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WILMINGTON — At a ceremony held in Dove Church, eight individuals graduated Friday from the You-Turn Recovery Docket.
The event was both inspirational and affecting, especially when graduates said a few words about their journey and were joined by family while being recognized on stage.
Macy Evans said she’s been trying to get clean since 2016, going through rehabs and surviving six overdoses.
“I am just so grateful. I didn’t just have a probation officer, I have a lifelong friend, and I’m forever grateful for you,” Evans said to You-Turn Recovery Docket Case Manager Jessica Harrington.
What changed the outcome this time, she said, is she got involved in her church. “I have gained a heckuva church family,” said Evans.
She’s also reunited with her birth family.
Robert McBee said, “Drug court was very scary for me — not because I didn’t believe in the program because I saw it work for numerous addicts — but because I didn’t believe in myself.”
There were so many steps he needed to take, he said, and when he thought about them all at once, “it was just overwhelming, but drug court was telling me I didn’t have to do it all at once.”
The counseling was difficult at first, admitted McBee, “but my counselor ended up being pretty cool.”
Tag Williams Jr. said You-Turn had truly been a turning point in his life.
He brought up the June 2022 death of longtime friend David Denney from a drug overdose.
“It could have been both of us that night if not for this program,” Williams reflected.
Case Manager Jessica Harrington said new graduate Ashley Maynard has come a long way and accomplished a lot of her goals. Maynard, who is a mother, will be marking two years sober next month.
Maynard’s father placed the You-Turn medallion around her neck. He thanked Judge John W. “Tim” Rudduck who presides over the local drug court which had its origins in 2014 with substantial support from residents.
Intensive Supervision Officer Brenda Harris spoke about the journey of graduate Jerry Pfister who, she said, has reconnected with his mother and done daddy-daughter dances and other events with her.
Harris assured Pfister that it is just a beginning of things to come.
Graduate Ernie Valentine started You-Turn with so much anxiety it was hard for him to introduce himself at his first status review hearing, according to Harrington.
“Now he’s taking part in a program to become a certified peer mentor to others in the community,” she added.
Near the conclusion of the ceremony Rudduck gave “Final Thoughts” including sobering statistics. He reported 148 people in Clinton County have died from an overdose since 2014.
“None of these people wanted to die. But their brains have been affected, and it takes a long time for those brains to heal. That’s what’s hard for the public to understand. Most of them with gray hair like me grew up with ‘Just say no’. Well, you can’t just say no with the powerful drugs that are on the streets these days,” said Rudduck.
He remarked that You-Turn is not for everybody, and participants are not ordered into the program.
In exit interviews, graduates say what had held them most accountable is the requirement they call in everyday, and the prospect of being summoned in for an unscheduled drug test, according to Rudduck.
Since August 2016, there have been 51 You-Turn graduates who have completed the 18-month programming.
Graduating from You-Turn is an amazing accomplishment, Rudduck said, and he doesn’t think the general public appreciates that enough.
An alumni group, not affiliated with the court, is being planned as a support group, he said. “There’s a lot of pressure on the graduates,” he commented.
Rudduck said the message needs to spread that substance use, because it is an addiction, is a mental health issue.
“What if they put you in prison for smoking cigarettes? How hard would it be for you?” asked the judge.
Dave Hinman, who is with the Dove Church in Wilmington, said he admired the graduates for persevering.
In his prayer of invocation, Hinman said in part, “so instead of serving time, these are our brothers and sisters who were accepted into a regimen of well-defined accountability, with ongoing random testing to validate compliance in the caring oversight of our You-Turn professionals.”
Also during the ceremony, Rudduck recognized Lee Sandlin, who is director of Sugartree Ministries which is a Wilmington-based street ministry. Sugartree Ministries serves people regardless of their societal status.
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
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