High demand for help prompts Dove House Recovery to expand services
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – An alarming rise in the number of calls at Dove House Recovery has led to expansion.
A new outreach center has been established for women who are currently waiting for a bed at its main campus.
Executive director Wendy Noe told News 8 there are normally between 20-30 women on the Dove Recovery House waitlist. Currently, there are 85 women on its waitlist.
“The way the outreach center will touch these ladies is just exponential and it’s awesome,” said former resident Kristy Shene.
Shene said she was at Dove Recovery House for 17 months before living an independent and healthy life.
“I struggled with addiction for seven years. I lived in several rehabs all over the city of Indianapolis, even in another county up north to try to help me make a change and I just kept hitting so many barriers. It just was very difficult and the difficulty was me, I needed to make that change,” mentioned Shene.
The Dove House alumna is now a peer recovery specialist and helps other women in recovery. She contributes a large part of her journey to the love and care she received at Dove House.
“It’s very satisfying to watch them grow and thrive. It can be very challenging. They don’t always agree to what we suggest. They can get pushback because they are trying to find their way and recovery is very difficult,” Shene added. “It’s one of the hardest things you do in your life when you decide to make a drastic change because everything has to change.”
The Dove Recovery Outreach Center is a few blocks away from Dove Recovery House on 34th and Meridian streets. It’s a place women can receive free daytime services like individual and group therapy, life skills and learning to build healthy relationships.
“We’ve seen overdose rates skyrocket since before COVID and deaths from overdose skyrocket as well and so, we knew there was a sense of urgency,” Noe said.
Shene added, “While they’re still living possibly in a dangerous environment. To offer them resources, possibly to get out of that environment so that before they get to Dove House, they are already safe.”
Noe mentioned that Dove Recovery is the largest women’s treatment program in the state and will continue to break the stigma surrounding addiction.
Overdose deaths in Indiana were up 33% in 2020 over 2019, and overdoses in the emergency department were up 50% in 2020 over 2019, according to state data.
“Our motto is that we love on them until they can love themselves and we truly want to inspire and lift them up and the women that they’re meant to be,” said Noe.