Last Updated on June 22, 2022 11:54 am
The Mediation & Restorative Justice Center (MRJC), located in Boone, was recently awarded funding by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
“We are honored to announce that MRJC is among the 20 agencies in North Carolina whose applications were selected to receive funding by the NCDHHS as part of the multi-state opioid settlement with McKinsey & Company.” the agency said in a statement.
The grants are made available as a result of a multi-state settlement with McKinsey & Company, resolving investigations into the company’s role in advising opioid companies on how to promote their drugs and profit from the opioid epidemic, according to NCDHHS.
“We are excited to share that this funding will be used to strengthen treatment and recovery support services by establishing a Peer Recovery Center for Watauga County! Our peer-led recovery center will house and sustain the Watauga LEAD and Recovery on the Inside Programs, implement new activities for Workforce Reentry and Recovery Ecosystem projects and 24th Judicial District Drug Treatment Courts, as well as provide additional space, programs and recovery support services to individuals and the community at large.” MRJC went on to say.
The Center stated that their dream is to create a space where every person dedicated to healing can participate in recovery and support a community where recovery is not only possible, but probable.
“We believe that establishing a Peer Recovery Center for Watauga County is a meaningful step toward amplifying the voices of lived experience and ensuring equitable recovery access for all people regardless of means, socioeconomic status, justice involvement, or stage of change.”
The Center acknowledged the grant-writing team of Mollie Furman, Mackenzie Laney, and Kara Gustaveson and to the following agencies who provided support in developing this proposal:
Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, Boone Police Department, High Country Community Health, Wilkes Recovery Revolution, VAYA Health, Club12, NC Formerly Incarcerated Transition Program, High Country Reentry Collaborative, Hospitality House of Northwest North Carolina, Lost Province Brewing Company, Mountaineer Bail Bonds, NAMI High Country, New Beginnings Hickory, OASIS, Rumple Memorial Presbyterian Church, The Bridge International, Watauga Compassionate Community Initiative, Watauga Housing Council, Daymark Recovery Services, as well as many other individuals, peers and recovery allies.
“The opioid epidemic has taken the lives of far too many North Carolinians,” said Deepa Avula, director of the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services. “These funds will help communities build strong, comprehensive approaches to addressing the opioid crisis and will save lives. To treat this disease, we must help support the other areas of someone’s life — gainful employment, stable housing and reliable transportation can massively help someone stay on the path of recovery.”
Accidental drug overdose is the number one cause of accidental deaths in North Carolina and nationwide. In North Carolina, from 2000 to 2020, more than 28,000 North Carolinians lost their lives to drug overdose, according to NCDHHS.
The other 19 agencies receiving grant funds are:
- Anuvia Prevention and Recovery Center, Charlotte ($672,797)
- B&D Integrated Health Services, Durham ($800,000)
- Cabarrus Health Alliance, Kannapolis ($800,000)
- Caring Services, High Point ($797,680)
- Center for Prevention Services, Charlotte ($800,000)
- Coastal Horizons, Wilmington ($779,034)
- Freedom House Recovery Center, Chapel Hill ($799,987)
- Jubilee Home, Durham ($799,840)
- Mountain Area Health Education Center, Asheville ($800,000)
- Monarch, Albemarle ($800,000)
- NC Survivors Union, Greensboro ($799,943)
- Oxford House, statewide ($800,000)
- Robeson Health Care Corporation, Pembroke ($800,000)
- SouthLight, Raleigh ($791,086)
- The Mental Health Fund, dba Catawba Valley Healthcare, Hickory ($796,982)
- UNC Chapel Hill, Office of Sponsored Research, Horizons, Chapel Hill ($800,000)
- Wilkes Recovery Revolution, North Wilkesboro ($799,999)
- Opportunity House, Concord ($730,400)
- NC Harm Reduction Coalition, Raleigh ($799,898)
