center.
Speaker 3:I will do that Well. First, johnson City Recovery Center we call it JCRC is the first recovery community center in the Tri-Cities of Tennessee. We built the recovery center based on Harvard's conceptual model of recovery community centers and there are three core things to a recovery community center First, that they are led and operated by people with lived experience with substance use disorder and recovery. Second, we believe that recovery is not only possible but it's likely given all the necessary recovery supports. And third, we believe that people with lived experience are the foundation and actually there's four and recovery community centers support all paths to recovery, that we know that recovery is not a one size fits all I'm sorry, my phone is ringing in the background and that all paths to recovery are supported. So what a recovery community center is is, first, it's a safe, non-judgmental space for people who are in or seeking recovery from substance use disorder and we help to help folks build a pro-recovery social network. So that's one thing thing that we do is we're just a safe space. Folks can come in, get a cup of coffee, hang out. There's always a certified peer recovery support specialist here to support them. So that's kind of the foundation.
Speaker 3:We offer about 20, actually probably 22 recovery groups or events every week. So we have, you know, 12-step meetings AA, na, al-anon, alateen, nar-anon. We have Smart Recovery. We have a Wellbriety meeting, which is an indigenous path to recovery. We do a little bit of everything, so there's something here for anybody. We usually have meetings three times a day, sometimes four, so that's a big piece of what we do.
Speaker 3:We offer recovery coaching, so if folks want more one-on-one individual support, they can do that. Do that. We have a small computer lab, so if folks need technology assistance, would like to check their email, create a Google account, job search, we can do that. And we offer peer recovery support navigation so we can help folks get connected to recovery support services like housing, treatment, food, whatever they might need. And then we also do oh gosh, I'd say 20 community outreach events a month where we go into the different treatment facilities. Anytime we're asked to do a resource fair or go and talk to a group of clients at a recovery center, we are happy to do those kind of things. So we're out in the community too. And the best thing is that all of our services are free. So we want recovery to be accessible to everybody. We are doing all we can to remove the barriers. If we don't know where to get a resource that one of our participants needs, we'll find it. So that's, in a nutshell, what we do.
Speaker 2:That's a lot. That's a big nutshell. That's a lot. Well, how did you get into this business, Dr Brown?
Speaker 3:Well, so I got into this business. So I am a person in long-term recovery and myself and so I got into the recovery field, actually a little over 40 years ago, and as a person in recovery, I just had a passion for it because recovery had just, you know, given me my life back, and so for the last 40 years of my life, well over half I've spent in recovery, working, and in many different ways. So the short answer is that I got into this business because I'm a person in recovery.
Speaker 2:Very good. Well, who better to run this organization than somebody who's been there done that?
Speaker 3:Been there done that for sure.
Speaker 2:Been there, done that. Are there any myths or misconceptions about recovery programs that you could think of?
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, and I'm so glad that you asked that, because the myth that I'd like to bust right now is the biggest one is that people with substance use disorders don't recover. You'll hear things like once an addict, always an addict, and I would just like to say that just isn't true, that we know, not only from personal experience but also from the science, that you know there's probably 21 to 23 million Americans right now who identify as being in recovery, who have resolved an alcohol and or drug use disorder, and that's data that comes out of the Recovery Research Institute and SAMHSA via the National Survey on Drug Use and Health Plus. I'd like to say that I was just at a world convention for recovery. I can't mention the specific program, but there were 20,000 recovery people all in one place, so in Washington DC. So we do recover, and that's the biggest myth I'd like to bust recover and that's the biggest myth I'd like to bust.
Speaker 2:Very good, very good, and that is something that you do hear a lot, so I'm glad you cleared that up for us If you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about the Recovery Center. What would that be to remember about?
Speaker 3:the recovery center. What would that be? That we are a warm, welcoming and nonjudgmental safe space for anybody seeking recovery. And that's you know. Not only you know, do we work hard to create that, but that's probably the number one thing that people say back to us. You know, after they've come in and they've gotten on their feet, they always say y'all always were so welcoming and you believed in me, and so we support everybody, no matter the path they choose for recovery.
Speaker 2:Wow, everybody's welcome, that's. That is awesome. So how? How? I know your, your time is very valuable, so I don't want to take up too much of that. But how can our listeners learn more about the Johnson city recovery center?
Speaker 3:Well, we love visitors. People don't even need to call ahead so they can just come in. We're located at 513 East Unica Avenue and we have strange hours. We're open from 11 am to 8 30 pm, so folks are welcome to come in. They can call us at 423-262-8903, or they can check out our Facebook page Just search Johnson City Recovery Center, or our website, which is jcrecoverycenterorg.
Speaker 2:Very good, very good.
Speaker 1:A lot of options there Lots of options and I think those hours are awesome.
Speaker 2:And I think the hours are awesome. Actually, that's very convenient for folks that are working.
Speaker 3:That's right, all right.
Speaker 2:Well, dr Green, you don't know how much I appreciate you being on the show. I think what you're doing is incredible for the community, you and your organization, and we thank you for that and we wish you and the Johnson City Recovery Center all the best moving forward. I hope we can get you back on the show.
Speaker 3:Happy to Thank you so much for having me Skip.
Speaker 2:All right, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.